Capt Jennifer Davis
Audiologists involved in hearing conservation programs for any length of time inevitably begin to ask themselves a question. Why, if the program works, are there so many threshold shifts? This simple question tends to lead to a bevy of others, such as: Does the program, at it exists here, work? Are the protection devices adequate for the environment they are used in? Are they being fit properly? Is it a question of education? Etc ad infinitum. Over the past year I began a study in the attempts to answer, or at least begin to answer, some of these questions in the environment I found myself in—Sheppard AFB. This presentation will address the hearing conservation program in place here, the study being conducted, the results I’m discovering, and the future paths they seem to indicate.