To Stacken:
The good news is that, contrary to Michael Leigh's commentary, there is finally a growing awareness of the dire seriousness of exposure to dangerous levels of noise.
His comment that severe, debilitated sufferers constitute only a very small (and therefore, comparatively speaking, ultimately insignificant) minority is patently absurd (see below remarks).
Noise pollution is not actually "fixable"; 11 million Americans in their jobs are exposed to dangerous levels of noise, and Industry cannot be reengineered such that this is allievated (there cannot be, for example, a quiet Jet Engine or a Steel Blast Furnace).
What is remediable is the growing awareness that the requirement to wear adequate sound blockers is becoming as standardized as the requirement for wearing a hard hat in a Construction Zone (our Town's Firemen while driving are, for example, now always seen wearing the sorts of sound blocking headphones that are required for the Gun Range).
We can thank the American Safety Engineer's Association for launching a campaign to make Industry aware that exposure to dangerous levels of sound is as objectionable as being exposed to toxic chemicals.
Last week, when I visited my Audiologist, they had a Campaign Poster that said "You regularly have your eyes checked; why not your hearing?"
In an earlier post I mentioned that Dr. Shore was invited a few years ago to testify before a Senate Subcommittee Hearing about the necessity for vastly increasing the funding for tinnitus research. This was due to Congress's recognition that over 800,000 Veterans (whose numbers are growing) have this to the extent that places them on Disability, with payments now exceeding over $2 billion annually. The galling realization is that these kinds of expense numbers were what was necessary to pique the awareness of the Political Elite such that they considered allocating much more cost-effective funding for a tinnitus cure.
The tragedy of Kent Taylor apparently reached a National Audience (especially since it was reported in detail by the Wall Street Journal). I conducted an informal poll around town, and it was astonishing the number of people (who had never heard of tinnitus) but who were now acquainted with this condition because of such reportage.
Perhaps the very unfortunate circumstance is that it took a CEO worth $400 million to elicit such thorough coverage by the National Media. (This reminds me of how, during the height of the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan was criticized about not recognizing it's dire state until it afflicted his close personal friend from Hollywood, namely Rock Hudson).
My ENT Doctor said that seriously bothersome tinnitus is emerging in epidemic proportions for the retiring Baby Boom Generation (their clinic gets at least one such patient for every day of the year they are open). They constitute a very formidable economic and political voting bloc, and they can exert the sort of leverage to spur much more funding for research.
These are all hopeful signs that the tide of awareness may finally be turning. It reminds me of the maddeningly obtuse attitude the Medical Community once took regarding Migraines ("It's only a headache") or Acne (being oblivious to the psychological damage wrought on Adolescents).
Perhaps tinnitus is the last sorely under-regarded condition whose reevaluation will undergo a similarly enlightened approach.
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