According to a report done by the British Medical Journal, the man in his 60’s “was lying on his left side directly underneath the welding site and was not wearing ear protection.”

It was during this period that some molten steel came off the semitrailer he was working on and it fell directly into the man’s external auditory canal (EAC).

The 1.7 mm spherical metallic foreign body in his ear. Image Credit BMJ

Understandably the man experienced immediate discomfort and a burning sensation in his ear and attempted to alleviate the pain by pouring cold water directly into his ear canal - It was during this time he began to experience hearing loss.

Fearing for permanent damage, the welder from Western Australia was first taken to hospital and then referred to an ears, nose and throat specialist where he had a CT scan that revealed some singed hairs within his ear canal as well as some perforation of the drum.

The CT scan found a 1.7 mm spherical metallic foreign body in his ear, as reported by Yahoo News,

The metal mass was removed via surgery and doctors determined he was extremely fortunate to suffer no permanent or long-term hearing loss as a result.

Researchers in the British Medical Journal noted: The case presented is of an exceedingly lucky man who suffered only mild conductive hearing loss from his injury and had a positiveoutcome from surgical intervention with full recovery of his hearing and removal of the offending foreign body.”

A timely reminder to wear ear protection when welding! 

(H/T Yahoo News)