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I INTRODUCTION It I S the consensus of o p i n i o n of Subgroup 6 of Subcommittee 6 t h a t the audiometry performed a t AFEES i n d u c t i o n c e n t e r s i s o f t e n of poor q u a l i t y In an e f f o r t to a s s e s s the v a l i d i t y o f t h i s o p i n i o n , the f o l l o w i n g data were c o l l e c t e d I I DETAILS OF STUDY The AFEES audiograms on one hundred A i r F o r c e r e c r u i t s were s e l e c t e d and compared to audiograms done at L a c k l a n d AFB P r o c e s s i n g Center on the same people The s e l e c t i o n of c a s e s was made by s imply hav ing the sergeant in charge of the t e s t i n g c e n t e r choose the f i r s t 100 people who came through p r o c e s s i n g on t h a t p a r t i c u l a r day T h i s procedure p r o - duced a group of c a s e s from a wide v a r i e t y of AFEES s t a t i o n s and r e s u l t e d in approximate ly f i f t y c o m p a r i s o n s , fo r only about h a l f of the one hundred inductees had AFEES audiograms in t h e i r records F u r t h e r of the approx imate ly f i f t y persons who had AFEES a u d i o - grams many were incomplete t e s t s For example, a t 3000 Hz on ly twe lve were t e s t e d and at 6000 Hz , on ly n ine The f o l l o w i n g t a b l e shows the percent of c a s e s which agree w i t h i n p lus or minus 5 dB at each of the v a r i o u s t e s t f r e q u e n c i e s L e f t E a r Right E a r 500 Hz 5k% 57% 1000 Hz 53% 53% 2000 Hz 67% 56% 3000 Hz Nr too smal1 ^000 Hz 66/o 5k% 6000 Hz Nr too smal l There is a d e f i n i t e t rend toward poorer h e a r i n g to be demonstrated on the AFEES audiogram than on the Lack land AFB audiogram The f o l l o w i n g t a b l e shows the percentage of the t ime that the AFEES audiogram is
poorer than the Lack land AFB audiogram at each t e s t f requency 500 Hz 69% 66% 1000 Hz 83% 68% 2000 Hz 59% 61% 3000 Hz Nr too smal1 kOOO Hz k5/o 61% 6000 Hz Nr too smal 1 The t e c h n i c i a n s per forming the t e s t i n g at the L a c k l a n d AFB P r o c e s s i n g Center e s t i m a t e 30-40% r e j e c t i o n of the AFEES audiograms because of o b v i o u s l y poor q u a l i t y The f o l l o w i n g l i s t ( see Appendix) shows the most common f a u l t s found in the AFEES r e c o r d s 1 Sk ipp ing f r e q u e n c i e s 2 B r i e f t e s t at each f requency 3 Ribbon worn out - no p r i n t k No name on audiogram 5 No t r a c i n g - j u s t numer ica l data 6 Wide e x c u r s i o n s in the t r a c i n g 7 Double or t r i p l e t r a c i n g s 8 F a i n t or absent t r a c i n g 9 Button he ld down throughout t e s t 10 Blank c a r d 11 S c o r i n g of audiogram in e r r o r Another a r e a which needs to be d i s c u s s e d c o n c e r n i n g the AFEES audiometry d e a l s w i th the c a s e who has a d i s q u a l i f y i n g h e a r i n g l o s s but I S s t i l l sent to L a c k l a n d AFB fo r induc t ion The f o l l o w i n g group of c a s e s a re examples of some inductees who have h e a r i n g l o s s e s t h a t a r e o b v i o u s l y d i s q u a l i f y i n g They were r e f e r r e d from the L a c k l a n d AFB Induct ion Cente r to the USAF Speech and Hear ing C e n t e r at W i l f o r d Hal l USAF Medical Center One o f them repor ted tha t he t o l d h i s r e c r u i t e r about h i s l o s s but the r e c r u i t e r s a i d i t wou ldn ' t mat ter Such o b s e r v a - t i o n s suggest that r e c r u i t e r s may be g e t t i n g t h e i r r e c r u i t e e s p a s t the p h y s i c a l examinat ion in o r d e r to make quotas Induct ion Standards re ASA 1951 500 1000 2000 Right 20 20 20 L e f t 20 ^0 kO
Case m AFEES audiogram showed normal hear ing 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 10 90 95 100+ 100+ 100+ L e f t - 5 80 95 100+ 100+ 100+ Case #2 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 0 15 30 35 35 40 L e f t 55 80 100+ 100+ 100+ 100+ Case #3 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right - 5 15 75 80 75 65 L e f t 0 30 80 75 75 75 Case #4 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 R ight - 5 10 40 35 20 40 L e f t 0 40 35 45 50 40 Case #5 P a t i e n t repor ted that he wore a body hear i ng a i d 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 25 45 50 45 45 45 L e f t 35 45 45 45 40 30 Case #6 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 50 75 90 100+ 100+ 100+ L e f t 35 70 80 100+ 100+ 100+ Case #7 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 5 20 25 50 55 75 L e f t 5 20 35 55 65 60 Case #8 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 0 20 25 25 25 15 L e f t 0 20 25 25 25 15 Case 9 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 20 35 25 25 20 15 L e f t 20 30 20 25 25 15 Case #10 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right 5 15 30 35 40 35 L e f t 10 25 40 40 40 35 Case #11 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 Right -10 20 25 35 50 5 L e f t 0 25 40 35 50 15
