The nature of battle in current war zones has put 128,000 on ear-related disability
SAN DIEGO - Soldiers and Marines caught amid roadside bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home in epidemic numbers 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 terrorism, 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 numbers are staggering," said Theresa Schulz, a former audiologist with the Air Force and past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association.
One major explanation given is the insurgency's use of powerful roadside bombs. Their blasts cause violent changes in air pressure that can rupture the eardrum and break bones inside the ear. Also, much of the fighting consists of ambushes, bombings and firefights, which come suddenly and unexpectedly, giving soldiers no time to use their military-issued hearing protection.
"They can't say, 'Wait a minute, let me put my earplugs in,'" said Dr. Michael Hoffer, a Navy captain and one of the country's leading inner-ear specialists. "They are in the fight of their lives."
Some servicemen on patrol refuse to wear earplugs for fear of dulling their senses and missing sounds that can make the difference between life and death, Hoffer and others said.
Hearing damage has been a battlefield risk since the introduction of explosives and artillery, and the U.S. military recognized it in Iraq and Afghanistan and issued earplugs early on. But the sheer number of injuries and their nature came as a surprise to military medical specialists and outside experts. Sixty percent of U.S. personnel exposed to blasts sustain permanent hearing loss, and 49 percent also suffer from tinnitus, according to military audiology reports. |