Hearing Loss and Military Personnel
January 2006 - Hearing
Loss is a Growing Problem for Veterans
January
2006 - Deafness Soaring Among Soldiers.
March
2006 - Hearing Loss on rise among troops
March
2006 - Seeking
the right amount of sound in the fury of combat
March 2006 - Hearing
Loss Rises Among U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
April 2006 -
Military alarmed over skyrocketing hearing loss
July 2006 -
Blast-Related Ear Injury in Current U.S. Military
Operations
August 2006 - Army pipers can't believe their ears
October 2006 - Military
Vets Suffer Dramatic Increase in Tinnitus and Other Hearing Damage
October 2006 - ATA
Promotes More Research to Benefit Veterans with Tinnitus
December 2006 - Soldiers
Exposed To Gunshot Noise Need Better Hearing Protection
Mar 2007 - Communication
and Hearing Protector System Helps Warfighters
Mar
2007 - Who listens to a deaf old Marine?
Mar 2007 - Asymmetric
Hearing Loss from “Shooter’s Ear”
April 2007 - Noise
Levels of Common Army Equipment
June 2007 - Many
soldiers are returning from combat with hearing problems
November 2007 -
Iraq & Afghanistan war vets suffer from hearing loss,
tinnitus
March 2008 -
Marines Ramp up Hearing Protection
March 2008 -
Hearing loss is silent epidemic in U.S. troops
March 2008 -
Hearing Pill to Undergo More Clinical Trials
March 2008 -
Military Examines Effects of Too Much Noise
June 2008 -
The Blast in the Ears: Good Hearing Among War's
Casualties
August 2008 -
Hearing Loss can be Fatal for Soldier
October 2008 -
Deafness is the new scourge of British troops in
Afghanistan
November 2008 -
Military Equipment Noise is Accelerating Hearing Loss
January 2009 -
Army makes deployment hearing test mandatory
February 2009 -
Is the Army FINALLY Doing Something About Soldiers'
Hearing Loss?
February 2009 -
Army works to repair, prevent hearing loss
February 2009 -
HLAA Supports Vets
with Hearing Loss
March 2009 -
Audit: Super Hornet a noise risk for sailors
September 2009 - Army says new earplugs will save your
hearing
October 2009 -
HLAA Convention: Military Veterans with Hearing Loss Project
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2006
Now that his world is
quieter, what Vietnam War veteran Romeo Rasing remembers about Navy life
is the noise. "My battle station was right above the turret. We had
to keep bombing day and night," said Rasing, 56, who served on the
cruiser Oklahoma City early in a 22-year Navy career that included 13
years of sea duty. "When the ship was in the yard, there were all
kinds of noises – grinding, chipping, banging, pounding,
welding." Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2006
The ranks
of current and former military personnel receiving disability pensions
for deafness has soared in recent years to almost 80,000, more than the
number of active service members. A newly published Department of
National Defence study says a lack of training and uncomfortable,
incompatible ear-protection gear are partly to blame. The review also
confirmed that middle-aged service members are more than twice as likely
as the average Canadian to have moderate to severe hearing loss. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March
2006
The
Army's chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, wears hearing aids. Asked
why once, the crusty special operations veteran grinned and said:
"Guns, helicopters, demolition - 36 years of it." Gen.
Schoomaker's faulty hearing is far from rare in the military. And
experts say the war in Iraq has led to epidemic rates of hearing loss
among troops. Yet while all the armed services are scrambling to come up
with better hearing protection, the Army is slashing its staff of
military audiologists - the specialists who combat hearing loss - to
make room for more "trigger pullers" at the front. Only two
military audiologists, for example, are at Fort Hood, home base for more
than 40,000 soldiers. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March
2006
Modern
combat is almost always noisy, but it was especially so in the Iraqi
city of Fallujah in November 2004, when U.S. forces engaged insurgents
in vicious house-to-house - often room-to-room - fighting. The
reverberation of gunfire and explosions within concrete walls was so
loud at times that "someone screaming in your ear could barely
reach you," said Jesse Grapes . . . Alarmed by the Fallujah
experience, the corps revised its regulations last November to require
that every Marine - "especially forward-deployed Marines in combat
environments" - be issued Combat Arms Earplugs, trained in how to
use them and required to carry them.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March
2006
Soldiers
sent to battle zones are over 50 times more likely to suffer
noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) than soldiers who do not deploy,
according to research published in the December 2005 issue of American
Journal of Audiology (AJA). The study, led by Thomas M. Helfer, Nikki N.
