Dougal B Watson | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Aeromedical decision-making: an evidence-based risk management paradigm.

Aeromedical decisions take many forms and are made by different groups and individuals. Because of the ubiquity of aviation in the world today, it is important that aeromedical decisions are of the highest quality that can be reasonably achieved. A paradigm of evidence-based aeromedical risk management is reported on here. It combines the concept of evidence-based medicine with structured risk management methodologies to produce a methodology capable of delivering the highest quality of aeromedical decisions. While neither of these concepts is new, practitioners do need to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to maximize the quality of their aeromedical decisions.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed2003

Effect of hypobaric hypoxia on auditory sensitivity.

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies on the effect of hypobaric hypoxia on auditory sensitivity are not readily interpretable, in most cases because the potential effect of ambient pressure on stimulus level was not considered. In this study, auditory sensitivity to 1, 8, 12, and 16 kHz tones was compared between conditions of hypoxia and normoxia at the same simulated altitude (3700 m). METHOD: In the hypoxic condition, the partial pressure of oxygen in the inspired air was allowed to decrease with increasing altitude. In the normoxic condition, the partial pressure of oxygen was maintained at a level equivalent to that experienced at mean sea level (MSL). This comparison also controlled for any effect resulting from physiological consequences of hypobaria other than hypoxia (such as a change in middle-ear impedance). RESULTS: A small (2.57 dB) reduction in sensitivity across the frequency range tested was observed. CONCLUSION: A reduction in sensitivity of this magnitude would not be expected to have a large impact on the effectiveness of information transfer via the auditory modality.

Adult↗