Veterans and the prevalence of tinnitus!

marching veterans

Tinnitus is the number one disability recorded for Veterans in the US, according to Military.com.  A high price to pay for serving your country!

Veterans have a higher rate of tinnitus when compared to the general public due to prolonged exposure to noise levels that far exceed routine daily life. In the US, 1.5 million Veterans are receiving disability benefits because of their debilitating tinnitus.

A study in 2011 from the US showed that 18% of the Veterans receiving disability benefits, related to tinnitus and hearing loss because of their service, compared with 5.3% who received similar benefits as the result of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

These numbers are due to increase, particularly since the return of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The Department for Defence in the US estimates that there will be over 200,000 new veterans each year.

 That is going to cause a lot of additional tinnitus for our serving armed forces!

What causes their tinnitus?

The military, in general, is a high noise-producing environment. This exposure has occurred both on the battlefield and also while preparing for the battlefield. It varies from a range of equipment and activities, for example, heavy machinery, proximity to aircraft, working below decks in the navy with the humming of engines, and of course gunfire.

Australian defence force tinnitus
Australian Defence Force Suffer too

In Australia we don’t have access to this type of data, well we can’t find it. We are not sure if it’s not publicly available or if we really don’t take this seriously enough and just don’t capture it!

What does the data say?

So we don’t know the Australian data concerning Veterans and the impact of tinnitus. The Department of Veteran Affairs says on its website that hearing loss and tinnitus are the two most common conditions experienced by Australian Defence Force personnel. The percentages are unlikely to be much different from the US.

Check out www.dva.gov.au

We are working with the DVA so we can make this treatment accessible to all Veterans, as you can appreciate this is a slow process, that is why we are working closely with other Veteran group and associations.

all veterans
We want access for all Veterans

We know how important it is to get the right treatment that works, and the treatment must be both affordable and accessible.

As Dr Hodge says

“I have seen many Veterans suffer over the years and have felt helpless in my ability to treat their tinnitus. I have provided advice and suggestions like meditation but never felt satisfied that I could refer my patients to a proven scientifically based treatment.”

Now that I have developed this treatment, I want to make sure Veterans know about it and can access it.

In addition to articles published in the well-know military online magazine Contact, we have also now linked with APOD.

APOD stands for Australian Partners of Defence

Its an Australian owned and operated organisation founded by Veteran families, for Veterans. Its purpose is to provide benefits to its members with easy access to local and national discount offers. Veteran cardholders can access 1,000s of offers and discounts for free by registering with APOD.

https://apod.com.au/about/

That is why we have an exclusive offer that is only available via the APOD website. Sign up through APOD and receive two free months of tinnitus treatment.

In addition to having data confirming how successful this treatment is we are the only tinnitus treatment that has a relationship APOD and a commitment to support our Veterans.

we can never forget
We must remember all our Veterans

We are also determined to improve and better understand the scale of the problem in Australia for our Veterans who experience tinnitus.  We encourage you to complete the profile information so we know you are a veteran and we can see how much tinnitus is impacting on your quality of life. We will use this information anonymously with the Federal government to push for better support and treatment available for our serving and formed Australia Defence Force

Related Tags:  Ringing Noise in Ear