Hearing and vision are critical senses.  Service members must be able to see, hear, and communicate in order to achieve their mission safely and effectively, engage with their families, and connect with their communities.

Military personnel are routinely exposed to sensory hazards in combat, training, and by exposure to potentially hazardous conditions on and off duty. Hearing and vision injuries are detrimental to force readiness, attrition, retention, and replacement. Degraded hearing or vision can impact your mission fitness, and service members should treat their eye and ear health like any other physical tool they develop and protect.

We're committed to protecting the vision and hearing health of our service members and veterans, giving them the best opportunity to maintain fitness for duty and the quality of life they deserve!

Protect Your Hearing

It's a noisy world and protecting your hearing is essential, not only for your life in the military but for your relationships in your personal life as well. Check out these links from the DOD's Hearing Center of Excellence to understand hearing loss and how you can prevent it:

• Causes of Hearing Injuries
• Dangers of Loud Noise
• Hearing Protection Devices
• Preventing Noise Induced Hearing Loss

Protect Your Vision

There are nearly 2,000 eye injuries occurring in the U.S. each day and almost all of these injuries can be prevented. Check out these links from the DOD's Vision Center of Excellence to understand eye injuries and how you can prevent them:

• Eye Injury Protection and Response
• Eye Protection
• Vision Assistive Technologies and Services