The influence of physical exercise on susceptibility to noise-induced temporary threshold shift.

In order to investigate whether physical exercise would influence susceptibility to temporary threshold shift (TTS), 9 subjects were exposed to a narrow-band noise at 105 dB SPL for 10 min three times in each of four test conditions. In three of the test conditions, noise exposure was combined with physical exercise at a level of 40% of the individual subject's maximum work capacity. Under these conditions, subjects were exposed to the noise before, during, or after exercise. In the fourth condition, subjects were exposed to the noise only. The results indicated that noise with simultaneous exercise increased the TTS susceptibility when compared with the other test conditions (p less than or equal to 0.05).