The effect of active sonar for the protection of moored and anchored warships on the human hearing

This study wants to show the effects of active middle frequency sonar on a selected group of Italian Navy divers. Ten male divers with normal hearing were exposed to active sonar of the Italian Navy for more than 100 exposures, each of at least 1-h duration, in the course of 6 months. Before, at the end, and six months after the end of noise exposure, we performed pure-tone audiometry, Carhart test, Peyser test, thresholds of discomfort test (TDT), tympanometry, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR). At the end of the noise exposure, the audiological tests showed a worsening of the mean air and bone audiometric thresholds at the 2,000 (1/10), 4,000 (7/10), and 8,000 Hz (6/10); a fail status of the TEOAE and DPOAE, which were previously present, in all the divers; temporary threshold shift, at the Peyser test, in 9/10 divers; discomfort for pulse tone presented at the TDT test, in all the divers; no post exposure significant differences at the Carhart and ABR tests, in any of the divers. Six months after the end of noise exposure, all the divers presented a complete recovery of their audio-vestibular functions. Our results show the temporary negative effects of repeated and lasting exposure to active sonar (Hull MF) on the divers; the last control demonstrate the absence of permanent noise-induced hearing loss in divers exposed to active sonar.