Deafness linked to the effects of battle

Comment that was made in the absolutely fabulous book ‘Like Wolves to the Fold’ by Mike Snook concerning the subsequent criticism that Bromhead received about his deafness. He states that there was a high probability that soldier’s hearing was likely to be affected after a lengthy period of close fighting. Are there other reports whereby hearing has been affected post conflict?

My hearing is impaired due to lengthy exposure to gunfire over twenty years, but not from battle, but in weapons training and due to inadequate ear protection.

JY

The British Army is very strict about hearing protection during training but under combat conditions many soldiers ignore it and have uncovered ears due to the need to listen for the enemy and orders clearly, so sadly hearing damage in soldiers has been very common in recent years (especially in Afghanistan) as Col Snook will be very aware.

I suffer from hearing damage in certain frequencies from being a mortarman despite always using hearing protection so it doesn’t have to be modern high velocity weapons to cause such damage (just loud!!).

Although I haven’t read any of Snooks books it has always struck me as very likely that Lt Bromhead and the men under his command must all have been very likely to suffer hearing damage at Rorke’s Drift due to the extensive firing in a concentrated area and over a much longer period than any other battles of the Zulu War (or indeed other wars come to that).

I’m not aware of any evidence that suggests Bromhead had poor hearing before that battle (please correct me if I’m wrong), so it seems most likely to me that he suffered his hearing damage at Rorkes Drift, and that it’s highly likely he wasn’t alone.

Regards Phil.

Hi Herbie
I seem to remember reading that Bromhead did indeed suffer from some sort of deafness before the Rorke's Drift Action .
90th

Ok thanks 90th. Bet it was worse afterwards though!
Phil

Hi Phil
Bromhead was into many sports one of which was Boxing .... probably not conducive for one's hearing , especially if he was known to ' wear ' a few ! .
Gary

Just finished ‘Eyewitness in Zululand’ by Ian Bennett. P118 regarding 2/24th being left to guard the supply depot at Rorkes Drift and that there was some discontent at being left behind “again” with blame on Bromhead
“Aged 33 with 12 years service, he was deaf; he missed commands during drill and his hearing limited his performance in the field.