Exposure to jet fuel, not just noise, contributes to hearing problems

VA ^ | March 20, 2014 | VA

[US Navy Vet]

It's a fact aircrews know well. Service members who work in and around aircraft are more likely to suffer hearing deficits. But new VA research on the effects of jet propulsion fuel-8, commonly known as JP-8, suggests the problem may be more complex than previously thought.

Dr. O'neil Guthrie, a research scientist and clinical audiologist with the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System in California, says it's not just the noise that is harmful. It can also be the fuel itself.

"JP-8 is one part of a larger class of hydrocarbon chemicals," says Guthrie. "What we're seeing is that even at subtoxic levels, the exposure is affecting the brain and resulting in auditory processing dysfunctions."

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping.

[SaveFerris]

I would think the F-4 Phantom II, with two J-79’s would have burned a lot of JP-4 just by themselves.

And being the F-4 Phantom II, Air Force, Marines, Navy all right there for sure.

[TADSLOS]

I just attribute my low frequency hearing loss to 15 years on the flight line and in the cockpit. The dB levels associated with that is more than enough to degrade your hearing, even with noise attenuation applied.

JP8? Well, ok...

[Jet Jaguar]

Same here. But I have been doused with JP 8 a couple of times.

[Jet Jaguar]

Same here. But I have been doused with JP 8 a couple of times.

[GingisK]

JP4 is just basically kerosene.

[SaveFerris]

That’s what I always thought, too. Wiki claiming it’s 50/50 with gasoline. (not saying Wiki is always reliable)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP-4

[GingisK]

Well, it seems nobody in this crowd knows squat. I found an Air Force document that has this to say: JP-4 is a mixture composed primarily of hydrocarbons (alkanes, cycoalkanes, alky-benzenes, indan/tetralines, and naphthalenes.) Nonhydrocarbon compounds such as sulfur and sulfur compounds are also found. Additives such as antioxidants, metal deactivators, fuel system icing inhibitors, corrosion inhibitors, and static dissipator additives are all present in limited quantities. Mum is the word.

Dang it, I closed that window. If you want it, I'll hunt it down again.

[SaveFerris]

It certainly didn’t smell like gas to me, anyways. What little I was around it.

I got some nice pics of a Marine Corps pilot parking his F-4 Phantom II was after an air show demostration. This was before the accident (Germany?) so they were still letting us get kinda close.

I have him turning in and parking. About 3 or 4 nice shots still in a few pics I’ve saved.

[GingisK]

Now RP-1, the propellant for the Saturn V F-1 engine, is kerosene. I tend to scramble my historical trivia these days. I’m just a teenager in an old body.

[SaveFerris]

Loved watching the Saturn V lift off.

Only got to see it on TV.

[TADSLOS]

Well, I’ve had JP8 splashed on me, but never been doused. Have plenty of time next to the APU exhaust on start ups with a fire extinguisher at the standby. Just one of the accepted hazards of the job...

[Jet Jaguar]

I’ve also been hit with hydrazine a couple of times. My hearing was the least of my concerns.

[SkyPilot]

I lost some hearing from being around flight lines and in aircraft for 20+ years. I wore hearing protection most of the time, but noise and decibel levels are just such that you are going to cause hearing damage no matter what you do.

It's not just aircraft, but ground power carts (which make a hell of a lot of noise), APUs, etc. Moreover, I am convinced that being exposed to the sun at high altitudes during cruise does one helluva number on the human body.