HEARING PROBLEMS PLAGUE VETS OF ALL AGES
By Von Lunen, Kelly | |
Proquest LLC |
Ear damage continues at an alarming rate among active-duty service members. Individual services, VA and VFW are working to improve prevention and health care that applies to veterans alike.
Not surprisingly, hearing loss and tinnitus are the top two most common service-connected disabilities. More than 1.5 million veterans receive VA compensation for these conditions. But the problem grows faster than solutions can catch up to.
The
"If you get into a firefight, you don't exactly have time to put ear plugs in while you're getting shot at or while mortars and IEDs are exploding," he said. "And it goes without saying that that much noise in close quarters damages your ears."
Now a student, 24-year-old Partin has 10% VA service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. He describes the hearing loss as not severe enough to need hearing aids. But, he says, "I hate silence because the ringing drives me nuts."
Hearing loss forces Partin to sit at the front of his classes. Although he says he has gotten good at reading lips, the nature of hearing loss makes it difficult to distinguish between words.
"I can hear the noise, but it's hard to tell what the person is actually saying," he says. "My family understands that they have to be loud, but we have no problem with that. The biggest impact in my personal life is music. It is my hobby and my passion, and now it's a little bit harder to enjoy. But you can never give up on your passion."
HIGH COSTS,
Service members are often reluctant to wear ear protection due to a perception that it makes them unable to hear what goes on around them. As a result, some 60% of veterans who served in
Even proper use of required ear protection isn't enough sometimes. With advancing technology, profound hearing loss is not necessarily grounds for discharge. As of
Maj. Gen.
In addition to the physical and social hardships of hearing loss in the military and civilian workplaces, amplification is expensive. Hearing aids for civilians can easily run
Although VA promises to provide hearing aids to veterans within five days, The
The Times also reported that the Denver Acquisition and Logistic Center has nearly 20,000 aids backlogged, unopened and waiting for repairs or replacements. For comparison, VA logged 358,000 hearing aid repairs in 2011 and 395,000 in 2012. In 2012, VA ordered some
'DAMAGE IS ALREADY DONE'
VA's 2011 Veterans Annual Benefits Report estimates that some 841,000 veterans have tinnitus. According to the
Worse, tinnitus currently has no cure. Treatments include sound therapy to shift focus away from the tinnitus sounds and cognitive behavioral therapy to develop and implement coping techniques.
"As for the tinnitus, there really isn't much you can do about it; the damage is already done," Partin said. "So you spend the rest of your life learning how to cope with the injury."
Veterans do not necessarily have to be service-connected for hearing loss (which can be rated up to 100%) to receive service connection for tinnitus (up to 10%). To file a claim for hearing loss or tinnitus, contact a
"The process is lengthy," Partin says of his own experience. "However, if you do the legwork and stay on top of it by making all of your appointments on time, turning in your paperwork correctly and being persistent, the VA will take care of you.
"For instance, since my hearing loss is documented, I will receive treatment for my ears for the rest of my life. This is kind of exciting because they say that I will need hearing aids eventually, and I know that it will be taken care of." ©
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VFW HAS SPENT TIME recently on
Established in 2012, the Center became operational in
"From our standpoint, education on hearing conservation is a top priority," Packer told Military Times. "We also are looking at ways to encourage the services to promote hearing conservation programs."
"While noise conservation measures help mitigate acoustic trauma during training exercises and on the flight line," Manar says, "the hazards of working in combat preclude the use of protective gear for soldiers and Marines."
A common denominator for all veterans is noise exposure. Starting in boot camp, service members learn to fire weapons as part of basic training. The damaging decibel levels of these sounds are well-documented but virtually unavoidable in today's warfare.
"For many, noise exposure only gets worse with heavy weapons use," Manar said. "Everyone uses loud machinery. The engine rooms of ships could not substitute for public libraries because of the noise."
To start, people exposed to acoustic trauma often experience a sort of temporary hearing loss and tinnitus. "That is, 'I couldn't hear anything for hours, and my ears rang for days after the gun went off next tome,"' Manar explains. However, I0M reports that this acoustic trauma causes long-term damage that might not yet be evident.
"Since hearing loss cannot be reversed, it is vital that the effects of acoustic trauma be studied so that scientists can develop better hearing protection for service members," Manar said. "In this case, the very best medicine is prevention. That is why the VFW supports the
"However, if you do the legwork and stay on top of it by making all of your appointments on time, turning in your paperwork correctly and being persistent, the VA will take care of you.
-BENJYL. PARTIN
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Copyright: | (c) 2014 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States |
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