In the latest complaint filed in the Northern District Court of Florida, a U.S. special forces officer, alleged that he suffered hearing loss and tinnitus due to defective design of the combat arms earplugs.
3M Combat Arms earplugs were provided to the plaintiff and other service members when they were stationed at Fort Bragg since 2002; assuming that the issued earplugs were not defective, the plaintiff also purchased a pair at a store.
Plaintiff's lawsuit stated that he first noticed his hearing problems in late 2005 or 2006. In 2011 the condition worsened, and the plaintiff was diagnosed with hearing loss. The lawsuit stated that the plaintiff wore combat arms earplugs whenever he got exposed to noises louder than background noise and now experienced one to four episodes of tinnitus every day.
An increasing number of military earplugs hearing loss lawsuits have been filed in recent months over design defects stating the earplugs were too short to properly fit in the ear, but 3M continued to sell them to the U.S military. In July 2018, 3M reached a $9.1M settlement over the combat arms earplugs problems with Department of Justice.
