Each year, a countless number of drivers and passengers in motor vehicle accidents survive due to the deployment of the automobile airbag. According to a number of independent and government studies, automobile airbags have decreased fatalities by about 21 percent for unbelted drivers and by at least 9 percent for drivers wearing seatbelts.
The downside of airbag deployment is the introduction of a new spectrum of
injuries. Most are minor, but some can be life threatening. These injuries
include eye damage and trauma to the spine, facial nerves and facial bones.
Of particular interest to me are hearing and balance disturbances.
Clients who are in wrecks where the airbag explodes complain to me of hearing loss and/or ringing in their ears, a condition that physicians call tinnitus.
New vehicles are now equipped with side and other airbags, sometimes totalling up to 10 airbags. With airbags exploding at about 170 dB, a car wreck suddenly becomes a very noisy environment with high potential for hearing loss and/or tinnitus.
I hope that physicians treating victims of motor vehicle accidents will take ear injuries into consideration when documenting patient injuries and offering emergency care.
The downside of airbag deployment is the introduction of a new spectrum of
injuries. Most are minor, but some can be life threatening. These injuries
include eye damage and trauma to the spine, facial nerves and facial bones.
Of particular interest to me are hearing and balance disturbances.
Clients who are in wrecks where the airbag explodes complain to me of hearing loss and/or ringing in their ears, a condition that physicians call tinnitus.
New vehicles are now equipped with side and other airbags, sometimes totalling up to 10 airbags. With airbags exploding at about 170 dB, a car wreck suddenly becomes a very noisy environment with high potential for hearing loss and/or tinnitus.
I hope that physicians treating victims of motor vehicle accidents will take ear injuries into consideration when documenting patient injuries and offering emergency care.
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