Army veterans Joseph Junk and David Henderson relied on earplugs to protect their hearing during training and combat. Now, both men say they suffer hearing loss as a result of defective ear plugs sold to the military by 3M and have joined in a lawsuit against the company.
“I mean, the basic explanation is you can rely on your training and your equipment,” Henderson told CBS This Morning. "Everybody was just under the impression that these particular earplugs were doing their job.”
Like many veterans, Junk and Henderson believed their hearing loss was the result of exposure to the sound of small arms fire, heavy artillery, and rockets while being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
That was until the Justice Department settled a lawsuit with 3M last July alleging the company defrauded the government by selling earplugs with “dangerous design defects” to the military for more than 10 years.
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The earplugs cited in the suit have been discontinued and the Department of Justice would not comment on what types of earplugs are currently being used by the military.
According to 3M, it has a “long history of partnering with the military” and continues to make products that protect service members. It also denies the earplugs were defectively designed.
Dr. Thomas Roland of NYU Langone Health said that no earplug, even those that have been perfectly designed, can prevent loud sounds from passing through the skull to the inner ear.
“Our military personnel are exposed to extreme levels of noise,” he explained. “When sound strikes the bone of our skull, the bone moves with the sound. Even if you completely block the ear, sound above a certain level can still get to the inner ear through bone conduction.”
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In addition to partial hearing loss, Junk and Henderson say they also suffer from tinnitus, a constant high-pitched ringing sound.
“What is quiet? What is peace? I know for me personally, I don’t have it,” said Junk. “All I hear is ringing. If there’s no more sound around me, if I do not have noise around me, it’s maddening. It is torture.”
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 2.7 million veterans receive benefits as the result of being diagnosed with tinnitus.
Attorney Andrew Duffy represents more than 24 veterans who used the earplugs.
“These earplugs have a dangerous design flaw,” he said. “The goal is to send a message to 3M and other companies that you cannot defraud the United States of America and have the consequences be the health and well-being of our military members."
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Henderson wants 3M to offer a full explanation for what led to the defective earplugs being sold to the military and to own up to what happened.
“We can maybe start with an apology,” he said.