The Hear Daily » Hearing Loss

Celebrate Veterans day: Champion Ear Protection for our Troops

Samantha — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:40:44 +0000

Hearing loss is a serious health hazard for veterans. Consider this:

More than 45,000 vets from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom have hearing loss.
Of the 300,000 vets from the post 9/11/01 conflict, tinnitus is the #1 disability and hearing loss is #2.
35% of returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan have hearing loss.

Any decibel above 85 is considered harmful. Rifle fire is 150 decibels. Bombing practices regularly hit 110 - 130 decibels. Some troops have their hearing damaged during a skirmish and then can not hear commands that lead them to safety. Their fellow soldiers are yelling at them to run or duck, but they can no longer hear. As a hearing-impaired person whose chief complaint is missing out on some conversation during a social outing, this is horrifying.

But here is an even more horrifying part: Most of these cases of hearing loss were because the soldier opted not to wear hearing protection. Air Force Col. Joseph A. Brennan, the ENT doctor at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, asks every soldier whom complains of hearing related issues if they were wearing hearing protection. “Since I arrived here in May, I have not had one service member answer yes to that question,” he says.

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You are in very Good Company

Samantha — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:21:58 +0000

Hearing impairment is often referred to as a hidden handicap. The larger community around us - the clerks at the grocery store, the new neighbor, a friend of a friend - will have no idea based on our physical attibutes that we are hard-of-hearing. Even with our hearing corrected, sometimes the situation is such that we are simply not going to be able to hear what is going on. The side effects of having hearing loss - not hearing people talking to the backs of our heads, getting names or other details wrong, choosing limited interaction with strangers because it is too much trouble to chitchat, to name a few - creates interesting social situations that aren’t always positive. People may find us aloof or confused or uncomfortable to talk with.

But, each of us are far from alone in this challenge, as hearing loss is the number one disability in the world. More than 25 million people need hearing aids, though only five million currently own them. Here are a few statistics to give you a idea of the size of the demographic you are part of: (more…)

9 Questions to Determine Hearing Loss

Samantha — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:54:07 +0000

Recognizing that one is hearing impaired can be a difficult thing. Environmental factors can mask hearing loss and as a result, this impairment can start out so subtle, one might not realize that they have hearing loss. However, statistics prove that the quicker one corrects hearing loss, the happier, healthier one will be.

Here are 9 questions that can help you determine if you need to see a Ear, Nose and Throat doctor:

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