| Sumario: | 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 (VO2max) 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: VO2max 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 cardiorespiratory fitnesstohavegoodhearingcomparedtoworsehearing. Conclusion: Cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with hearing sensitivity when using the nonexercise prediction equation to measure VO2max. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings. Findings suggest a potentially auditory-protective effect of cardiorespiratory fitness.
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