Jordan, and Robyn B Lee of the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and
Preventive Medicine, examined the cases of 806 U.S. soldiers diagnosed
with NIHL.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2006
As disability
payments for hearing loss skyrocket, the military is becoming much more
aware of the dangers of loud noises and their impact on people's hearing -
and they're taking steps to reverse the alarming trend. Here's a Navy
website that does a great job of treating the entire subject of noise
induced hearing loss (NIHL), and also talks about the Navy's noise-related
programs.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2006
In the
16th century, the French surgeon Ambroise Paré reported "... a great
thunderous noise, large bells or artillery, and thus one often sees
gunners losing their hearing whilst drawing the machinery because of the
great agitation of the air inside the ear which breaks the aforementioned
membrane and moves to the bones known as ossicles out of their natural
position: so that the air is implanted or absorbed within the sinuses of
the mastoid cavity and the patient has a continuous noise and air within
the ear." (Mudry, 1999). Five centuries later, noise-induced hearing loss
and ear injury continues to be inextricably linked to military service,
particularly in time of war.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
THEY have
led soldiers into battle and frightened the enemy with their noise, while
becoming one of Scotland's most enduring musical icons. But the skirl of
the traditional Scottish bagpipes is now under threat - from health and
safety inspectors. Soldiers learning to play the revered instrument have
been issued with strict new guidelines aimed at preventing servicemen
suffering hearing problems. As well as wearing ear protectors, the
guidelines insist that pipers should only play for a maximum of 24 minutes
a day outside, and only 15 in practice rooms.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October
2006
Veterans
Administration figures showed 339,573 veterans with tinnitus-related
disabilities in 2005, up from 144,243 in 2000. The amount paid to veterans
with tinnitus climbed to $418 million in 2005 from $150 million in 2000.
This indicates that military veterans are suffering a dramatic increase in
tinnitus and other hearing damage, and deserve much more research funding
to find a cure, according to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA),
Portland, Ore. "We will have to spend more on veterans' disability
compensation for tinnitus and other hearing damage over the coming years
than for any other medical injuries from the Iraq and Afghan wars,"
says David Fagerlie, the association's CEO.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March
2007
Developmental
testing involving two Air Force Research Lab technical directorates has
helped the Army's Rapid Equipping Force equip and assess improved
communication and hearing protection systems for deployed forces. Known as
QuietPro(tm), the lightweight technology protects against acoustic trauma
-- injury to the hearing mechanisms within the inner ear caused by
excessively loud noises (such as explosions). The system will enhance
military operations and make hostile environments less dangerous for U.S.
ground forces. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2007
Damage can accumulate quickly from impact/impulse
noise exposure at these levels. Permanent hearing loss can occur with just
a few unprotected shots, so firearm users should always be counseled to
use appropriate hearing protection when using guns. Specialized hearing
protection is available for shooters, with some technologies permitting
ambient or environmental sounds to pass through, with special electronics
shutting down the noise before it reaches damaging levels. Hearing
protection is absolutely essential for shooters. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2007
I just read that as many of 60% of our returning
soldiers suffer from hearing loss! That's an amazing statistic! But if you
take a look at the noise levels produced by some of their equipment it
becomes a bit more understandable. Take a look at the following site, and
be sure to scroll down to see noise levels in tanks, and even farther to
see the kind of noise levels produced by the weapons our soldiers fire. Here's
the story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2007
When Robert Conley, 22, left his New Hampshire home
in 2004 to join the Army, he never thought flying home for a visit would
cause him physical pain, he said. But it did because of the damage to his
ears he suffered as a result of his combat experience in Iraq. He
is one of many soldiers suffering from noise-induced hearing loss, a
condition specialists now consider an “epidemic” within the military. Sixty
percent of soldiers who return from Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from
noise-induced hearing loss, and 49 percent also suffer from tinnitus, a
potentially debilitating ringing of the ears, according to military
audiology reports. While
troops are educated in the proper use of special noise-blocking devices,
many audiologists and soldiers say any kind of earplug is impractical.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2007
As a gunner in Iraq, Steve Kraft spent more time
ducking for cover than covering his ears. But after he returned to New York
from a year-long deployment, the echoes of war still resonated. "Is there
something buzzing?" he asked the Veterans Administration audiologist who
examined him before he wrapped up his service. "There's never any silence."
