Original contributionPhysician hearing loss
Introduction
As the American population ages, adult hearing loss is receiving greater recognition in clinical care [1], [2] as one of the most common chronic conditions [3]. Physicians, as they grow older, face the potential impact of personal hearing loss on their professional duties. Clinicians must communicate effectively with patients, staff, and colleagues, often in situations of background noise or by telephone. The interference of hearing loss with a physician's daily clinical encounters can lead to fatigue and psychological distress [4]. Despite advances in diagnostic technology [5], the ability to auscultate a patient's heart and lungs using a stethoscope remains the basic occupational skill for physicians who could be affected by hearing loss.
Not much is known about the hearing of physicians. Physical examinations for medical school and residency training do not routinely include audiometric testing. The scientific literature on this topic consists largely of case reports of medical students or physicians coping with severe congenital hearing loss [4], [6] or resources for physicians who are hard of hearing [7]. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the subjective and audiometric hearing status of a group of physicians.
Section snippets
Methods
We recruited volunteer subjects at 2 annual scientific conferences for internal medicine and family medicine state medical societies. Attendees at the conferences included medical students, residents, and physicians in practice or in teaching positions. The Yale University School of Medicine's Human Investigation Committee approved the study instrument and protocol. Subjects were asked if they wished to participate in an anonymous study of hearing status and, after giving verbal consent,
Demographics
A total of 107 physicians and medical students completed the questionnaire and audiometric testing. Table 1 shows the demographics of the study population.
Most of the respondents were family physicians or internists, with an average age of 42.8 years (SD, 13.9 years; range, 24–82 years), who spend an average of 73.9% (SD, 29.7%) of their time in clinical activities. Only 2 subjects reported hearing loss during childhood, and none of the subjects reported using an electronic amplified
Discussion
This study found that older physicians were more likely to demonstrate evidence of hearing loss and more likely to report difficulties with communication owing to hearing problems. At the same time, we did not find a clear relationship between self-reported problems with stethoscope use and either age or measured hearing levels. Many physicians with hearing loss described their hearing as good. Physicians reported exposure to recreational sources of loud noise but low rates of hearing
Acknowledgments
We thank the Connecticut Academy of Family Physicians and the Connecticut chapter of the American College of Physicians for their cooperation with this survey. Elizabeth Malarney assisted with questionnaire design and administration, Maria Slade provided data entry services, and Deron Galusha gave technical assistance. PMR, OT, and OA wrote the manuscript and PMR, MDS, and KS performed the statistical analyses.
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