Hair color and hearing loss: a survey in a group of military men.

Introduction: It has been shown that low levels of pigmentation increase susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss in humans. For this reason, white populations develop more pronounced noise- induced hearing loss in comparison to black populations. Similarly, blue-eyed individuals exhibit greater temporary threshold shift than brown-eyed subjects; still, no strong correlation has been verified between the lightness of hair color and susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss.