September 13, 2024 • 29 mins
We kicked off the program with news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Patti Zappa, Executive Vice President of One Warm Coat joined us to discuss National Share the Warmth Day: Help provide essentials for your neighbors ahead of the colder weather.
Mike Farry - former Riverside President and the emcee for Red Bull Tug of Oar on the Charles River This Saturday!
Dr. David Wexler, an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist at Marlborough Hospital collaborates with NASA to Analyze Effects of Space on Hearing.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!
Patti Zappa, Executive Vice President of One Warm Coat joined us to discuss National Share the Warmth Day: Help provide essentials for your neighbors ahead of the colder weather.
Mike Farry - former Riverside President and the emcee for Red Bull Tug of Oar on the Charles River This Saturday!
Dr. David Wexler, an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist at Marlborough Hospital collaborates with NASA to Analyze Effects of Space on Hearing.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Thanks a lot, Madison. Welcome in everybody. My name is
Dan Ray. As Madison was kind enough to mention Rob Brooks,
our producer back in the control room tonight, as we
start a Friday night edition of Nightside, heading you into
the weekend. All I gotta do is jump aboard the
Nightside train. We will bring you right up to Saturday morning,
(00:27):
well till about eleven fifty eight Friday night. Close enough,
close enough. I hope you'll stay with us. If you're
driving anywhere on this beautiful mid September weekend, roll the
windows down, turn the radio up, and we'll keep your company.
We'll keep you awake. Don't worry about that, that is
for sure. We have four very interesting guests coming up
in this hour. There'll be no phone calls in the
first hour. We call it the Nightside News Update. We
(00:49):
give you a little bit of information. Some of it
is social information, some of it deals with cultural matters,
some of it deals with news. It's kind of a polperri.
Then'll get into the main course of the night at
nine o'clock, going to talk about this crazy scene in
Newton where some pro Israel demonstrators were attacked by an
(01:09):
individual both well, at least most of the TV stations
have been covering that story today, and we have some
sound from that event. There's a again, you know, why,
why can't we all just get along? I mean just crazy?
And then we're going to look at ten o'clock at
the Karen Reeve case. I think that the lawyers for
(01:31):
Karen Reid have a real shot here at the State
Supreme Court. I will explain why. And then in the
twentieth hour tonight, I would really like to hear from
some of you about your Friday the thirteenth phobias. We'll
get to all of that, I promise, But first off,
I love to introduce to you Patty Zappa. She's the
executive vice president of One Warm Coat, which sounds like
(01:52):
a fabulous organization. Patty, my first question has to be
any relation to one Frank Zapper.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Unfortunately no, but I a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Second. My follow up question is how many times have
you been asked that question?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Many?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I've been married for about twelve years, and I think
I get it more than my husband does. But no,
not to our knowledge at least.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean I got to assume there are on too
many people with the last name of Zappa.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I just we have not heard many. I really should
do some you know testing on those sites to see
if we're a connection toological research.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah. Related, Well, first of all, we're not here to
talk about Frank Zappa or music you hear in your
capacity as executive vice president of one warm Code National
Share of the Warmth Day? Is that today or is
it coming up?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's coming up on October eighth, and it's really our
kickoff to CODE Drive season. So it's a national awareness
day that you know, we started a few years ago
to get people aware of our organization and of the
need for warmth, you know, especially among vulnerable populations as
we get into the four months of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, let me tell you, no matter what happens, it
gets chili right around Thanksgiving and it stays with us
about Saint Patrick State, particularly all of us here in
the Northeast. So let me let me ask you, is
you as a national organization or are you located just
in the cold weather spots? Tell us about the group.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So we're a national organization. We were actually sounded in
San Francisco and I am from the Philadelphia area. So
to me, I was like, oh, this coat organization, you know,
started in California. Sounded like a little strange, but you know,
of course the weather in San Francisco. San Francisco can
get so cold. And we started in nineteen ninety two
when a woman had a coat that she no longer
(03:40):
had a need for and she could not find anywhere
to donate it. So she started a coat drive and
did that for a number of years before our national
founder a proaster and said, you know, this is such
a great idea. This should be happening everywhere. Anyone should
be able to donate a coat at any point. So
since then we've grown. We're a national organization, you know,
primarily the facilitate coat drive across the country. Last year
(04:02):
we collected and distributed about five hundred thousand coats across
the US. We have about four thousand volunteers that work
with us. Every year, they register hold a coach drive
in their local community, and those coats stay local. So
although we are national, the impact is local stays local.
Any coats that are collected in Boston, you know, stay
in those local communities. So it's a great program.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, We're a Boston radio station, but we're heard not
only throughout in New England, but our over the year signal,
what's called the terrestrial signal, is very strong, and we
have people anywhere east of the Mississippi River who are
listening to us right now, and that doesn't include those
around the world who can pick us up on the internet. So, yeah,
(04:42):
we're at Boston station. I get that. But what can
people do nominally here in New England, but up and
down the East coast and as far really as west
as the Mississippi River. How do they find a contact
locally so they can help out, volunteer or maybe even
start a coke drive themselves. What's the last way people
(05:03):
who want to help can find you or get in
touch now with you personally but within the organization.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So the best way is to go to our website,
which is one Warm coat dot org. And to your point,
you know what you were just saying, you can do
a number of things. You can just donate coats, you know,
go through your closets, pull out the coats that are
gently worn, they don't have holes and stains, they're clean,
but you're just not using them anymore. And you can
search on our website to find co drives in your area,
(05:30):
so you can just drop off a coat. The next
step is to hold your own co drive. So you know,
we have preschoolers, we have huge companies, we have churches,
Girl Scouts, sports teams. It's a great activity for any
group or an individual. You can make it a couple
of days, you can make it a couple of weeks.
