Ryan Morton CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? -- Sgt. Richard Kimball, 1463rd Transportation Company, Michigan National Guard completes a post deployment audiology exam in the mobile OnSite Health testing center at the Timmermann Center, June 2.

Soldiers caught in roadside bombings and other situations that result in hearing trauma are returning home with permanent hearing loss and ringing in their ears. Testing demobilizing Soldiers to protect them from hearing loss is just one of the steps taken by Fort Dix as possible treatment.

An OnSite mobile testing center, containing some of the most advanced audiology testing equipment available is parked outside Timmermann Center and has tested roughly 200 Soldiers daily for the past month according to Audiology Coordinator Ryan Bramson. OnSite also does periodic health assessments, dental exams, audiology tests and in-depth assessments.

"I don’t know what to expect from this test," said Sgt. Marc Louded, D Company, 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry, New Jersey National Guard out of Woodbury. "I used the ear plugs so I am hoping I do ok."

The Soldier was later surprised by his positive test results.

Hearing damage is the primary problem Soldiers experience when returning from serving overseas according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA.) Nearly 70,000 of the more than 1.3 million troops that have served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a potentially debilitating ringing in the ears, and more than 58,000 are on disability for some degree of hearing loss, according to the VA website.

A major cause of this hearing loss is the powerful roadside bombs. Their blasts causes violent changes in air pressure that can rupture the eardrum and break bones inside the ear. OnSite exams treat Soldiers for these, sometimes unnoticeable, health problems.

Also, much of the fighting includes ambushes, bombings and firefights, which occur suddenly and unexpectedly, giving Soldiers no time to use their military-issued hearing protection said a 1st Sgt. who requested anonymity. "We can't just stop and say, Wait a minute, let me put my earplugs in.’"

Fort Dix has responded with better and easier-to-use earplugs, greater efforts to educate troops about protecting their hearing, and more testing in the war zone to detect ear injuries. Proper use of ear protection starts with the initial training completed before deploying overseas.

The results aren't in yet on the new measures, but Army officials believe they will significantly decrease the rate of new cases of hearing damage, said Col. Kathy Gates, the Army surgeon general's audiology adviser during a conference at the Pentagon in 2008.

Sixty percent of U.S. personnel exposed to blasts suffer from permanent hearing loss, and 49 percent also suffer from tinnitus, according to military audiology reports. The hearing damage ranges from mild, such as an inability to hear whispers or low pitches, to severe, including total deafness or a constant loud ringing that destroys the ability to concentrate.

Given today's fearsome weaponry, even the best hearing protection is only partly effective -- and only if it's properly used.

Soldiers are getting hearing tests before going on patrol and when they return to base if they were exposed to explosions or gunfire.

(Jennifer Chupko may be reached for comment at jennifer.a.chupko@us.army.mil.)

Read the Post Online for June 5, 2009.