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Science

Pop a Pill, Save Your Hearing 70

Posted by michael from the pull-string-gun-go-boom dept.
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."
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Pop a Pill, Save Your Hearing More

Pop a Pill, Save Your Hearing

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  • Science fun (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 19, 2003 @02:49PM (#7767714)

    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?

    • To blast those 'pigs, use the AirZooka [thinkgeek.com]. This might be familiar, they are a Slashdot sponsoer and this item does appear in the banners.

    • Re:Science fun (Score:3, Insightful)

      by hawkbug ( 94280 )
      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.

      • Re:Science fun (Score:4, Insightful)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Saturday December 20, 2003 @12:05AM (#7771689) Homepage Journal
        Is it somehow less humane than, say, breeding them to be snake food?
      • I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if the experiment would still work if the animals were unconscious.
    • Where can I get a job blasting helpless animals like that?

      At the University of Michigan, duh...

      -Captain Obvious
      • They also do this at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. My roomate was a Ph.D. candidate in experimental psychology, and his job was to "startle" rats with blasts of noise to map their anxiety reactions when the specimens were under the influence of drugs designed to curb addictive cravings.
        Of course, this meant you had to get the animals addicted to something first. He transfered to rats when they asked him to administer heroin to an ape.

    • Where can I get a job blasting helpless animals like that?

      Do frat-boys count? When I was in college I ran sound for bands, usually at frat partys. Those were the loudest shows I ever ran. I always wore plugs and I would GIVE plugs to anyone who asked for them, but that was rare. I think the frat-boys figured they had a better chance with the sorority girls if the girls couldn't hear what they were saying.

      This sig best viewed in Lynx [browser.org] 1.0.

  • When I hear (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "tested on Marines", I just start to think of superviruses, and stuff like that.

    Aren't drug trials usually performed on volunteer groups from the public who have a vested in interest in the proposed benefits of said drugs?

    I hear advertisements all the time like "Participate in this medical study if you suffer from [insert ailment here], and you will receive free care from us, using our new experimental treatments"

    propz to GNAA

    • Don't ask, don't tell (Score:5, Funny)

      by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @03:05PM (#7767904)
      "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.
    • Aren't drug trials usually performed on volunteer groups from the public who have a vested in interest in the proposed benefits of said drugs?

      Sometimes they are performed on sailors who want to get drunk this weekend. The story, as I heard it, related to the US Navy no decompression time limits for scuba divers goes something like this. Circa 1940 +-10. Navy offers weekend liberty to sailors who volunteer for research. Sailor 1 sent to a depth of 60 feet for 60 minutes. He comes up, feels fine. Sailor 2

  • A prophylactic, not a cure (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WayneConrad ( 312222 ) * <.wconrad. .at. .yagni.com.> on Friday December 19, 2003 @03:07PM (#7767922) Homepage

    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?

    • Re:A prophylactic, not a cure (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 19, 2003 @04:07PM (#7768606)
      So basically you put these pills in your ears and that dampens the noise? ;-)

    • Re:A prophylactic, not a cure (Score:5, Interesting)

      by advocate_one ( 662832 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @04:44PM (#7768961)
      "but do soldiers use hearing protection at the firing range?"

      I think you'll find that it's mandatory under healt and safety at work legislation...
      I worked on the flightline and in an engine test house for a large chunk of my career. Ear defenders were issued and were to be worn at all times when the noise was above a certain threshold... (if you have to shout to be understood at a range of one metre then it's too loud and protection must be worn). I can happily say that I still have good hearing for my age considering what I was exposed to...

      What scares me about this pill is the trials... are they going to deliberately issue only pills to a trial group of marines??? Those marines are in no position to make an informed choice and properly volunteer for the trial.

      • The pills are antioxidants, and regularly sold as health supplements. I dont think it is putting the soldiers at risk.

        • "The pills are antioxidants, and regularly sold as health supplements. I dont think it is putting the soldiers at risk."

          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

    • Yes, they use ear protection at firing ranges. Still, some fraction (5% or so, I think) have minor permenant hearing loss. The hope is that this will prevent that.
    • In In the US Army you have earplugs everywhere you go, its a part of your uniform. They're in a small case that hang from your inner left breast pocket & will have the Insignia or Crest of the unit you're in.
  • Noise pollution is just everywhere these days, highways, factories, concerts...

    Even if ears don't get damaged enough to lose hearing completely, there is definitely a partial hearing loss, so using drugs to cure this instead of surgery of hearing aids is definitely a good step on the way to solve the problem.
  • No more having to wear earplugs while DJing or attending warehouse/desert parties. The decent custom molded ones are $150, too.

  • Potential tinnitus treatment? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bluethundr ( 562578 ) * on Friday December 19, 2003 @03:37PM (#7768278) Homepage Journal
    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 [nin.com] 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 [ata.org] 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.
    • Personally, I'm just waiting for the day where I can clone myself, and then just have the surgeons do an inner ear transplant.

      While they're at it, maybe they can fix my eyes...

      My eyes are going, my ears are going...

      "Chew, if you can only see what I've seen with your eyes."
    • I've got tinnitus too, and you mentioned the cognitive adaptation, I've found it's possible to suppress the ringing by concentrating on it in a certain way (if you listen to it, it gets louder, if you concentrate on it, it seems to go away, wierd!).

