Our Prime Minister Just Got Tinnitus + Hearing Loss

I thought I should share a small story as it's making headlines at most newspapers here in Belgium and pretty relevant for this forum. Our Prime Minister just got tinnitus + hearing loss.

For the article in Dutch including a short video, see: http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnen...ade-op-door-startschot-op-20-km-Brussel.dhtml

English article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...rs-hearing-loss-princess-astrid-starting-gun/

He was standing next to Princess Astrid who shot the starting pistol for the 20 kilometres of Brussels. So I guess 140-150 dB right at his ear. Pretty crazy that no one thought about warning one of the most important persons in our country about the dangers of gun shot noise, it shows there's really no awareness. He is now receiving urgent treatment for the next 48 hours (I guess intra-tympanic steroids and HBOT, there's not much else available).

Staff Addition:

 

Yeah absolutely incredible, astounded, people don't know, haven't a clue, includes me before the T and am pretty cautious...now did the person who fired the shot and the one on the other side get T?

In the UK your average GP would probably not advise HBO or know that it can help with T. They didn't for me...

 

Not that I am aware of but the PM gets most of the attention obviously. You can see that all persons physically react to the sound though. I don't think the woman got hearing damage, she is princess and would also get some attention.

And yes, before hearing problems I think I'd also stand next to a gun without protection being unaware how loud it actually is.

 

Poor guy, hate it when new people join the club, esp. when it was preventable. Was this in the news?
It could subside, sometimes it does in these cases and at least he knows the cause which means he won't be chasing lead after lead...

 

He is fortunate to be a prime minister. Most of us were not told about our options less than 48 hours into this nightmare.

 

Not sure if it was in the news, only became news this evening. It's on all news websites though. Perhaps good for raising awareness although people easily forget if they are not affected themselves. Hopefully it's not too bothersome, because coping with this condition in the first months combined with such a demanding job is not easy.

 

Yes me too, I remember going to a gun range in Las Vegas and the guys being very serious about wearing the ear muffs properly. I just though it was health n safety gone mad, the guns didn't seem that loud (with gun muffs on) Even the shot guns. Little did I know.

 

Agree...feel for him.

 

Sad for him especially being a bystander. The more prominent people with these conditions the more serious awareness the public pays attention too (possibly). If this guy is a politician though he may downplay it for his career. Which of course would undermine awareness.

 

Absolutely. And probably performed by the best doctors. Guess having the prime minister as patient would force any doctor to skip the "you just have to live with it" approach. It would be unacceptable. Too bad we are not public figures. Here in Greece after calling the emergency in case of possible death , it would take over 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. There have been reported deaths due to lack of infrastructure and bad timing. For the former prime minister who was bombed two days before, it only took 1-2 minutes. Anyway finger crossed for the PM. He has pretty good chances to obtain a second chance in life.

 

Does it says he specifically got Tinnitus? I couldn't find this information in the news. The scene is an example of how clueless the world is about hearing loss, but I couldn't find anything about Tinnitus in the news.

Also, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Best,
Zug

 

Gun shots are especially dangerous for immediate hearing damage.

 

Does HBOT stand for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy? It seems to have a 61% success rate. GPs really should know this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3369993/

Hoping for his/their full recovery!

 

Certainly hope he recovers. What a nightmare that would be!! You just never know what can happen.
I agree with the above statements. They should have had ear protection....

 

The women shooting the gun is a princess

 

HBOT does stand for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

Thank you for the link. That paper seem to imply that there is a 60% success rate for steroids for people with sudden onset of hearing loss. However, the studies on the first page of
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/
seem to indicate that HBOT might be useful for treatment of T due to acoustic trauma.

 

English translation: https://translate.google.com/transl...startschot-op-20-km-Brussel.dhtml&prev=search

That study was for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss not noise induced hearing loss.

Most of the time I'm not sure if anything can be done. Sure steroids HBOT etc. are worth a shot, but there really isn't any concrete evidence that anything helps.

 

If he gets hyperacusis from this, he won't be able to go on as a prime minister. As simple as that and scary.

 

Some explanations have been given by an ENT and he mentions an 85% success rate (http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/wetenschap/1.2992407). He refers to recovery of hearing, not tinnitus. Sounds a lot to me though, not sure where he got his numbers from.

He also mentions that a ringing sound can persist, usually in the background but it can get louder.

 

It's such a shame
Let's hope the PM makes a full recovery as one extra person with tinnitus is one more to many.


Love glynis

 

Indeed, I thought the same.

Any guesses on the decibels btw? I read something like 140 dB?

I hope he recovers and uses some leverage for awareness and funding.

 

I wonder about the mayor of the city as well, he flinches quite a lot too. (guy on the right)

 

Could be 150-160.

 

Thanks!

 

You see the shockwave coming out of the gun and is straight pointed at his ears. I wish him all the best but he received a big impact on his ear.

But he got 48 hours emergency treatment. All I got was wait a week, wait 3 weeks, go to the ENT (who is available 3 weeks later) who does nothing and I only get psychological help from the audiologist.

 

I guess you're being ironic as HBOT is not really what we could call "experimental".