{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,4]],"date-time":"2026-07-04T10:32:35Z","timestamp":1783161155243,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"Supplement_6","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006965","name":"Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FY21 12687"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FY21 12687"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006965","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006965","name":"Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FY21 12687"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FY21 12687"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006965","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>U.S. Army regulations require all soldiers to undergo annual audiometric testing to maintain hearing readiness. The standard method of monitoring hearing in the DoD is via multi-person testing in sound-treated booths using the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System\u2014Hearing Conservation. COVID-19 significantly hindered the standard method, resulting in alarming declines in hearing readiness. In response, the Army Hearing Program initiated a pilot program to use boothless audiometers to supplement standard methods to increase hearing readiness.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Materials and Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was used to purchase 169 boothless audiometers and increase staffing at dozens of Army Hearing Program clinics. Standard operating procedures were established for audiometric testing outside the booth using a process matching standard test parameters (i.e., test frequencies, tone characteristics, and interstimulus intervals). Additional capabilities developed to leverage this new technology during the annual hearing exam include the administration of automated contralateral masking, enhanced tinnitus screening, and hearing health education and training.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Monitoring audiometry using boothless audiometers has been conducted for nearly 12,000 service members worldwide. Thresholds obtained via boothless audiometers are comparable to follow-up thresholds obtained from the standard test methods in the booth (mean difference 95% CI, \u22121.2, 0.9), and hearing readiness has returned to pre-pandemic levels at installations where this novel technology is being used regularly.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Significant reductions in patient encounters as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to innovative solutions leveraging boothless audiometers. While this has aided the primary mission to maintain a medically ready force, innovations from this endeavor highlight several additional improvements relative to current standards of care that should be considered for permanent inclusion in DoD Hearing Conservation Programs.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/milmed\/usad224","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,10]],"date-time":"2023-11-10T15:13:04Z","timestamp":1699629184000},"page":"529-535","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Increasing Hearing Readiness Using Boothless Audiometry"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"188","author":[{"given":"Benjamin","family":"Sheffield","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Conservation and Readiness Branch, Defense Centers for Public Health \u2013 Aberdeen , Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, USA"},{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Devon","family":"Kulinski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jaclyn","family":"Schurman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"LaGuinn","family":"Sherlock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Conservation and Readiness Branch, Defense Centers for Public Health \u2013 Aberdeen , Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, USA"},{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Victoria","family":"Bugtong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center , Ft. Meade, MD 20755, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Spencer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher","family":"Caldwell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center , Ft. Meade, MD 20755, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Douglas","family":"Brungart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , Bethesda, MD 20889, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Merkley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Office of the Surgeon General, Defense Health Headquarters , Falls Church, VA 22042, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amy","family":"Blank","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Conservation and Readiness Branch, Defense Centers for Public Health \u2013 Aberdeen , Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"2023111015123001100_R1","article-title":"DoD Hearing Conservation Program Number 6055.12","author":"Department of Defense Instruction","year":"2019"},{"key":"2023111015123001100_R2","article-title":"Army Hearing Program","author":"U.S. Department of the Army Pamphlet 40-501","year":"2015"},{"key":"2023111015123001100_R3","article-title":"Medical readiness procedures","author":"U.S. Department of the Army Pamphlet 40-502","year":"2019"},{"key":"2023111015123001100_R4","article-title":"TA 538-0520: Army Hearing Program Best Practices for\u00a0Each Health Protection Condition during the COVID-19 Response","author":"Army Public Health","year":"2020"},{"issue":"5","key":"2023111015123001100_R5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1123","DOI":"10.1044\/2021_persp-20-00264","article-title":"Hearing health care delivery outside the booth","volume":"6","author":"Gates","year":"2021","journal-title":"Perspect ASHA special interest groups"},{"key":"2023111015123001100_R6","article-title":"Specification for\u00a0audiometers","author":"American National Standards Institute (ANSI) S3.6-2010","year":"2010"},{"issue":"1","key":"2023111015123001100_R7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"601","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0012733","article-title":"Reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels for\u00a0the Wireless Automated Hearing Test System","volume":"152","author":"Clavier","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Acoust Soc Am"},{"issue":"sup1","key":"2023111015123001100_R8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"S12","DOI":"10.1080\/14992027.2019.1698776","article-title":"TabSINT: open-source mobile software for\u00a0distributed studies of\u00a0hearing","volume":"59","author":"Shapiro","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Audiol"},{"key":"2023111015123001100_R9","article-title":"Maximum permissible ambient noise levels for\u00a0audiometric test rooms","author":"ANSI 3.1-1999","year":"2018"},{"issue":"4","key":"2023111015123001100_R10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"210","DOI":"10.1080\/15459624.2011.559417","article-title":"Validity of\u00a0diagnostic computer-based air and\u00a0forehead bone conduction audiometry","volume":"8","author":"de Swanepoel","year":"2011","journal-title":"J Occup Environ Hyg"},{"issue":"6","key":"2023111015123001100_R11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"745","DOI":"10.1097\/01.aud.0000436255.53747.a4","article-title":"Validity of\u00a0automated threshold audiometry: a systematic review and\u00a0meta-analysis","volume":"34","author":"Mahomed","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ear Hear"}],"container-title":["Military Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/milmed\/article-pdf\/188\/Supplement_6\/529\/53078641\/usad224.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/milmed\/article-pdf\/188\/Supplement_6\/529\/53078641\/usad224.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,10]],"date-time":"2023-11-10T15:13:06Z","timestamp":1699629186000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/milmed\/article\/188\/Supplement_6\/529\/7388282"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,1]]},"references-count":11,"journal-issue":{"issue":"Supplement_6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,8]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,8]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/milmed\/usad224","relation":{},"ISSN":["0026-4075","1930-613X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0026-4075","type":"print"},{"value":"1930-613X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,1]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,1]]}}}