Hearing acuity in male adolescents (young adults) at the age of 17 to 23 years.

On theoretical grounds it is usually assumed that the daily noise emission has an influence upon the hearing of young persons: noise generated by work, music, leisuretime activities, military service, and so on. The aim of the study was to establish whether hearing impairment over time occurs among a group of male adolescents under normal conditions. Audiometric measurements were carried out using Békésy discrete audiometry. A description is given of a triennial investigation of hearing threshold carried out among 163 male adolescents whose mean age was 17 years at the first (1977) and 23 years at the last investigation (1983). Analysis of the follow-up studies shows that on the whole no hearing impairment has developed between the first and the last investigation in normal boys aged 17, and up to the age of 23.