Is It Viagra or Is It Men?

[talon]

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/19/viagra-associated-with-hearing-loss/?hpt=C2

This reads like junk science - there wasn't a real study, just a poll of sorts, and already they're claiming Viagra (and Cialis and Levitra) cause hearing loss. There is no hard data backing this claim up.

Me, I think men are born unable to hear well. They have extremely selective hearing to begin with. Taking Viagra may simply be a way for them to blame some outside source for their lack of listening.

I know for a fact that many men can't hear my voice. I know this based on years of being phone tech support and years of customer service - 7 out of 10 men do not hear a word I say, yet 100% of the women hear me perfectly well. When men were asked to rate their transaction with me, 90% of the ones who responded said I was "difficult to understand" and "hard to hear". Since none of the women mentioned an inability to hear me, I was subjected to some rather ruthless surveillance to determine where the issue was. They determined that I enunciated clearly, spoke at a comfortable volume, had a universal accent, and used words that were simple and unambiguous. The conclusion from the investigators was unanimous -the men all had hearing issues.

This was not a small sampling - I took approximately 120 phone calls from men per shift (the other 40 or so calls were from women), 600 per week, and 2400 per month - and the surveillance and research was conducted over a 3 year period - that's over 86,000 men of all ages because I never spoke to the same man twice (that was the nature of the phone system, callers couldn't ask for a specific tech and I usually fixed the problem in under 3 minutes per call - with a first time fix rate of nearly 95%). 70% of the men claimed they could not hear me.

And I see it where I work now - most men who come to my desk or call make me repeat myself or flat out don't hear me and just walk right by. All of the women hear me just fine.

Since I have hearing issues myself, I'm rather sensitive to how people act when they can't or don't hear someone. I can tell the difference between being ignored and not being heard.

I believe the men reporting hearing issues while taking Viagra had hearing issues before they took Viagra and there is no causation from Viagra.

I'd be interested in seeing a proper study conducted on this.