Table 3. Prevalence of Bilateral (Better Ear) Hearing Impairment Related to Firearm Use, US Adults Aged 20–69 years, NHANES, 2011–2012*.

Hearing Impairment	Firearms, Including Use for Recreation, Job, or Military (NHANES 2011–2012), U.S. Adults Age 20–69 Y	Prevalence, % (95% CI)	Odds Ratio (95% CI)
			Unadjusted	Adjusted for Age and Sex	Adjusted for All Variables
Bilateral (better ear) speech-frequency impairment	None	5.4 (4.3–6.8)	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
	<1,000 lifetime 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 lifetime 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)
Bilateral (better ear) high-frequency impairment	None	14.4 (12.7–16.3)	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
	<1,000 lifetime rounds fired	22.1 (17.6–27.4)	1.7 (1.3–2.2)	1.4 (0.9–2.1)	1.2 (0.9–1.9)
	≥1,000 lifetime rounds fired	31.7 (22.5–42.6)	2.8 (1.6–4.7)	1.5 (1.0–2.5)	1.3 (0.7–2.3)

CI, confidence interval; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

*Adapted from Hoffman et al. ⁴⁶