“Today, we’re going to be talking about tinnitus.
“My name is Zack Evans. I work with Woods and Woods Attorneys in Evansville, Indiana. Today, we’re going to be talking about some of the causes of tinnitus and how we use tinnitus to develop a holistic plan for advancing evidence on behalf of our veteran clients.”
What is tinnitus like?
“Tinnitus is a constant high-pitched tone twitching in your ear. Sometimes people that suffer from this condition report hearing crickets that aren’t there. I know this personally because I’ve experienced tinnitus after exposure to loud music for many years. It is not a pleasant friend.
“Veterans unfortunately deal with tinnitus on an entirely different level, and it has to do with their occupational exposure while they’re serving our country. So, while you’re young, this can sort of come and go. You might be in a really quiet room, and you just hear that high-pitched ‘eeeee’ sound, and then it goes away. But as you get older, that kind of hearing damage can be constant, and it can be an ever-present distraction.”
Symptoms and causes of tinnitus in the military
“So, are you having difficulties in conversation? Do you find yourself asking people to repeat themselves? Tinnitus could be the culprit.
“Some of the sources of military noise exposure include heavy equipment, machinery, aircraft, construction, and especially gunfire. You don’t always have to be forward operating as infantry men or special forces or aircraft or something like that to experience a lot of noise exposure in the military. There are a lot of stateside veterans that are involved in things such as construction.
“Think about some of the Seabees that were deployed several decades ago. Some of these guys were constantly exposed to high levels of noise exposure. Think about diamond tip saws, pneumatic drills. These give off a large amount of noise. Of course, one of the things that really shocks me in terms of noise exposure and just the prolonged type of noise exposure is Navy veterans. And you wouldn’t necessarily think, well, you’re out in the middle of the ocean, and what kind of noise is a Navy veteran exposed to? Incredibly high amounts of noise.
“Especially Navy veterans that served engine rooms, you’re in a tin can basically, you’re in a big metal box, and there are these huge engines pumping to power this ship. And inside those engine rooms, it is deafeningly loud. And you might spend 10 or 12 hours on a ship or in that part of a ship doing your job, whether it’s maintenance or overseeing the equipment, it can be over the course of a deployment, especially if you’re out to sea and you’re embarked. I mean, it can be just months and months and months of constant noise exposure. And even trying to mitigate that noise exposure with some kind of earplugs or over-the-earmuffs, there’s only so much that those can do to protect you. I mean, you can knock the decibel levels down, but it still really adds up.
“Another example of high military noise exposure is carrier deployments. Guys that spend time on the flight deck, who spent a lot of time around jet engines, and especially that beating pulsing wave of helicopters, that does a particularly acute type of damage to the ears.
“Other examples of military noise exposure that can lead to tinnitus for vets we serve are field artillery, small arms fire. Think about flash grenades when you’re clearing a room on a deployment, IED and rocket explosions, whenever you’re the subject of an attack. Think about what your military noise exposure was, whether you spent time in the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard. Usually, even if it’s just in training, you’ve been exposed to some significant noise levels. And it doesn’t matter if it happened on a deployment, if you were in combat, or if you weren’t exposed to combat.
“Let’s say you were stateside the entire time. If you were using a diamond tip saw for eight to 12 hours a day, you likely have some noise exposure that did some damage to you. It might not have appeared when you were first discharged, but if you started to experience that later in life, it’s likely that your military noise exposure was at least a factor.
“So, when we’re talking about small arms fire, the 556, and 762 NATO rounds that are commonly used by the US military give off about 160 decibels. That is a huge amount of noise exposure. And if it’s, say, a squad automatic weapon, like an M249, these are constant automatic pulses of 160 decibels. And you’re right there. You’re holding the rifle. Even with ear protection, there’s only so much that you can mitigate. 50 caliber gunners were commonly exposed to decibel levels with each shot of over 170 decibels.
“As you can see, these are huge exposures to military noise.”
VA rating for tinnitus
“When it comes to being rated for your tinnitus by the VA, the max rating is only 10%, and that doesn’t sound like a lot, but don’t be fooled, the impact can be significant. And sometimes it can serve as a useful bridge to other conditions.
“Think about the impact that tinnitus has on your life and your mental health. Your ability to interact with your family. Your ability to enjoy conversations with friends and associates, extended family, things like that. And think about tinnitus as a constant reminder, especially for those that endured deployments, particularly violent deployments, that tinnitus can be a constant reminder of your exposure to combat and to trauma.”
“The impact on your social life, on conversations, instructions at work, it can prevent you from operating and doing your job in a safe manner.
“Think about being at the top of scaffolding and some unsafe situation while you’re doing a roof job and you’re being yelled at by your supervisor. The foreman is on the ground and he’s yelling, ‘Hey Dan, look out!’ There’s a toolbox sliding down the roof. And you’re looking the other direction, because you’re trying to hoist a piece of sheet metal, and you don’t hear because of your tinnitus, and a lot of times we have hearing loss that goes along with that. You don’t hear somebody yelling at you to look out, somebody that’s looking after you. So, you can see how these safety issues can present themselves as these hearing issues sort of ramp up from all these noise exposures.”
“Woods and Woods’ experience will give you the best chance to get what you deserve.”
T.K.
How Woods and Woods can help
“Tinnitus is often linked to other hearing related problems. Like I said, such as hearing loss, Meniere’s, vertigo, and balance issues. So, in order to do a good job assessing all of these hearing-related conditions together, we really need to see your file. We need to see how it’s impacting you on a psychological level. We need to see how it impacted your job, how it impacted you professionally, and what you’re dealing with.
“What we want to do is use this to help tell your story — an overall picture of what’s happening to you, so that we can advance a good case to the VA. My name is Zack Evans. I’m with Woods and Woods attorneys in Evansville, Indiana. Give us a call.”
Zack Evans
VA disability attorney
Woods & Woods
Zack is a former prosecuting attorney. He received his law degree from Southern Illinois University. He joined Woods & Woods in 2017.