Kraft, 34, was told he had tinnitus, a maddening condition that has
skyrocketed among vets since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thirty percent of soldiers deployed in Iraq return with tinnitus, Army
doctors reported in a study published last year. Among those exposed to
roadside bomb blasts, 50% have it. Triggered by hearing loss, head injuries
and loud noises, tinnitus causes phantom sounds sufferers describe as
ringing, roaring or hissing in one or both ears. It can be intermittent or
constant - and distracting enough to be crippling. There is no cure, and
treatment is by trial and error.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
The new device consists of a foam earplug that sits
deep inside the ear canal and connects with a wire to an electronic box
strapped to a Marine's vest, like an iPod. It moderates the sound entering
the ear, allowing conversation and most background noises to flow in, but
clipping out large sound waves from gunshots and explosions, as well as
low-frequency noises such as the steady rumble of a moving vehicle. "It's
like having a bionic ear," said Ron Oyler, director of technical support
with the North Carolina office of Nacre, the Norway-based company that makes
the device, known as QuietPro. Integrated with the radio communications
systems, the device allows troops to hear their radios and maintain complete
situational awareness. A digital processor locks up at any sign of a blast
that could damage the inner ear, company officials said, and opens up again
immediately after a blast to permit normal sound. This sort of advanced and
costly technology has been used before, mainly among high-ranking senior
leaders and elite special-operations units, but the new contract shipping to
Marines and soldiers marks the first time junior troops will have such
protection, company officials said.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
Soldiers coming home with permanent hearing damage
and ringing in ears. Large numbers of soldiers and Marines caught in roadside
bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home with
permanent hearing loss and ringing in their ears, prompting the military to
redouble its efforts to protect the troops from noise. Hearing damage is the
No. 1 disability in the war on terror, according to the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and some experts say the true toll could take decades to
become clear. Nearly 70,000 of the more than 1.3 million troops who have
served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a
potentially debilitating ringing in the ears, and more than 58,000 are on
disability for hearing loss, the VA said.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
In the not-too-distant future, medication may
reverse the effects of hearing loss from acoustic trauma, according to Ben
J. Balough, a Navy captain and otolaryngologist at the Naval Medical Center
San Diego. Balough is leading research on a "hearing pill"-a special
formulation of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on which the Navy conducted a
double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 2004 ("A Magic Pill?",
The ASHA Leader, June 14, 2005). The clinical trial found that when compared
to the placebo, NAC reduced permanent hearing loss in the ear closest to the
source of acoustic trauma. NAC has also shown potential in reversing other
symptoms of acoustic trauma, such as tinnitus and balance disorders. The
U.S. Department of Defense is providing $2.5 million for more clinical
trials, according to Balough, who was involved in the earlier study. The
trials will include higher dosing of NAC in search of a more beneficial
effect, he said. The Navy also is seeking to package the supplement in an
actual pill form instead of previous formulation of an effervescent tablet
mixed with water.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
In September 2005, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
of the National Academies released Noise and Military Service: Implications
for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus. Hearing loss and tinnitus are among the most
common forms of disability among military veterans. The Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) reported that at the end of fiscal year 2003,
disabilities of the auditory system, including tinnitus and hearing loss,
were the third most common type of disability among compensated veterans. At
the end of 2004, the monthly compensation payments to veterans with hearing
loss as their major form of disability represented an annualized cost of
some $660 million. The corresponding compensation payments to veterans with
tinnitus as their major disability were close to $190 million on an
annualized basis. However, determining whether a veteran's hearing loss or
tinnitus is attributable to prior military service can pose a challenge for
the VA if documentation of hearing thresholds or tinnitus during military
service is not available. After the fact, hearing loss or tinnitus incurred
during military service is difficult to distinguish from the effects of
subsequent work in a noisy industry or participation in noisy recreational
activities, such as hunting. Furthermore, high-frequency hearing losses,
which are typical of noise exposure, are also seen at older ages, although
the patterns of age- and noise-related hearing loss are generally
indistinguishable until 60 to 70 years of age. Tinnitus, too, may develop in
response to factors other than noise exposure (e.g., head injury, middle ear
diseases, exposure to certain medications).
