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May 08, 2013
Today, tinnitus affects more than 50 million people in the United States. With noise exposure and hearing damage being the most common causes of tinnitus, our military population is particularly at risk. Tinnitus was established on the VA disability rating table in 2001, and since 2005 has been the most prevalent disability documented by the Veterans Benefits Administration. With the number of tinnitus cases increasing each year, it is necessary that we are aware of what tinnitus is and how to prevent, identify and treat its symptoms. How much do you know about tinnitus? Next week is Tinnitus Awareness Week and the Hearing Center of Excellence invites you to test your tinnitus IQ! We will be posting daily questions from May 20th - 24th on our Facebook page to test your tinnitus knowledge. Follow DOD HCE on Facebook now and stay tuned to participate in our week-long quiz in honor of Tinnitus Awareness Week! Thank you for your support, Dr. Packer Sources: What You Should Know About Tinnitus, [PDF 102.31 KB] American Tinnitus Association Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, [PDF 91.7 KB] The Independent Budget Progressive Tinnitus Management (PTM): Clinical Handbook for Audiologists, U.S. Department of Veterans ...
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February 15, 2013
At the Hearing Center of Excellence, one of our goals is to raise awareness about the importance of hearing health, both on and off the field. This month, we encourage you to share information about hearing loss prevention with those you love. February is Kids Ears, Nose and Throat (E.N.T.) month, so why not discuss tips for developing healthy habits in your home, including with your little ones? Discuss the important role that hearing plays in your lives, at home, at work, and in your hobbies and relationships. And if you or a child has been diagnosed with hearing loss, have an open conversation about how your family is supporting one another. Remember, whether it is wearing protective hearing equipment while in combat, putting in earplugs for a weekend concert, or simply treating an ear infection, having the knowledge and ability to preserve one’s hearing is an important quality you can pass on to your children, friends and loved ones. It is never too early, or too late, to teach good hearing health hygiene. Hearing is not only a job requirement for many careers, it is also the foundation upon which many relationships and interpersonal connections are forged. Give your ...
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December 20, 2012
Picture this: You are 23 years old. One minute, you have the world at your fingertips. You are proud to serve your country and in the best shape of your life. A beacon of peak physical fitness. Next, you are lying in a hospital bed with third-degree burns. You can see people scurrying around you, but the room is completely void of sound. You try to cry out for help, but your voice falls on deaf ears (gasp! your own deaf ears). This is the experience of not just one, but several, wounded veterans at the Center for the Intrepid and many more across the globe suffering from varying levels and degrees of auditory injury. While many of the instances of service-connected hearing loss are not this severe or absolute, hearing loss has been on the rise among service members and is a problem plaguing warriors not only in the United States, but also in other countries such as France and Germany. The magnitude of the problem has compelled NATO member nations to establish a working group specifically designed to address the global military hearing loss epidemic. The Hearing Center of Excellence has been fortunate enough to take part ...
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November 19, 2012
In a recent report published by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC), the Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH), in consultation with the Department of Defense Hearing Conservation Working Group and the Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE), published a new case definition of Noise-Induced Hearing Injuries (NIHI) for the purpose of epidemiological surveillance. The components of the new definition represent the culmination of years of collaborative work conducted by a joint team of AFHSC staff and audiologists from the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the report [PDF 843 KB], the definition will improve researchers’ ability to measure and report on the incidence and prevalence of NIHI among U.S. active duty military personnel. According to the report, the new definition, which will be categorized through the use of specific ICD-9 code sets, encompasses “a broad range of conditions that result in damage to the organ of hearing” and “are acquired through exposure to noise and often result in chronic hearing loss.” The report also points out that “a significant proportion” of hearing injuries sustained during military service are preventable through “measures [which] include isolating sources of noise, controlling noise transmission, and the consistent wear of ...
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October 30, 2012
As a military medical professional, I've spent much of my life caring for those suffering from tinnitus and hearing loss. In doing so, I've witnessed first-hand the broad impact that auditory system injury can have on a person's career, family, income and mental and physical well-being. However, I find that this impact is often hard to quantify and explain, especially to individuals that are removed from the experience. Luckily, there have been a number of recent studies as of late that help put data behind the striking reality. We at the Hearing Center of Excellence have decided to capitalize on this opportunity by creating an infographic that visualizes findings from multiple hearing health reports. The result is an illustration of the prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus among veterans as well as the physical, social and economic costs of these injuries on individuals and society. Please take a moment to review the infographic, reflect on its implications and share the illustration with your networks. Thank you for helping us "stop the loss." - Dr. Packer
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September 26, 2012
The Hearing Center of Excellence is a relatively young organization. But we're growing fast. We recently hosted a planning meeting with leaders across the military services where we discussed our progress to date as well as our priorities for the future. Below, you'll find a summary of the highlights and an overview of upcoming plans. We invite you to share your feedback in the comments section at the bottom of the post. Congressional Inquiry Response Highlights Collaboration and Purchasing Recently, we responded to a formal Congressional inquiry requesting updates on our progress and impact on warfighters and veterans. The inquiry, which stemmed from the July testimony presented by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric Shinseki to the Joint Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, provided us with a great opportunity to showcase recent milestones. In the response, we highlighted our collaboration with the Defense Center of Excellence for TBI/PTSD (DCoE), which resulted in a clinical practice guideline for primary care providers to optimize diagnosis and treatment of the dizzy patient who may have sustained traumatic brain injury as a result of a blast. In addition, we described a new ordering ...
