Steve Pope wrote:

>
> This is probably one of the reasons that persons 55 and under
> have better hearing than previous generations -- although they
> may have been to more rock concerts, the men from the older
> generations nearly all went through at least basic training if not
> served on a battlefield. Soldiers did not use ear protection
> in mid-20th-century wars.


There are now regulations about the use of ear protection in jobs that
did not require them when I was younger. I was in the reserves and we
never used any hearing protection on shooting ranges. We used to shoot
rifles, machine guns, handguns, howitzers and toss hand grenades, and
ringing ears often resulted. When I was going to university I had a
summer job in an alloy smelting plant and operated a tilting arc furnace
that was so loud that you could not possibly carry on a conversation
while it was running. As a result, I have some hearing loss.