The effects of elevated hearing thresholds on performance in a paintball simulation of individual dismounted combat.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between hearing acuity and operational performance in simulated dismounted combat.


DESIGN
Individuals wearing hearing loss simulation systems competed in a paintball-based exercise where the objective was to be the last player remaining. Four hearing loss profiles were tested in each round (no hearing loss, mild, moderate and severe) and four rounds were played to make up a match. This allowed counterbalancing of simulated hearing loss across participants.


STUDY SAMPLE
Forty-three participants across two data collection sites (Fort Detrick, Maryland and the United States Military Academy, New York). All participants self-reported normal hearing except for two who reported mild hearing loss.


RESULTS
Impaired hearing had a greater impact on the offensive capabilities of participants than it did on their "survival", likely due to the tendency for individuals with simulated impairment to adopt a more conservative behavioural strategy than those with normal hearing.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary results provide valuable insights into the impact of impaired hearing on combat effectiveness, with implications for the development of improved auditory fitness-for-duty standards, the establishment of performance requirements for hearing protection technologies, and the refinement of strategies to train military personnel on how to use hearing protection in combat environments.
['Sheffield|Benjamin|B|', 'Brungart|Douglas|D|', 'Tufts|Jennifer|J|', 'Ness|James|J|']
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation D000162:Acoustics D000293:Adolescent D001307:Auditory Perception D003163:Competitive Behavior D005240:Feasibility Studies D005260:Female D006309:Hearing D034381:Hearing Loss D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008889:Military Personnel D009622:Noise D010470:Perceptual Masking D019986:Persons With Hearing Impairments D011571:Psychoacoustics D012720:Severity of Illness Index D013647:Task Performance and Analysis D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation D055815:Young Adult
Psychoacoustics/hearing science hearing conservation instrumentation noise