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he can't hear it...the police also can't hear it

Hmmm...I see /. now flash ads up while you're trying to write a comment. I think this may be the last time I visit this web site.

Sorry... I guess I wasn't totally clear... I'm a Ph.D. student in Audiology, meaning that I have background in physiology/hearing science as well as clinical aspects (hearing loss, treatment). I do research specifically in noise-induced hearing loss. I'm working on MP3 player output levels at the moment...

As to your question about #3,4... that is a current speculation as to the additive properties of aspirin to tinnitus. However, tinnitus is typically idiopathic, meaning that it has no cause. Aspirin is related, but not causal at all. If you sever the auditory nerve, for example, tinnitis usually remains, indicating that it is central (brain). As to bloodflow, we're typically talking near the cochlea, not near the eardrum. You can have tinnitis caused by vascular problems in the middle ear (glomus tumor, for example)... which is real and caused, essentially, by hearing your own heart beat.

Unfortunately, tinnitis is a ridiculously difficult subject. I recommend the American Tinnitis Association's website for more info...

Some other links...

• American Academy of Audiology hearing anatomy/physiology info

• CDC info on Noise-induced hearing loss

• Wikipedia entry on Hearing Loss

There are many more on the web, too!

Seriously: I was born 1969 and clearly are part of the walkman generation, using one (OK, cheap copycats) from the mid 80s till the early 90s. Then I exposed my ears to techno parties :-P Whenever they check my hearing at the doctor or hospital they are surprised how good I hear considered my age.

I'm a year older than you, and likewise my hearing is still intact. Doesn't do me much good though since I got tinnitus instead. Not in the eighties but about ten years later. There seems to be a correlation between the amount of noise you've been subjected to earlier and later development of tinnitus. If you experience "disco tinnitus" then you're at risk. You don't want to wake up one day still hearing it, belive me. I'd easily take a 15-25 dB hearing loss to get rid of the noise during the first 7 years I had it.

And on the point of tinnitus, society has clearly gotten noiser with a corresponding rise in tinnitus in the past decades or so, e.g. many teenagers now make their tinnitus debut at the movies, something that wasn't heard of in the eighties. It's the leading cause of suicide in teenagers here in Sweden.

If you've recently gotten it, don't do that though. It will get better, there will come a time when you'll think "If this was all I had to worry about, I would be happy".

It would be fantastic to conduct a stufy of women who had tinnitus before getting pregnant (once, twice or perhaps more) and any correlation between getting pregnant and any possible lessening of the level of ringing in her ears. Or perhaps one where an audiologist at least tests hearing acuity before/after/between getting pregnant

Tinnitus is truly an unmet medical need. I'm sure that many of us who suffer with trauma to the inner ear wonder what stem-cell research portends for us. In the meantime the American Tinnitus Association is a good clearing house for Tinnitus information. Including lists of physicians who are knowledgeable in this area.

Currently the only model for alleviation (besides experiments in "masking" the sound and electrical stimulation of the eardrum) is the Jasterboff Model of retaining the sufferer with a means of "tuning the brain out" from noticing the "sound". I've not tried it yet, but I'm told it's met with considerable success for some patients.

It's unfortunate that the most you'll get from a great many audiologists and ENTs is "Sorry, I can't help you". Googling around, you'll find a number of boards where people talk about their condition, possible cures and provide support for one another.

Hey, I know! Let's find motorists with sociopathic tendencies and piss 'em off! What could possibly go worng?

Sociopathic, and antisocial, but most likely moronic as well. 9 times out of 10. These are cases...like the Hummer blaring "Methodman" at jaw shattering levels...that might better suit the use of a silent 10 minute track that loops to be even safer, rather than "baring the same shit back at 'em". As a tinnitus sufferer, I couldn't do this anyway.

So for the moron in the SUV listening to to rap, they will most likely be stupified by the silence. Of course, if he changes channels, your shit out of luck, until you again find the one he's on again (if you have time and the chance, like following someone who is unawares).

Like I said, 9 times out of 10 they would likely be stupified were you successfull in your chicanery. What about the 10th time? Probably good to have a black belt or not risk the other 9 times. After all, without risk, is anyone EVER truly satisfied? Clever hack or no, this is a good empowerment to have in your personal aresenal.

