Development of a comprehensive Blast-Related Auditory InjuryDatabase (BRAID)

摘要

The Department of Defense Hearing ConservationProgram provides specific guidance for service components toprevent occupational hearing loss; however, it does not specificallycontend with the unique noise exposures observed in thetheater of war, such as blasts and explosions. In order to examinethe effects of blast injury on hearing sensitivity, we developeda large database composed of demographic, audiometric,point of injury, and medical outcome data, with the primaryaim of developing a longstanding and integrated capability forthe surveillance, assessment, and investigation of blastrelatedhearing outcomes. Methods used to develop the dataset aredescribed. Encompassing more than 16,500 Navy and MarineCorps personnel, the BlastRelated Auditory Injury Database(BRAID) includes individuals with a blastrelated injury andnonblast control subjects. Using baseline and postdeploymenthearing threshold data, a retrospective analysis of the cohortrevealed that the rate of hearing loss for the injured servicememberswas 39%. The BRAID will be useful for studies thatassess hearing patterns following deploymentrelated injury,such as blast exposures, that facilitate exploration of healthoutcomes and whether they are predictive of audiometric dispositionand that help establish hearing loss prevention strategiesand program policies for affected military commands andservicemembers.