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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."
At the University of Michigan, for example, guinea pigs were blasted for five hours with 115 decibels of sound -- about the equivalent of a chainsaw.
I like that word 'blasted'. Where can I get a job blasting helpless animals like that?
"tested on Marines", I just start to think of superviruses, and stuff like that"
Just wait until Mary Kay discovers that it can do most of its lipstick and eye-shadow testing on platoons of Marines instead of rabbits.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Stop giggling at the title... you know what I mean.
The first sentence implies that this is a cure; the second that this is a preventative measure. The second sentence is right. It can prevent hearing loss, but won't recover already lost hearing.
If it were me, I'd take the pill and wear hearing protection. The pill seems like a great idea for those who simply can't have ear plugs.
I understand that war doesn't stop for a soldier to insert ear plugs, but do soldiers use hearing protection at the firing range?
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.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
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.
:)
:) Or both.
:)
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
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!
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Oh, I do hope someone mods that up. I've got coffee dripping from my nose now.
Soon I'm going to have to take TWO pills to go to clubs...
People who've had their ears damaged by gunfire
I immediately wondered how a pill would protect against being shot in the side of the head.
One factor that makes concerts more damaging is that consuming alcohol makes your ears more susceptable to damage. Wear your earplugs, folks! If you're that concerned about your appearance, get some flesh-coloured electronic suckers. I know it's badass to go see Motorhead without anything, but when your ears are ringing the next day, you've been through too much.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
"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." Actually they have three choices - if they have the money (and their hearing loss is profound enough) they could purchase a cochlear implant (12 electrodes that are inserted into the cochlear to stimulate it, producing sound.)
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.
Actually, I know you were trying to be funny, but apparently the Society of Audiologists or whatever are furiously trying to get the word out about drugs like oxycodone, etc. and people who might be chronic heavy users, for legitimate reasons or not.
Apparently, they've been finding that people who take drugs in this class (vicodin, oxycodone, etc) can experience as a side effect sudden and near-total if not total and permanent hearing loss. Research is ongoing as to what's going on, but people who pop a lot of these pills for quite a while end up at risk for sudden deafness.
Naturally, if you're in enough pain that you need that kind of trank to go on living without curling up into a foetal ball and losing the will to live 24hrs a day (like when cancer REALLY takes a hold) you couldn't really give a rat's ass about this possibility.
But somehow I don't buy Rush's story about an auto-immune ear disease 86ing his hearing any more.
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix