Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Hearing impaired no danger in traffic – Göteborgs-Posten

Hearing is no worse drivers than others. Quite the contrary.

– The differences that I have seen in my studies clearly point that drivers with hearing loss is generally more conservative than drivers with normal hearing, says Bridget Thorslund the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI.

Research shows that about 20 to 30 percent of drivers over age 70 have hearing loss.

And given the fact that the number of older drivers increasing rapidly in both Sweden and the rest of Europe it would perhaps not unreasonable to imagine that there is a need to adjust the hearing requirements when it comes to driving license.

But that need not exist, beats Thorslund stuck in his thesis.

– drivers with impaired hearing is in no way a major risk group in traffic than other drivers, she said.

She bases its conclusions on three parts. A questionnaire study, a study in the driving simulator and in real traffic. In all studies, a group of drivers with normal hearing and compared with a group of drivers with impaired hearing.

The simulator study showed that drivers with poor hearing slows more than others when traffic situations become complex and the demands on the driver increases. And the study of real traffic showed that they often look back and to the side of the road than drivers with normal hearing do.

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