GROTON, Conn. – Years of work by the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory's (NSMRL) Regional Hearing Conservation Program (RHCP) culminated in the publication of Change 1 to the Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 6055.12, “Hearing Conservation Program,” on November 28, 2023.

This policy update adds the requirement for standardized hearing protector (HP) fit-testing procedures, which will improve the performance of hearing protection devices (HPD) in the field, enhancing the protection of DoD personnel from hazardous occupational noise. Correctly implemented HPD fit-testing and fit-training can significantly reduce hearing loss incidence for the warfighter.

Dr. Jeremy Federman, founding member of the RHCP, expressed his joy with how far the program has come since its foundation.

“I will never forget when RHCP was called to the Pentagon to give briefings to the Navy Surgeon General, the Flag Level Steering Board, and countless others that garnered and sustained support for this work and resulted in the creation of this team.”

The RHCP started working on HPD fit-testing in 2013, when there was little existing research on the subject in a military context. Since then, the team has grown substantially and designed and executed projects demonstrating the success of HPD fit-testing. Through their research, the RHCP found enough evidence to support the HPD fit-test methodology published in Change 1, without which this update to DODI 6055.12 would not have been possible.

“We know how impactful reducing hearing loss incidence will be on our service members’ quality of life,” said Federman. “Many scientists and their teams work entire careers without having the kind of positive impact to policy and the line communities that our fit-testing work has had. I am pleased and proud of what our team does, and thrilled to see that the work we completed over the past ten years has culminated in this HPD fit-testing instructional mandate across the DOD.”

The publication of Change 1 marks the latest accomplishment in NSMRL’s mission to enhance warfighter readiness and superiority through innovative health and performance research, as NSMRL’s Scientific Director, Dr. David Fothergill, explains.

“This change has huge positive implications for the hearing health of not only Navy and Marine Corps personnel, but for all DoD service members.”

NSMRL, part of Navy Medicine’s Research & Development enterprise, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of the Navy, Marine Corps, and joint U.S. warfighters, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, medical modeling, simulation, operational mission support, epidemiology, and behavioral sciences.