Posts Tagged ‘ringing in the ears’

Iraq and Afghanistan sent soldiers prone to hearing loss

Soldiers and Marines caught in 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. The dire loss of hearing comes on top of the list of disabilities caused by the war on terror as per the Department of Veterans Affairs and the true ramification would entail decades to become comprehensible, according to the true experts. Around the figures of 70,000 within the 1.3 million troops who have served in these war zones are now collecting disability for a strange condition that has a nature of a potentially debilitating ringing in the ears called tinnitus and on the other hand soldiers on disability for hearing loss reach up to 58,000 already. The data is overwhelming. One explanation is that sadly, the Pentagon was unable to anticipate the rebel’s use of a powerful and hostile weapon, the roadside bombs, to their benefit. Such explosions would rupture the eardrum of any person and break bones in there too, as the air pressure changes can do these.

As most of the battles would consist of bombings and firefights and loads of ambushes, these poor soldiers have no time to use their military issued hearing protection with this very unexpected situations at hand. Soldiers in battle do not have the liberty to ask their opponents to stop so that they can first put on their ear protection devices. Additionally, some servicemen on patrol refuse to wear their assigned earplugs for fear of dulling their sense of hearing inevitably missing important sounds that truly matter. But on the other side of the coin, some of the other men just weren’t given any earplugs while some just forgot to pack theirs before plunging into their role as soldiers.

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. This man also gave some details to how it might have been hilarious that when the bomb exploded, he did not at all feel any pain of losing his head but then it was the ringing in his ears that he could recall so clearly. It was back in the year 2003 when this man’s leg got blown off, leaving only his knee. Today his leg has been replaced with a prosthetic, but his ears are still ringing.

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US Personnel Face Permanent Loss of Hearing

Lately, the military has been compelled to intensify its efforts to guard the troops from noise as it has been a plaguing actuality that soldiers and Marines caught in roadside bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming back home in huge numbers with ringing in their ears or even permanent loss of hearing which is a sad fate. Some experts declare that hearing injury is the first disability in the war on terror to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and sadly it might take so many decades before the true ramifications are defined. Practically 70,000 of the more than one million three hundred thousand more or less troops who have served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a potentially incapacitating ringing in the ears, and 58,000 are on disability for hearing loss as well, sadly. These very discoveries are so astounding. It has been explained that the pentagon never anticipated the rebel’s use of a powerful and threatening weapon, the roadside bombs and this is one of the major explanations. Their blasts cause violent changes in air pressure that can rupture the eardrum and break bones inside the ear.

Additionally, a lot of the battle schemes would include ambushes, firefights and bombings all of which are unexpected so the fighters do not have time to put on the hearing protection gear given by the military services. Wait a minute, I got to put my ear protection first, is something they cannot do. Additionally, some servicemen on patrol refuse to wear their assigned earplugs for fear of dulling their sense of hearing inevitably missing important sounds that truly matter. Others might have forgotten to take their earplugs along or were simply not given a pair before they were sent into the war district.

Even if four long years have passed since the simultaneous eruption of three roadside bombs near Baghdad transpired, a former serviceman recalls how the sounds of war persist in his ears. When the bomb went off, he shares how he didn’t feel his leg gone and it was quite absurd that all he could remember vividly was the intense ringing in his ears. It was back in the year 2003 when this man’s leg got blown off, leaving only his knee. He discloses the sad fact that up until today, his ears would be ringing even as he already has a nice new prosthetic leg.

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