Study of the Use of Hearing Protection Equipment in the Occurence of Acute Acoustic Trauma in the Army (QPROTEC)

Each year, military epidemiological surveillance counts approximately 1,000 acute acoustic injuries. Most are caused by exposure to weapon noise during training sessions while military personnel are provided with hearing protection. Several hypotheses could explain the occurrence of acute acoustic trauma despite wearing protections:

• A lack of practices or knowledge about the use of hearing protection equipment that could facilitate the occurrence of acute acoustic trauma (improper fitting, use of an inappropriate type of protection, dropping of protectors, inappropriate removal)
• A failure to seal the external ear canal due to an inappropriate plug size. These hypotheses will be explored using a questionnaire distributed to a population of Army soldiers training to shoot.

The main objective is to determine the predictive factors corresponding to practices or knowledge related to the use of hearing protection equipment in the occurrence of acute acoustic trauma in a population of Army soldiers.