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2008
No matter which side of the political spectrum you
sit on, the undeniable fact is that war is very bad for the soldiers'
hearing. Research carried out by the U.S Army Center for Health Promotion
and Preventive Medicine shows that troops in combat zones are over 50 times
more likely to suffer noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) than soldiers who
don't deploy. Do you think your vacuum cleaner is loud? Consider this: a
typical vacuum cleaner emits, according to the Noise Pollution
Clearinghouse, an anti-noise organization, between 84 and 85 decibels. An
M-16 rifle, on the other hand, registers at 157 decibels, and other weapons
can be even louder. The explosion of roadside bombs, for example, is so
powerful, it can rupture the eardrum and break bones inside the ear. Sadly,
the full extent of the hearing damage to the troops may not be known for
years. What is evident right now from the figures released by the Department
of Veterans Affairs (DVA), is that of the 1.3 million U.S. soldiers who
served in Iraq since the war started in 2003, nearly 70,000 are currently
collecting disability for tinnitus, and more than 58,000 are on disability
for hearing loss, making hearing damage the number one disability produced
by this war.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2008
The bombs along the Baghdad road exploded one after
the other, leaving one soldier unconscious and another screaming from his
wounds. Staff Sgt. Kevin Dunne's squad was under attack. Rifle and machine
gun fire pinned them down. Then shots from a sniper. Dunne yelled orders,
but he and his squad were at a disadvantage. Dunne says he couldn't hear
well enough to tell where the sniper fire was coming from. "I had no idea,"
he wrote in an e-mail to USA TODAY. In the four months before the April 7
attack, the chief physician at Fort Hood, Texas, had warned that Dunne's
hearing was so bad that he should be removed from combat duties. Others in
the Army overruled him and sent Dunne back to Iraq for his third combat
tour. Now, a member of Dunne's squad - Sgt. Richard Vaughn, 22, of San Diego
- lay dead from a sniper's bullet. "He was lying in the middle of the street
motionless," Dunne wrote. "I blame myself a lot for not being able to
identify the threat simply because of the way I heard the shots."
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2008
Hundreds of soldiers are returning from Afghanistan
suffering from severe and permanent damage to their hearing because of the
overwhelming noise of intense combat. Nearly one in ten soldiers serving
with one regiment have hearing defects that could bar them from further
frontline service and affect their civilian job prospects, The Times has
learnt. The number of hearing injuries is one of the untold stories of
Britain's military campaigns, evoking comparisons with the thunder of battle
in the two world wars and the Korean War. Many of the soldiers involved in
the most violent clashes with Shia militias in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 also
returned with permanent hearing impairment. But in Afghanistan roadside
bombs, ferocious close-combat clashes with the Taleban and 500lb bombs
dropped by coalition aircraft have burst eardrums, caused tinnitus and, in
some cases, resulted in total deafness.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2008
In September 2007, a U.S. Navy officer working with
the Marines' executive safety board issued a simple, stark warning.
According to a presentation by Cdr. Stan Jossell, the Marines -- and to some
extent the services in general -- are buying new equipment that is so loud
that it's not a matter of whether but when and how badly operators will
suffer permanent hearing damage. Jossell noted, moreover, that the
technology to protect users from damage does not yet exist. Jossell, who
declined to be interviewed for this article, singled out the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) as particular
problems. Noise levels for these systems "will result in permanent hearing
loss," he wrote. "We are not protecting our people . . . [Program Executive
Office] Tacair has accepted the 'serious risk' for the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G
engine noise. Yet we are actually accepting the probability of permanent
injury, not the risk of the occurrence."
