subject: Staggering Number Of Hearing Impaired Soldiers Seen Today [print this page] Marines and soldiers sent to Iraq or Afghanistan only to encounter roadside firefights and bombings come home in epidemic quantities with a huge problem known as hearing impairment along with ringing in their ears so the military saw the need for protecting the troops from noise more this time. Hearing damage is the number 1 disability in the war on terror, 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. Many are surprised by these soaring numbers. One major explanation given is the insurgency's use of a fearsome weapon the Pentagon did not fully anticipate, powerful roadside bombs. Their explosions would cause violent changes in air pressure that can rip apart the eardrum and break bones inside the ear of a person.
As the combats are usually firefights, ambushes and bombings, many of the soldiers, unfortunately, are not spared any time or chance to use their military issued hearing ear defense gears. They can never say, wait a bit I need to put my ear plugs first! In addition, 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. Some men truly forgot to pack their ear protection before coming to battle while the rest were simply not handed any ear plugs at all.
A man, who served as a serviceman back then shares how up to now, the noises of war remains with him even after four years after the area of Baghdad figured in a simultaneous explosion of three roadside bombs. For him, he recalls that it was quite funny how after the bomb went off, he did not at all feel that his leg is gone, but he remembers so clearly how intensely his ears rang. It was back in the year 2003 when this man's leg got blown off, leaving only his knee. He may already have a new leg, a prosthetic one, but until today, the awful ringing in his ears does not fade away.
It was stated by the military audiology reports that about 60 percent of the personnel from the United States of America who have been exposed to blasts suffer from permanent loss of hearing while 49 percent also suffer from tinnitus. The damage in the hearing of a person could range from a mild form, characterized by the failure to comprehend faint or low pitched sounds up to greater ones like total deafness or even a constant ringing that will never enable a person to concentrate on anything. The loss of hearing which is also called tinnitus does not have one solution.
From World War II and well through Vietnam, hearing damage has been a leading disability. Albeit everything that has been learned over the very long time, servicemen from the Army, today, are still victims of the same hearing loss that has tormented the veterans from the Second World War, as per the information revealed by the VA. You cannot easily compare the Iraq war in World War II, though. With the truly vast artillery barrages, epic tank battles and the terrorizing bombing raids that all transpired during the second world war, it can be said that this war was really different and was waged to an extremely far greater scope.
With such terrifying weaponry used today, even the best hearing shields can be only effective if administered correctly and even if this is done, it is only partially effective. A pair of $7.40 worth double sided earplugs, with one facet designed to protect from weapons fire and explosions, while the other from aircraft and tank noise were distributed to some members of the Marines. The proper instructions on the usage of earplugs were not given to the Marines and so some of them would cut their things in half, while others used the off beam sides, so the purpose is crushed. But then earplugs these days have to go together with its manual.
People under both the Navy and the Marines receive modern ear plugs, which contain digital processors that block out disparaging sound waves from gunshots and explosions and still allow users to hear daily noises and injurious sounds and this is just a superb idea. For those who would be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, it is good news that they would be given newly developed one sided earplugs that cost about $8.50, and some of these men have in fact been part of its testing.
Above and beyond, it is great to know that the Navy today is working closely with a group from San Diego in developing a powerful medicine which can be the one thing that will protect the ears of the multitude of men. Back in the year 2003, an early study was accomplished and this showed a 25 to 27 percent reduction in hearing loss that was undeviating. Finally and perhaps for the very first time, the hearing specialists or hearing trained medics have been assigned along the front lines instead of just at field hospitals and this is something good now in American warfare.
