Comparative study on hearing data of recruited students from teenager flying schools and flying cadets

MA Xiaoli; ZOU Zhikang; LIU Xiaobo; GUO Rui; WU Chunyan; WANG Feng; BI Yunpeng; XU Po

Abstract：Objective To analyze the hearing examination data of recruited flying students from teenager aviation schools according to the hearing standards of both the PLA and US army, and to find the difference of hearing-related selection results between flying cadets and recruited students from a teenager aviation school in order to give advice on the formulation of medical selection standards for hearing in the process of recruiting flying students from teenager aviation schools.Methods Data on the first hearing examination for recruited flying students (14~16 years old) from a teenager aviation school and for recruited flying cadets (17~20 years old) in Hebei Province was collected. The hearing data on high frequency, middle-low frequency and general hearing condition was determined according to the medical selection standards of PLA and of the US army respectively. The number of qualified cases and unqualified ones was calculated respectively. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis of the data.ResultsAccording to the PLA's standards, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of unqualified cases in both the high frequency hearing examination (χ2=1.88,P>0.05)and middle-low frequency one(χ2=2.79,P>0.05)between the recruited students from a teenager aviation school and the flying cadets, but the rate of unqualified cases among recruited flying cadets was higher than among recruited flying students from a teenager aviation school in the screening of general hearing(χ2=4.76,P<0.05). According to the US army's standards, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the rate of unqualified cases in high frequency hearing examinations(χ2=2.46,P>0.05), in middle-low frequency hearingexaminations(χ2=0.20,P>0.05) and in general hearing(χ2=2.57,P>0.05).ConclusionComparatively, the US army's standards are more feasible for hearing screening of recruits of different ages. The hearing loss of recruits may occur during the three years of training at high school. Wit is suggested that the hearing standards for recruiting flying students from a teenager aviation school should be made more rigorous than the current hearing standards for recruiting flying cadets.