A Pioneer in Hearing Conservation

As the first audiology officer in the U.S. Navy in 1979, Herman Kidder, Ph.D., helped establish the Navy’s Hearing Conservation Program. By

Pat Dobbs

His chief immediately told him to take them off. When Kidder asked him to please put that in writing, the chief’s response was to order him to clean the bilge. To Kidder, this illustrated how his boss had no understanding of the effects of loud noise on hearing.

But despite wearing earplugs, Kidder suffered a significant hearing loss within a couple of months and requested a different job. He landed a position as hospital corpsman in the audiology department of the Otolaryngology Clinic Naval Hospital, San Diego.

After completing his enlistment and leaving the Navy, he received a Ph.D. in audiology. From his Navy contacts in San Diego, Kidder learned about a new program for audiology officers specially created by the surgeon general of the Navy, which became the Navy’s inaugural Hearing Conservation Program. In 1979, Kidder was appointed as the very first uniformed (commissioned) audiology officer in the Navy. The appointment of nine more officers soon followed.

“Ever since the advent of gunpowder, war has been associated with hearing loss. The Navy is no exception. A Navy ship is a floating factory that is sporting guns and making noise whether it’s shooting or not. High levels of noise are also associated with Navy planes, either on the ground or in the air, and on submarines when not in silent mode.”

So says Herman Kidder, Ph.D., who joined the U.S. Navy in 1970 as a machinist mate and worked in a noisy engine room. When he asked for earplugs, his chief denied the request, saying that Kidder wouldn’t be able to hear the engines run smoothly.

But Kidder, who had a master’s degree in speech pathology, understood well the impact of loud noises on hearing—and so he bought earplugs for himself.

In that position, Kidder says, “I participated in the creation and maintenance of one of the largest hearing conservation programs in the world. I also conducted investigative testing for civilian workers who were claiming hearing loss as a result of working in the Navy ship facilities.”

As part of the Hearing Conservation Program, ear protection was introduced and orders to wear it were enforced. The Navy offered insertable earplugs as well as earmuffs for louder noise. Today the Navy also uses sound cancellation devices, not available then.

The Hearing Conservation Program encompasses much more than the use of ear protection, Kidder says. Regular hearing evaluations are also important. “The program consists of a baseline hearing test taken in boot camp,” he says. “Every year—or more often depending on the noise level of the jobs—an additional hearing test is taken, and the results are compared with the baseline. If there is no change, the person goes back to work and is scheduled for a retest at a standard interval.

“If the test indicates there is a shift for the worse, the person is given an appointment with an audiologist for testing and follow up. This test can result in many different scenarios. The loss may have been the result of a medical problem. Or they may have been less compliant with the requirement to wear hearing protection, and education may be in order. If they are shown to be particularly susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss, they can apply for a different job in a less noisy environment. This is just a sketch of the program and with regulations related to who, what, why, when, and where.”

He adds, “My primary professional concern was the auditory communication capacity of the troops, which is a little recognized but crucial aspect of combat readiness. Being unable to hear the enemy during a combat situation is seriously dangerous.”

Today, the military takes hearing loss seriously—a far cry from the view of Kidder’s original boss in 1970. “Now each branch of services has a Hearing Conservation Program that is rigorously enforced,” Kidder says. “The program has saved countless individuals and their families the headache of severe hearing loss due to noise exposure.” Today the program uses more sophisticated equipment but the baseline test is still in place.

“I am very proud to have had a part in creating the Navy’s Hearing Conservation Program,” Kidder says. “I believe that it has made the quality of life better for literally millions of service people and their families. That’s because preserving your hearing is lifesaving as well as life improving.”

Kidder later served as senior audiologist at the Naval Training Center in Orlando and for Fleet Hearing Conservation programs at U.S. bases in Yokosuka and Okinawa, Japan. He also taught and oversaw the Hearing Conservation Program in South Korea and Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Kidder adds, “Hearing loss is a family disorder—it affects the family as well as the person with hearing loss.” His lifelong passion has been to preserve the hearing of those who serve in the armed forces, and help veterans maintain their hearing health upon return to civilian life. Today Kidder is retired and lives in Deer Isle, Maine, with his wife, Frederica. He is a blacksmith. He wears two hearing aids and hearing protection when it is needed, and is always doing what he can to improve the lives of others.

Pat Dobbs has an adult-onset hearing loss and wears bilateral cochlear implants. She founded the Hearing Loss Association of America, Morris County Chapter, New Jersey, in 2011, and today is president of the international online hearing loss support group, Say What Club, saywhatclub.org. Now a resident of Deer Isle, Maine, she is forming the Downeast Chapter of HLAA. To learn more, email pat@coachdobbs.com.