The American Tinnitus Association has a wealth of information regarding hearing and tinnitus. It's well worth your hearing to do whatever you can to prevent hearing loss or damage.

I've suffered with tinnitus for years, and have changed fans several times looking for something quieter. It's amazing the amount of noise the average fan produces, and it would be well worth it to me to quieten down the office even more.

Of course, all those years going to rock concerts at the Grande in Detroit probably didn't help either.

People who've had their ears damaged by gunfire, jackhammers or punk rock have traditionally had two choices: get hearing aids, or suffer in silence.

Ha! I wish I could suffer in silence.

I haven't had a silent moment in probably 10 years (or more). Why? Because I have tinnitus, which is a constant high-pitched ringing noise-like sensation in my ears. I am not hearing a real noise, but something between my ears and my brain decide to generate a ringing noise which I hear every second of every day.

If it is really quiet, the ringing can be very loud and unsettling. I've learned to deal with it. Usually the normal background noise in an office can mask the noise.

I sleep with an airfilter on at night, on a low setting. The grey/white noise is loud enough to mask the ringing. Music/television are too distracting for sleep. My parents live in the country, and it's quiet. Hope I don't forget a noise generator...

It was hard to sleep in Europe. Tourist hotels are usually pretty loud, and earplugs make it so I can only hear the ringing. Drunk Austrians running up and down the street 3:30AM, singing at the top of their lungs... ack! :)

Oddly, one alcoholic drink subdues my sensation of the ringing.

As a side effect, I have a really hard time hearing people in a crowded room, even if they are two feet from me. I can't carry on a conversation in most bars. Quiet resturants are great.

My dad has it also. So either we have the same genetic predisposition to tinitus, or we have a genetic predisposition to listen to loud music :) Or both.

Damn you Einstuerzende Neubauten and your damn forks on garbage can lids! And Black Flag and Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin and Metallica! Damn you to hell! :)

After playing in Punk bands, listening to Punk on walkmen and seeing other Punk bands play live I've had an awful case of Tinnitus since about 1990. Actually it started for me after seeing an industrial band play at a tiny nightclub in Neptune NJ.

The suck-factor of this malady has increased over the past decade. But I've learned to live with it (for the most part, but it does drive me nuts occasionally). There are treatments out there that are mostly based on cognitive adaptation. I've also heard of some treatments involving massive doses of vitamin A. But the latter is a bit dicey, because if things go wrong you can easily poison yourself if the dosage is just a bit off.

The article metiontions noise damage to the central ear - the cochlea - which is EXACTLY what caused my condition. The treatments in question could potentially reduce further damage to the inner. But I was *very* encouraged that they are also talking about the potential of hearing rehabilitation.

I've always (having already been a fullbown by the age of 5) been fascinated with science and technology and believing it's inevitable upward spiral would yield miraculous advances. After having been injured (in no small part due to my own ignorance of human physiology) in this way, I've held onto that belief tighter than ever. This is a truly maddening condition.

...than your hearing! We're all used to thinking of ourselves as immortal, especially when we are young. When I was a teenager I used to listen to a Sony walkman fully crankin'. Now I have well over a decade of suffeing with tinnitus. Anything over 90db is damaging to the ear. One hearing specialist said that listening to headphones is akin to jamming a pair of firehoses into both ears and turning the water on full blast in terms of the damage it'll do to your hearing. It may sound like hyperbole, but it probably isn't that far from the truth!

Tinnitus can cause depression, sleeplessness and a host of other psychic and physical maladies. From a personal perspective, if you hear a loud noise that annoys the hell out of you you have two choices. 1)Walk out of the room where you hear the offending noise 2) Turn the sound down! If you have tinnitus, you can't do either of those things. You just have to live with it. There is no cure and by the time you realize that the ringing in your ears isn't going away that's about it. You will hear that sound for the rest of your life! Unless, of course nanomedicine can provide a cure, but don't hold your breath or hang your hopes on that one!

It's called tinnitus. More information can be found here and here.