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2008
Bomb blasts, howling engines, growling generators
and the deafening roar of military aircraft have made the war zones noisy
enough to damage soldiers' hearing. An estimated 25 percent of redeploying
soldiers have reported experiencing some change in their hearing, or
dizziness or ringing of the ears, according to Army audiologists whose data
was gathered from hearing tests done at units and installations after
deployments. The hearing tests are now mandatory in an effort to collect the
data from all soldiers and make sure they are fit for duty and get follow-up
care if needed. They must take the test as soon as practicable upon
redeployment, or as part of their post-deployment health assessment.
Active-duty soldiers are required to have the test no later than six months
after redeployment. For National Guard and Reserve soldiers, the test must
take place before they go off active duty.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2009
Staff Sgt. Chris Mountjoy couldn't hear for three
days after the mortar round screamed into his camp and exploded 15 feet away
from him. The open door of a Humvee saved him from the shrapnel, but a shock
wave blew him 30 feet into a wall, perforating his ear drums. His hearing
came back, but only partially. Now, more than two years later, the
27-year-old who loved being in the infantry spends his days behind a desk at
Fort Carson's 10th Combat Support Hospital, where he was reassigned because
of his hearing loss and a traumatic brain injury from the blast. Hearing
aids help him, but they're not perfect. He seldom lets his two young
children play in a different room because he cannot hear if something were
to happen. He avoids loud restaurants, where background noise blots out
dinner conversation with his wife. Mountjoy isn't alone in his quiet world.
A cacophony of roadside bombs, machine guns and heavy equipment is wreaking
havoc on the hearing of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. An Army
questionnaire of soldiers returning from Iraq found that as many as one in
four returned from Iraq with some level of hearing damage.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2009
Staff Sgt. Chris Mountjoy couldn't hear for three
days after the mortar round screamed into his camp and exploded 15 feet from
him. The open door of a Humvee saved him from the shrapnel, but a shock wave
blew him 30 feet into a wall, perforating his ear drums. His hearing came
back, but only partially. Now, more than two years later, the 27-year-old
who loved being in the infantry spends his days behind a desk at the 10th
Combat Support Hospital in Fort Carson, Colo., where he was reassigned
because of his hearing loss and a traumatic brain injury from the blast.
Hearing aids help him, but they're not perfect. He seldom lets his two young
children play in a different room because he cannot hear if something were
to happen.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2009
Navy officials who helped design and purchase
F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in the 1990s failed to initially consider ways to
reduce the fighter jet's deafening noise level, putting today's flight-deck
sailors at risk for hearing damage, according to a Naval Audit Service
report. Even when flight deck crews wear earplugs and cranials, Super
Hornets are dangerously loud. Noise levels are near 150 decibels, a sound
blast far beyond the hazard level of 84 decibels for civilian jobs, the
audit service found. Navy officials who developed the Boeing-made jet and
the similar EA-18G Growler "made no initial attempt to mitigate the
flight-line/deck jet noise hazard through design selection," according to
the report. "We also found that there was no mention of noise limitations in
the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G acquisition strategy and contract Statement of
Work."
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2009
A next-generation earplug designed to make it easier
for troops to protect their eardrums will soon hit the war zone. The
challenge for leaders is getting every soldier to wear the plugs. The new
Combat Arms Earplug is made of the same washable plastic as the current
earplug and has the same "triple flange" construction to keep it in place.
But instead of removing the plug to operate a dial that regulates the amount
of sound entering the ear canal, the new earplug uses a rocker switch that
is operated without removing the earplug. Soldiers can adjust the rocker
with a quick "click" depending on the amount of protection they need. When
it's in the open or "weapons fire" position, sound can travel through the
sound channel filter into the ear. For noisy environments that don't require
an acute listening capability, such as around helicopters, troop carriers or
generators, the rocker can be switched to the closed or "constant
protection" position. Hearing protection has been standard issue for combat
forces since 2002, but even so, one in four soldiers returning home report
hearing loss, dizziness or ringing in the ears, according to Army
audiologists.
Full Story
