TABLE 3.

Prevalence (%) and Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) of Bilateral (Better Ear) Speech-Frequency Hearing Impairment (HI) for U.S. Adults Aged 20–69 Years by Demographic Characteristics, Noise Exposures, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors, NHANES, 2011–2012

	Bilateral (Better Ear) Speech-Frequency Hearing Impairment (HI)a
	Prevalence	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)
	%b (95% CI)	Unadjusted	Adjusted for age and sex	Adjusted for all variables shown
Total	7.5 (5.8–9.6)
Demographic risk factors
Sex
Male	9.9 (7.3–13.3)	2.0 (1.3–3.2)	2.4 (1.4–3.9)	1.8 (1.1–3.0)
Female	5.1 (3.6–7.3)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Age, years
20–29	0.8 (0.3–2.3)	1.0	1.0	1.0
30–39	0.9 (0.4–2.1)	1.2 (0.3–4.6)	1.2 (0.3–4.6)	1.1 (0.3–4.4)
40–49	3.4 (2.1–5.6)	4.4 (1.3–15.4)	4.4 (1.3–15.3)	3.3 (0.8–13.3)
50–59	11.2 (7.5–16.6)	15.6 (4.2–58.2)	16.2 (4.4–59.9)	13.4 (2.8–63.5)
60–69	24.7 (20.2–29.9)	40.5 (13.4–122.3)	43.3 (14.5–128.9)	39.5 (10.5–149.4)
Race/ethnicity
NHc White	9.0 (7.1–11.5)	2.3 (1.4–3.8)	2.0 (1.2–3.1)	2.3 (1.3–3.9)
NHc Black	4.1 (2.7–−6.2)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Mexican-American	4.3 (3.3–5.7)	1.1 (0.7–1.8)	1.7 (1.1–2.7)	1.4 (0.8–2.3)
NHc Asian	4.7 (2.8–7.8)	1.2 (0.6–2.2)	1.4 (0.8–2.6)	2.1 (1.1–4.2)
Other Hispanic	3.9 (1.9–7.7)	1.0 (0.4–2.1)	1.2 (0.6–2.2)	1.2 (0.6–2.3)
Other race	7.4 (2.3–21.2)	1.9 (0.5–6.8)	1.7 (0.7–4.2)	1.4 (0.6–3.3)
Education
< High school	11.3 (8.5–14.8)	3.1 (1.8–5.3)	3.8 (2.2–6.7)	4.2 (2.1–8.5)
High school diploma	9.5 (6.5–13.5)	2.5 (1.3–4.9)	3.0 (1.5–5.8)	2.8 (1.2–6.9)
Some college/AA degree	8.3 (5.5–12.4)	2.2 (1.2–4.2)	2.8 (1.5–5.3)	2.4 (1.2–4.9)
College graduate or above	4.0 (2.6–6.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Smoking (number of pack-years)
Nonsmoker	5.8 (4.2–7.9)	1.0	1.0	1.0
<20	2.7 (1.6–4.6)	0.5 (0.2–0.9)	0.5 (0.3–1.0)	0.5 (0.2–1.0)
≥20	14.6 (12.0–17.7)	2.8 (2.1–3.7)	1.5 (1.0–2.1)	1.0 (0.7–1.5)
Unknown	10.7 (4.2–24.9)	2.0 (0.7–5.7)	2.2 (0.7–7.0)	2.0 (0.6–6.2)
History of hypertension
No	5.6 (4.1–7.6)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	11.6 (9.1–14.7)	2.2 (1.6–3.0)	1.0 (0.7–1.4)	0.9 (0.6–1.3)
History of diabetes
No	6.8 (5.1–8.9)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	14.6 (12.0–17.6)	2.4 (1.7–3.3)	1.1 (0.8–1.6)	1.1 (0.7–1.7)
Noise Exposures
Occupational
No	5.5 (4.1–7.3)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes, “loud” only (<5 years)	5.4 (3.0–9.6)	1.0 (0.5–2.0)	1.2 (0.6–2.5)	1.0 (0.5–2.2)
Yes, “loud” only (≥5 years)	10.0 (6.7–14.7)	1.9 (1.1–3.4)	1.5 (0.7–3.1)	1.2 (0.5–2.6)
Yes, “very loud” (<5 years)	8.9 (4.5–16.7)	1.7 (0.8–3.4)	2.0 (0.9–4.5)	1.5 (0.7–3.3)
Yes, “very loud” (≥5 years)	17.8 (11.9–25.7)	3.7 (2.1–6.7)	2.5 (1.4–4.5)	1.5 (0.9–2.7)
Unknown	2.3 (0.5–10.8)	0.4 (0.1–2.2)	0.4 (0.1–2.8)	0.5 (0.1–3.1)
Outside of work: “very loud” noise
No	7.3 (5.8–9.3)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	8.6 (4.2–17.0)	1.2 (0.6–2.5)	1.4 (0.7–2.8)	1.0 (0.6–1.7)
Firearms, includes use for recreation, job, or military
No	5.4 (4.3–6.8)	1.0	1.0	1.0
1 to <1,000 rounds fired	8.0 (5.8–10.9)	1.5 (1.1–2.1)	1.4 (0.9–2.1)	1.4 (0.8–2.2)
1,000 or more rounds fired	15.2 (9.4–23.6)	3.1 (1.7–5.7)	2.4 (1.4–4.2)	1.8 (1.1–3.0)
Noise exposure based on all noise exposures, except firearmsd
No noise	5.5 (4.1–7.3)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Loud job noise only	7.7 (5.5–10.7)	1.4 (0.9–2.4)	1.4 (0.8–2.5)	1.1 (0.6–2.0)
Loud and very loud job noise	12.2 (7.9–18.5)	2.4 (1.4–4.1)	2.0 (1.1–3.6)	1.4 (0.7–2.5)
Loud job noise, very loud job noise and loud noise outside of work	15.6 (7.3–30.4)	3.2 (1.3–8.2)	3.2 (1.4–7.3)	2.1 (1.0–4.4)

^aSpeech-frequency hearing impairment (HI) is defined by the PTA of thresholds across 0.5–1–2–4 kHz greater than 25 dB HL in the better ear

^bSUDAAN weighted percent

^cNH is an abbreviation for non-Hispanic

^dIncluded in a separate model in place of the three variables – loud job noise, very loud job noise and loud noise outside of work – shown above the solid line