Hearing damage most common disability in Canadian Forces

Ignorance to the law is no excuse, wasn't that the saying?

Many times VAC does not dispute the individuals issue........it is the connection or link to the military service. Like Rex stated, if it is not on your medical file at the time of release or prior.....very difficult to prove.

Then there are the times where it is documented years before a person gets released.....they get out and only when a vet becomes aware a particular condition is pensionable they submit a claim years after getting out and VAC calls them uncredible because.......they waited so long.

VAC and VRAB love to use that excuse.......like every soldier and vet knows every rule and every entitlement from the get go. Or is it once we retire/released is when we grow the additional grey matter and then we know all our benefits/entitlements we are expected to know.....because after all.....ignorance is no excuse......fracken B.S.

Riddick

They say that they eased the threshold of proof for hearing loss claims, because of all the studies that have been conducted. But that is pure BS. Currently the only way that they will approve a hearing loss claim is if there is hearing loss is present during your release medical. I put a claim in for Tinnitus, and it was denied because they said that it is only associated with hearing loss. So I had a hearing test conducted, by a specialist, who says I have moderate hearing loss in one ear. But again it was denied because when I did my release medical in 2005, they said my hearing was fine. So they took the word of a Cpl, who sat me in that fridge for 5 minutes, with a set of headphones and said press the button every time you hear a high pitch ringing, which was constant, because I had tinnitus ( I just had no clue what tinnitus was at the time), over an audiologist who had me hooked up to read brain waives, and ran test for around three hours.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1332460-hearing-damage-most-common-disability-in-canadian-forces

It was after a training exercise at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick that Nova Scotia army veteran Robert Grant first noticed the ringing.

“I was instructing on the use of a grenade on the grenade range. It bounced too close, and the sound seemed to rattle around the inside of my helmet. The concussion made me lose my hearing. Twenty minutes to a half-hour later, it came back. But I never lost the ringing.”

The perceived ringing noise, caused by tinnitus, a symptom of Grant’s ear damage, worsened over the years. Now, he said, it gets so loud he feels like he’s going crazy. The effects are severe for Grant, often putting him out of commission for days at a time. Since leaving the Canadian Forces in 1996, he has been diagnosed with severe depression due to his symptoms.

“Mine comes and goes, but when it comes, it’s scary stuff. It brings you to a very dark place,” said Grant. “I usually just pump sleeping pills into me so I can sleep through it.”

He is not alone.

According to David Lyon, a Halifax audiologist who has worked with military members for the past 30 years, ear damage caused by sound exposure is the most common service-related disability for Forces members.

“Many occupations and activities of daily living in today’s world are the cause of hearing loss, but military personnel and civilians that work with them, they’re at particular risk, and you can probably guess why.”

Not only are military members exposed to noise levels that are much higher than those experienced by the general population because of the use of various types of weapons, but many military jobs also result in exposure to continuous noise — such as helicopters or a ship’s engine room — as well as high frequencies emitted by equipment such as radar and sonar for long periods of time.

With that level of exposure, ear damage is quite common, Lyon said, and often results in conditions such as hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Efforts have been made to educate military members about the risk of hearing loss, and personnel are equipped with appropriate ear protection, but the problem persists.

“The effect of auditory disabilities, hearing loss, tinnitus, it may not be as obvious a disability as a leg break or back stress, but they do have a significant impact on quality of life,” Lyon said.

Decreased social interaction, depression and anxiety are all common side-effects, and for those that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, auditory disabilities can exacerbate the issue.

For Clarence Dawe, a former artillery member, his hearing loss and related tinnitus cause headaches and sleeplessness, and he uses a hearing aid in both ears.

“Sometimes the hearing aids help, but if there’s two people talking, I’m out of the equation all together,” Dawe said.

“I get lost.”

Despite the frequency in occurrence and severe impact of hearing loss, Lyon said many veterans don’t even realize they can apply for compensation through Veterans Affairs Canada. Many do apply but are denied benefits, despite their military service being the most likely cause of their hearing damage.

Lyon said he believes this is due to outdated criteria for compensation.

When the criteria were written, Lyon said, a military member had to show a certain level of documented hearing loss at the time of discharge to qualify for compensation.

“This is based on the assumption that noise damage ceases when noise stops.”

But current research is questioning that theory, suggesting that hearing can deteriorate long after the noise source is no longer a factor.

“It’s time, in my view, that (Veterans Affairs) should reconsider the criteria in the light of current research,” Lyon said.

Although Grant said the amount wasn’t enough to provide any long-term stability, he did receive one lump-sum payment for his hearing loss and tinnitus. In the last few years, however, his symptoms have become so debilitating he is now seeking further compensation.

“My tinnitus gets so bad I can’t function. I’m literally disabled, and I can be disabled for two or three days,” said Grant.

“I also have chronic pain, and I’d take that every day, all day long at its worst, over one day of severe tinnitus.”

No one from Veterans Affairs or the Defence Department was available for comment by The Chronicle Herald’s deadline.