Hearing Loss for Military Veterans: Causes & Treatment Options in Arizona
July 24, 2019
Hearing Loss For Military Veterans Is Common
loss of hearing is an inevitable cost of war
Scary Statistics
- Almost every soldier, sailor, marine and any other member of the armed force are exposed to hazardous noise levels at some point in their career. Estimates show that more than 2.6 million US military personnel have been engaged in combat in the last decade.
- The CDC (Center for Disease Control) estimates that an astounding 414,000 veterans have returned home with mild to severe tinnitus or hearing loss after 2001.
- A paper by Yong and Wang published in 2015, reported that the prevalence of hearing impairment in the military population is far greater than in the general public.
- In 2012, the two most prevalent disabilities for veterans in the United States are tinnitus and hearing loss, with tinnitus affecting 115,638 veterans (9.7%) and hearing loss affecting 69,326 veterans (5.8%).
- Another study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, in 2011, observed that 16.4 -26.6 % of men and 7.3 - 13.4 % women in military service suffer from serious hearing loss and tinnitus.
- A 2015 study by Theodoroff, reported that tinnitus, noise-induced hearing loss, and central auditory dysfunction in veterans are categorized under secondary injuries. These injuries are not routinely evaluated and not properly funded.
Causes:
A military environment is very noisy. Not a basic humdrum but unbelievably loud noises. Sounds such as the engines of ships, planes, helicopters and tanks and general military and combat noise is enough to cause severe tinnitus and loss of hearing.- Severe hearing loss is caused by bomb detonations, improvised explosive devices, and loud weapons. For example, the crack of a standard M16A2 rifle is 152 decibels, which might be enough to cause irreparable damage.
- Training exercises with machine guns, artillery, explosives, are all very loud noises.
- Field generators and powerful “bunker-buster” bombs are louder.
- New technology has enabled larger and louder weapons than before and therefore the incidence of hearing impairment is probably rising each year.
The challenges:
It takes 7 years to seek help
Exposure to blasts affects central auditory processing
Treatment
The information provided in this article is not meant to be medical advice and is for educational purposes only. If you would like to learn more about this and other hearing-related topics, feel free to contact Tinnitus & Hearing Center of Arizona by clicking here or by calling 480-831-6159.
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