When the bombs fall, and then all is silent, the lives of the survivors may also be thus.
Bombs arevery loud. Noise levels as high as 110 to 130 decibels have been documented in bombing practices. (Other war-related sounds can be painful, such as shotgun blasts or the sound of jet planes taking off from as little as 100 feet away). Being exposed to sound that loud, even once, can cause hearing loss. Any sound above 85 decibels is considered a potentially damaging threshold.
Examples of Bombing and Deafness
- During World War II, many people acquired hearing losses due to exposure to bombing raids.
- In Northern Ireland, many people have gone deaf from the noise due to bombing.
- When there was a bombing in Bali, many survivors incurred hearing losses.
- In one village in South Korea, residents endured noise from bombing practices as high as 150 decibels. This resulted in as many as seven percent of the residents developing hearing losses.
Bombing and Babies' Hearing
Bombing exposure may be responsible for at least some cases of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in babies born to mothers who had lived through war. During the war between Iran and Iraq, more children were born with unexplained hearing losses, and their mothers had been exposed to to bombing.
Blast Injury Deafness
Other terms for the effect of bombing on ears are "blast injury deafness" and "acoustic trauma." Explosive sound can damage all parts of the ear (it can tear membranes and move bones around), leading to either temporary or permanent hearing loss.
