MANAGING HEARING LOSS
A Salute to the Veterans Veterans from conflicts both past and current share their stories about hearing problems, the top health issue at military hospitals. By Elizabeth Stump
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there were 92,260 tinnitus claims and 65,583 hearing loss claims at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, according to the HCE. Cases of hearing loss, tinnitus, and auditory injury in the military continue to rise by as much as 13 to 18 percent annually.
Military Response
In response to the rise of auditory injuries in the military and their growing costs, the Department of Defense called for the establishment of the HCE in 2009. Along with the VA, the HCE leads a collaborative effort to address the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, research, and rehabilitation of hearing loss and hearing impairment. “Hearing loss is truly a hidden disability, and our aim is to address significant gaps in the military’s ability to prevent or mitigate and then treat this type of injury,” says Col. Mark Packer, M.D., the interim acting executive
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innitus (ringing in the ear) and hearing loss are the number one and two health complaints, respectively, among military veterans overall, dating from World War I and up to and including current conflicts. At least 60 percent of returning military from Iraq and Afghanistan have acquired hearing loss or tinnitus due to noise exposure during service. According to the U.S. Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE), the numbers for those injured in the global war on terror effort are more than 350,000 service members with tinnitus and over 250,000 with hearing loss. The cumulative numbers are even more disturbing. In the past decade, 840,000 service members have been diagnosed with tinnitus, and just over 700,000 have hearing loss, the HCE says. Combined, the number of cases of tinnitus, hearing loss, and other auditory disorders over the last decade tops 1 million. In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available,