Acute Acoustic Trauma after Exposure to Assault Rifle Noise among Conscripts in the Finnish Defence Forces-A Population-Based Survey.

Markku Toivonen, Rauno Pääkkönen, Riina Niemensivu, Antti Aarnisalo, Antti A Mäkitie

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Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Acute High-Intensity Noise Exposure Induces Cognitive Impairment and Arachidonic Acid Metabolism-Related Molecular Alterations in Rats: A Multi-Omics Study.Metabolites · 2026
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5 authors.

Markku ToivonenDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, FI-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-9544-2420

Rauno PääkkönenTmi Rauno Pääkkönen, FI-33720 Tampere, Finland.

Riina NiemensivuDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, FI-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland.

Antti AarnisaloDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, FI-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland.

Antti A MäkitieDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, FI-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-0451-2404

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Conscripts are exposed to various sources of impulse noise despite hearing protection recommendations. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of acute acoustic trauma (AAT) among conscripts after exposure to assault rifle noise in the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF). This nationwide population-based cohort comprised all conscripts (>220,000) in the FDF during the years 1997-2003 and 2008-2010. We included those who claimed to have AAT symptoms from assault rifle noise during the study periods. During the investigated 10 years, 1617 conscripts (annual variation, 75-276) experienced a new hearing loss due to AAT. Altogether, 1456 (90%) of all AAT-induced hearing losses were caused by rifle-caliber weapons and 1304 (90%) of them when firing a blank cartridge. There was no clear diminishing trend in the annual numbers of AATs. In 1277 (88%) incidents, no hearing protector was used. Tinnitus was the most prominent symptom. Hearing losses after AAT were typically mild, but serious deficits also occurred. In conclusion, we found that 0.7-1.5% of the conscripts experienced an AAT during their service in the FDF. Most incidents occurred when firing a blank cartridge with a rifle-caliber weapon and with no hearing protector in use.

Indexed as

DeafnessHearing Loss, Noise-InducedHearing Loss, SuddenMilitary PersonnelEar Protective DevicesFinlandHumansNoisehearing lossmilitarysmall calibertinnitusweapon

Identifiers

PMID36834060

DOI10.3390/ijerph20043366

PMCPMC9961644

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