Evaluation of the individual risk of hearing loss: prospective study.

A method is proposed to predict the individual risk of hearing impairment according to age, duration of exposure to noise and daily noise equivalent level. This method is based on the model described in the ISO proposed standard 1999 "Determination of occupational noise exposure and estimation of noise-induced hearing impairment". The individual sensitivity to noise is defined as the percentage of the general population that would develop hearing losses lower than another person under the same conditions. This method is proposed in an attempt to upgrade industrial audiometric programs from hearing impairment detection programs to real hearing conservation programs.