Hearing threshold in sport divers - Is diving really a hazard for inner ear function?

Objective: To investigate the effect of scuba diving on the hearing threshold of sport divers who have no history of excessive noise exposure or of diving-related inner ear damage. Design: Cross-sectional controlled comparison study. Setting: General sports diving community Participants: Sixty sport divers with an average of 650 dives each and at least 4 years of diving experience (mean, 10 years) were compared with a control group of 63 non-divers from our hospital staff or patients referred for rhinologic problems or benign tumors of the salivary gland. Main Outcome Measure: After microscopic otoscopy and tympanometry, we used pure-tone audiometry to measure the hearing threshold for air and bone conduction. The participants were divided into 3 age groups, and the hearing test results for both ears combined were statistically compared. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the hearing thresholds between sport divers and nondivers. Conclusions: The reduced hearing levels of professional divers found in other studies are probably due to the high noise levels that they have to deal with or may be a result of inner ear accidents.