Slashdot Mirror
Pop a Pill, Save Your Hearing
powlow writes "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. But a new set of drugs, about to be tested on Marine recruits, is showing promise as a way to protect ears against the din."
It's horrible. I know drugs are good things, and need to be tested, but damn. That's inhumane treatment to animals. I'm no hippie or PETA member, but stuff like that makes me ill to think about.
The best irony is that this man, who best liked the sound of his own voice, will in old age probably hear only his own voice. I hope this means we won't be hearing any more of his voice in the future!
Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma
Is it somehow less humane than, say, breeding them to be snake food?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ah but... the pills may not be putting the marines at risk, but the trial will involve using marines with just the pills versus a group of marines with conventional ear protection versus a control group of marines with NO hearing protection at all... In other words, someone's hearing IS going to be damaged in this trial, and the marines are not in a position to make informed consent as they are under orders and cannot refuse.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
The dirty little secret is that many, many H.S. band kids already have permanent hearing losses due to brass and percussion. UNT is just starting to discover this, but I'll bet if OSHA took SPL readings in the brass section, they would shut down every band in the U.S. How do I know? My son, the "ace" trumpeter in HS and UT, has major hearing loss. So, get your band kids hearing protectors and get them knowledgable about the dangers of loud sounds. Once they loose it, it can never come back.