Sara Graves (www.ameriforce.net, 2007) laments about rising trend of tinnitus and hearing loss among service personnel. She quotes David Fagerlie, the CEO of the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), who says that regarding veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, there will be more spending on disability compensation for suffering related to tinnitus and hearing loss than for any other medical injuries.

According to this article, the ATA reports that 49 percent of all soldiers exposed to explosive blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan had tinnitus.

It is predicted that if nothing is done, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs will be paying out nearly one billion dollars in disability compensation by 2010.

Sara Graves interviewed Theresa Schulz, PhD, President of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), who notes that an effective way to prevent hearing loss among service members is by educating them about different methods of hearing protection. She cites Communication Ear Plugs and Combat Arms Plugs as examples.

The problem is that people like to make excuses for not using them. There are solutions for every excuse. If the earplugs don’t fit right, ask for different ones. If someone needs to hear the radio, specialized earplugs are made for this.  Basically, there is no legitimate excuse.

Fortunately, specialized earplugs that enable communication are becoming increasingly popular. It’s only a matter of time before the ATA, the NHCA and other such organizations succeed at combating this hearing loss and tinnitus trend.

Until then, those who suffer from tinnitus will want to use Tinnitus DX, a homeopathic remedy for tinnitus.