  • Ringing in my ears... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) * <slashdot AT stefanco DOT com> on Friday December 19, 2003 @03:53PM (#7768455) Homepage Journal
    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 [ata.org], 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! :)

    • I'm right there with you, except I've had my ringing with me since long before I discovered Zep and the rest. I've had it ever since I was a kid, probably from an ear infection at some point. Quite rooms drive me insane. I start to get nutty after about 10 minutes. I would be thrilled to find a "real" treatment besides all this stopgap stuff.

    • Re:Ringing in my ears... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous DWord ( 466154 ) on Saturday December 20, 2003 @12:52AM (#7771899) Homepage
      Oddly, one alcoholic drink subdues my sensation of the ringing.

      Not odd at all. Alcohol relaxes your ear bits. The AC marijuana suggestion might actually be a good one, if that doesn't go against your world view.
      • The AC marijuana suggestion might actually be a good one, if that doesn't go against your world view.

        Depends, is prison good or bad for hearing?

        I know the law makers seem to think that its good for your health, because they keep Cannabis illegal to protect people from its unhealthy side effects (news flash: inhaling smoke is not good for your lungs, film at 11), and then throw them in jail. So the logic must be that jail is healthy...
    • yeah, I'm in the same ringing boat after years marching snare drum in a fife and drum corps. Those old style rope tension drums can get quite loud. My left ear was the one that was damaged by ~20 years of drumming, as the snare drum hangs off the left leg and the sound mostly hits the left ear. Then switched instruments 4 years ago and now my right ear is taking a beating. I started wearing an ear plug in whichever ear I need. Right for fife, left for snare. Anyone who thinks the bass beat at a hot nightclu
    • For what it's worth, the California Ear Institute at Stanford [ceistanford.com] has a tinnitus treatment in clinical test.

  • Oh great.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by rasteri ( 634956 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @05:29PM (#7769386) Journal
    Soon I'm going to have to take TWO pills to go to clubs...

  • damaged ears (Score:5, Funny)

    by Amiga Lover ( 708890 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @10:32PM (#7771331)
    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.

  • Three Choices (Score:2, Interesting)

    by lxt ( 724570 )
    "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.)

  • Checklist.... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    My checklist for going out just got longer:

    Joint...

    Fake ID........

    Roofie........

    Dugout....

    Blotter....

    Tooter........

    Rock.......

    Blade......

    Mini-mirror...

    Housekey.....

    Cell phone....

    Some cash........

    King-sized rubbers.

    Glowsticks....

    Pacifier......

    Waterbottle..........

    Nitrous Balloon..

    Mini-bong.......

    Lighter......

    Oh yeah, hearing pill so I can stand next to the towers..............

    Rock 'n Roll is here to stay! wooooooohoooooo!

    Ya know, this lameness filter is a REAL pain in the ass... first i

  • H.S. Bands are the worst hearing killers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DougHalfWay AroundTh ( 734375 ) <dknabe@airmail.net> on Saturday December 20, 2003 @12:21PM (#7773592)
    The dirty little secret is that many, many H.S. band kids already have permanent hearing losses due to brass and percussion. UNT [unt.edu] 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.
    • I played in HS band...never had a problem with the DB level, although my HS band was relatively small. I can see guys who play snare having problems. Those damn things were insanely loud.
      I am also an experienced sound engineer. I remember talking with a sax player in a loud band [ecolon.com]. He always wore a hat that covered his ears for protection. He said plugs were impossible since the vibration from the mouthpiece went through his teeth straight into his skull and it was impossible to hear his "tone". I play
    • How do I know? My son, the "ace" trumpeter in HS and UT, has major hearing loss.

      He doesn't blast like that because he's deaf -- he's just a trumpet player!
      Hey, I'm reminded of a few jokes:

      Q: How do you know that a trumpet player's knocking at your door?
      A: He only wants to knock at the highest part of the door, and he keeps speeding up.

      Q: What do trumpet players use for birth control?
      A: Their personalities.

      Q: How many trumpet players does it take to change a light bulb?
      A1: One. He holds it up and
  • I'm totally baffled. You need to use the stuff in advance of a noise exposure. They don't say how long it takes for it to take effect, but you'd think it would have to be at least half an hour. That means you'd need to know that the noise exposure was coming. They describe a use in which it provided good protection against a 115-db noise exposure.

    A cheap pair of earplugs provides 30 db reduction, meaning it would reduce that 115 db to 85 db, which would also provide excellent protection. Earplugs come in
  • What can they do for those of use whose hearing is already damaged?

    I've had a huge loss in the midrange, affecting how I hear human voices. I have great difficulty understanding what people say and if I can't see their mouth as they speak I miss at least 30% of any given sentence. If someone has their back to me as they speak I miss more than 80% of what they said. If they are facing me but head down where I can't see their mouth, the sound is directed to me better but still I miss some. Most people th
  • Is also being tested for use as a treatment for cataracts with good success in Africa. Surgery is not always an option there, and the treatment invloves daily eye drops for a period of six months for the worst afflicted.

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