The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of impulse noise on age-related hearing loss. The study consisted of two groups. Each group contained 109 men. Group I comprised veterans with normal hearing at the end of 1979 sino-vietnamese war. All these veterans were randomly selected from Guangzhou Military Command. Group II were men with no military experience randomly chosen from the health examination center of Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command. Pure-tone thresholds of these two groups were measured and compared. The pure-tone thresholds of Group I were poorer than those of Group II at the frequencies of 4, 6 and 8 kHz. Thus, impulse noise accelerates age-related hearing loss.