A car crash can cause life-changing injuries. The most common injuries can frequently include brain trauma, broken bones, fractures, whiplash, cuts and bruises.
However, did you know that a serious crash could affect your hearing, too?
How a crash could affect your hearing
There are several situations during a car accident that, if they occur, could affect your hearing. For example:
- Loud noises: While airbags are a vehicle safety feature that can protect you from serious injury and death, they might also be harmful. When deployed, the sound generated by inflating airbags can reach up to 160 decibels. This is about as loud as a gunshot. Furthermore, the noise of a car crash itself has been known to reach as high as 150 decibels.
- Brain injury: The impact of a car crash can cause you to hit your head. This could result in damage to your ear canals or even to the tiny bones in your ears that allow you to process sound.
- Debris: During a car crash, particularly one at high speed, the impact could shatter windows and destroy a car’s interior. This could launch sharp debris into your ears, possibly damaging them.
All of these factors could cause you to suffer temporary or even permanent hearing damage. These could manifest through:
- Tinnitus, or a persistent ringing sound in your ears
- Muffled hearing
- Outright hearing loss
It is critical to seek medical treatment after a car accident – even a minor one. It may be possible to catch damage to your ears or hearing and obtain treatment for your injuries as soon as possible.
A car crash can seriously damage your primary senses, and lead to lasting injuries. If you suffer severe injuries after a car accident, you may be able to seek compensation.
