Association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hearing sensitivity.

PURPOSE: As a follow-up to previous smaller scale studies, the purpose of the present study was to examine the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and hearing sensitivity using a nationally representative U.S. sample of adults.

METHOD: Data from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2011) were used in the analyses. After exclusions, the final sample included 1,082 NHANES participants ages 20-49 years. Maximum oxygen uptake (VO(2max)) was obtained from an established nonexercise prediction equation and through heart-rate extrapolation during a treadmill-based submaximal test. Audiometry data were objectively measured to obtain estimates of low (LPTA) and high (HPTA) pure-tone frequency average.

RESULTS: VO(2max) was not associated with hearing sensitivity when using the heart-rate extrapolation method but was significantly associated with hearing sensitivity (for women) when applying the nonexercise prediction equation for both LPTA and HPTA (p < .01). Women with higher predicted cardiorespiratory fitness were 6% more likely than women with lower predicted cardio-respiratory fitness to have good hearing compared to worse hearing.

CONCLUSION: Cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with hearing sensitivity when using the nonexercise prediction equation to measure VO(2max). Further studies are needed to confirm these findings. Findings suggest a potentially auditory-protective effect of cardiorespiratory fitness.