- As sound moves into the cochlea, it causes little hair-like cells to vibrate.
- But exposure to extremely loud noises can cause the cells to get "broken" and become permanently bent.
- This causes the cells to stop responding to sound (hearing loss) and/or to continuously send "noise" signals to the brain (tinnitus).
- Tinnitus is the perception of sound even when no sound is present.
Movies and TV shows drastically exaggerate two aspects of firearms: recoil and noise. Often
you will see firearms being used with virtually no recoil, which is impossible regardless of how strong a person is. But far more egregious than this, action heroes are shown repeatedly firing guns with no harm to their hearing.
In fact, exposure to a single gunshot without hearing protection can cause hearing loss and tinnitus.
Members of our military are quite familiar with dangerous noise levels. For many, their exposure to gunfire and
other extreme noises causes hearing loss and tinnitus. In fact, hearing loss and tinnitus are the two most common
reasons for claims with the VA.
This is an excellent Guns & Ammo article on hearing loss from firearms.
Another article on hearing loss, this one from Outdoor Life.
