As a result of noisy military systems and the limited applicability of personal hearing protection, there continues to be a high incidence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among military personnel. One of the ways to reduce the adverse effects of noise, such as a decreased hearing acuity and a noticeable reduction in the ability to understand speech in noisy conditions, might be the selection of persons who are less susceptible to noise. The Netherlands Ministry of Defense contracted TNO Human Factors to investigate whether, at present, reliable auditory tests are available to determine at an early stage (i.e., prior to being affected by significant hearing losses) to what extent an individual is susceptible to noise. The author reviewed the literature on hearing tests. The results showed that the predictive power of tests that determine the acoustic reflex responsivity, and both temporal integration and non-linearities of the hearing system, may be large, whereas the predictability of tests that determine oto-acoustic emissions and head-related transfer functions seems to be small. The validity of the indices, however, can only be determined in longitudinal studies. To his knowledge, the results of such studies have never been reported.
