Hearing Loss From Ear Plug Usage

The Minneapolis located 3M business manufactured the Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs that were employed by military personnel from the years 2003 to 2015 during combat and training exercises to guard staff hearing from gunfire and explosions. Hearing issues are the most frequent issues suffered by soldiers so hearing defense is a major worry for U.S. soldiers. Based on various scenarios, the 3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs were designed to provide two different levels of protection. The dual-ended earplugs have a design that is easily recognizable. As their name implies, they were made of of two outward facing earplugs, one green and one yellow.

While the yellow part was put inside the ear, this was called as Weapons Fire mode. This mode was designed to provide normal hearing for peak situational alertness. It could let staff to communicate, receive commands and listen to other important noises on the battlefield while still providing defense from peak level noises like gunfire and explosions. This would have been the desired mode in combat situations.

When the green end was inserted inside the ear, this was referred to as Constant Protection mode. Constant Protection was designed to block all sounds more thoroughly in order to provide complete defense. Per 3M, the mode is for high level steady noise scenarios such as those in tracked vehicles and air support. This mode may have additionally been used in several standard practice exercises and environments as well.
Claimed Hearing Issues
Combat Arms EarplugsManufactured by 3M and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc, Dual Ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) that were made for military use and used extensively by thousands of servicemen sent to Afghanistan and Iraq between 2003 to 2015. The CAEV2 was produced to allow for two separate protection modes, Open Fire mode and Constant Protection mode. The appropriate setting is determined by which side of the plug is placed inside the ear, yellow means Weapons Fire mode, green means Constant Protection mode. Weapons Fire mode was designed to allow for hearing speech and communicating yet maintaining protection against damaging noise levels from gunfire and explosions. The Constant Protection level blocked all noise more fully that was useful for staff operating in track vehicles, in air support or during regular training. Each settings were claimed to block noise up to a specific standard but in current litigation, the government has claimed that neither mode of the ear plug met the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) that 3M alleged because of a non-reported design error.

$9.1 million Settlement Between 3M and the U.S. Government
In July of 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that 3M had agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly sold the Combat Arms Earplugs v2 to the U.S. military without disclosing errors that declined the effectiveness of the hearing defense device. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 under the whistleblower part of the False Claims Act which allows private parties to sue for the federal government whenever they believe that a defendant has represented false claims for government funds. In this issue, the whistleblower was granted $1,911,000 for their part in the lawsuit.

Per the DOJ press release, the settlement took care of claims that 3M violated the False Claims Act by selling or causing to be sold defective earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency. Specifically, the U.S. claimed that 3M, and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc., were aware that the CAEv2 was too short for correct insertion into users’ ears and that the earplugs might loosen imperceptibly and then didn’t work well for some individuals. It was additionally claimed that this design error was known to 3M but wasn’t disclosed to the Department of Defense.

Injuries to Personnel
If the allegations about 3M are true, many personnel could have used fault prone plugs which didn’t protect them as the equipment was supposed to. Based on the alleged design error, the plugs may loosen while inside the ear unbeknownst to the soldier allowing damaging sounds to make their way inside the ear. combat earplugs may have serious and permanent effects including partial or total hearing loss, or tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Hearing loss is one of the most common issues suffered by active duty and former service personnel. Tinnitus, which might be debilitating, is just as frequent. According to a research scientist with the VA Portland Healthcare System, last year there were in excess of