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August 20, 2012
This is the compelling story of a brave veteran, Army SGT Rosa-Valentin, who, despite both his visible and invisible injuries, chooses to live an independent life motivated by his children’s love. Every day, the HCE team focuses on facilitating and advocating for the best possible preventative medicine and rehabilitation for service members and veterans like SGT Rosa-Valentin. The Injury GEN David Petraeus presents a coin to SGT Luis Rosa-Valentin. Photo from Army Medicine. During his second deployment in April 2008, SGT Rosa-Valentin lost three limbs, his hearing, and “life as he once knew and cherished it” to a powerful explosion. As part of the Infantry Division, he was the point man on a dismounted combat raid that consisted of a six-hour firefight with snipers and combatants. During the raid, a fellow soldier was injured in the cross-fire. SGT Rosa-Valentin removed him from harm to safely reach medevac transport. Upon his return to battle, SGT Rosa-Valentin was scanning the area for snipers when an IED exploded next to him. Thanks to a quick response, SGT Rosa-Valentin was stabilized and flown to a local hospital, where he received life-saving care. He was then airlifted to Germany, where he remained in stable condition, ...
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July 02, 2012
Some of the most striking displays of American patriotism occur on July 4. Whether in the form of a parade, an extravagant fireworks display or the simple gesture of flying “Old Glory” outside one’s house, it is hard to turn on the news, open the newspaper or go online without seeing patriotic images. As a woman who chose to serve our great nation in uniform, I’m honored by the outpouring of national unity. But in this writing, I aim to try to break through the loud noise of Independence Day with an important reminder: our shared history of independence is long, as is a lifetime without hearing. To safeguard our future, we need to keep our military ready. An important component of this effort involves protecting service members from auditory injury and preserving their ability to hear and communicate. Our military is critical to America, and the ability to hear is critical to our military. Within the Hearing Center of Excellence’s Prevention and Surveillance Directorate, my team and I strive to provide an educational agenda and resources to enhance the understanding and adoption of preventive measures and programs to protect service members’ hearing. Our Federal partners at the National Institute ...
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June 04, 2012
If you follow our social media sites (if not, please do!), you may already be aware that the HCE has had a very busy couple weeks. In honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month as well as Armed Forces Day, my colleagues and I were in the field working to raise awareness about the rising incidence of tinnitus and hearing loss in the military. Despite the hectic nature of the past few weeks, we’re excited that these opportunities have helped drive progress toward achieving our mission and advocating for the hearing health of our troops. First, Col. Vickie Tuten, the Associate Director for the Hearing Center of Excellence’s Prevention and Surveillance Directorate, was joined by Maj. Scott Forbes and Maj. Ryan Mills at the Friends of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus (CHHC) Hearing Health Forum & Reception. At the forum, visitors could have their hearing screened, test the volume of their MP3 player ear buds using a testing dummy and participate in a video otoscope demonstration conducted by our very own HCE contingent led by Col. Tuten. The event, which occurred in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by Reps Tom Latham (IA-4) and Carolyn McCarthy ...
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May 08, 2012
This post was authored by our guest blogger, LTC Eric Fallon. LTC Fallon serves as the Director of the Audiology and Speech Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He is also a driving force behind the tri-service and cross-continental effort to establish effective evaluation systems and fitness for duty standards for service members. Along with Dr. Mark Packer, Dr. James Crawford, and Dr. Douglas Brungart, LTC Fallon participated in the recent hearing-focused NATO Research and Technology (RTO) HFM 229 RTG meeting on Optimizing Hearing Loss Prevention and Treatment, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Soldiers with Hearing Impairment in Belgium. In the post below, he blogs about his participation in the event and about the mission of the NATO group in general: _______________________________________________________ Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to attend the NATO Research and Technology (RTO) HFM 229 RTG meeting on Optimizing Hearing Loss Prevention and Treatment, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Soldiers with Hearing Impairment in Belgium from March 26 to 29. The event was the second meeting of its kind, bringing together representatives from multiple NATO countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, in order to focus on the issue of hearing health and ...
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