The program is really customizable to whatever people are looking
to achieve. So you know, if there's not any co
(05:51):
drives in your area right now, create a co drive
that would be an awesome way to go. And then
as we get further into you know, the co drive
season October, November, December. A lot of national retailers will
also hold co drives with that, so Land's End kicks
off in September, Jakru will start in October, and we
have a number of others as well. So the goal
always for one Warm Coat is to make it super
(06:12):
accessible so that anyone in the country can go to
our website and find a co drive nearby to take
coats too.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
That's a great answer to my question, which I think
would be hanging over the minds of many people. You
really nailed it. So it's one warm coat and I
assume one is spelled out one warmth yes war mcoachcoat
dot org. Do people participate on an annual basis? Do
(06:40):
you have sort of a backbone of volunteers and people
around the country who you know, every September October are
going to spend some time doing this.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Absolutely, we have a number of people that do it
every year. And you know, someone just came to mind
as a little girl who she's not little Chelly, a
teenager now she's been doing it with us since is
probably eight years old, and continue to do it every year.
But we have probably about thirty percent of our volunteers
each year do it every year, and then we have
a lot of new people as well, and you know
that's also doesn't speak to you know, the bake retailers
and corporations that also will come back and do it
(07:13):
with us every year because it's such a great it's
a simple way to make a big impact in your community.
So once people do it and they realize how fun
it can be, you know, people are really creative with
what they do. We've had companies do like a chili
cookoffs to see you know how many coats they can
bring in. So people are very creative with the way
that they encourage people in their community, in their workplace
(07:34):
to bring in codes. So it's really fun and to
your point, you go to the website. Also, we're one
warm Coat on all of the social media channels, so
we encourage everyone to follow us there as well. We
can really see, you know, what we're doing, what people
in the community are doing, and how you can get involved.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Great great, great program, great drive and certainly you see
people who are walking the streets in wintertime and they
some of them don't have shoes, some of them don't
have coats, and this is a great project. Patty's Apple.
Thank you very much for spending some time with us
this Friday night, and I hope that you having me
volunteers as result of our few minutes talking.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Thank you so much, Thanks so much. I appreciate it,
very welcome.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Coming up on the other side of the break here,
we're going to talk about the Red Bull Tug of
or not the trunk Tug of War, but a tug
of or a r on the Charles River. This Saturday,
we will talk with Mike Ferry, former Riverside President and
the MC of Red Bull Tug of War. We'll get
it all in for you right after the break. You
(08:34):
listen to WBZ. If you have any trouble picking MWBZ
on your car radio and your home radio, and you
shouldn't have because you do have a very strong signal.
You always can listen to WBZ News Radio on the
iHeartRadio app. All you have to do is just go
to that app and download it and you can listen
to it for free. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
You are listening to w BZ, Boston's news Radio ten
(08:56):
thirty and your AM dial. We'll be back with three
more guests before nine o'clock, and then we'll get into
the more controversial topics of the evening right after the
nine o'clock news. Now back to Dan Ray, live from
the Window World nights Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Quer welcome Mike Ferry. He's a former Riverside President, the
(09:19):
MC for Red Bull Tug of or Mike, I'm not
familiar Riverside President. Is that a connection to Boston?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It absolutely is. Dan, Yeah, So thanks for having me
this evening. So I am the former president of Riverside
Boat Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So one of the many
story gun clubs. Indeed, yeah, so so rowing on the
Charles every day. I love it and happy to have
led that organization.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, so now you are going to be as I
understand that coming in here, and are you the organizer?
What is your title with this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, so I'm going to be the MC and I
am part of the planning team for a one of
a kind rowing event going on tomorrow called tug.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Of Or Now when you say one of a kind
are you talking about this is the first time? Because
I have never heard of this type of event. I'll
have you explain it in a moment. But they do
a lot of rowing on the Charles River. But is
this the the initial effort or has this been done
in previous locations before this?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
This has never been done before. And Dan, let me
tell you so, I've been a rower for twenty five years,
and even I know that traditional rowing is frankly not
the best specter your sport. Right, So maybe you've seen
head of the Charles and there you see some boats
crash and that's cool, but you see each boat for
thirty seconds and you never know exactly who's winning, right, I.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Thought it wasn't a crew team. In high school and
we used to go to these crew races and first
of all, you have to have binoculars. They all look
the same in the boats from the Yeah where are they?
You know? Maybe oh no, here the I think she comes,
No there they go.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So, yeah, this is different exactly how it works. And
maybe you see it on the Olympics once every four years,
and unless you're an insider like me, right, it just
looks like people going and boring straight lines for seven minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, okay, so this is not going to be going
in a straight line. It's going to be a tug
of or give us the set it up for us.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Sir, Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's it's red bull tug
of oar. And so it's a twist on tug of war. Right,
So the game we all played on field day when
we were in middle school. But tomorrow we're of course
going to be doing that in the rowing boats and
the two boats are going. So it's going to be
two boats head to head and they're connected to each
(11:41):
other by a strong rope, and then the crews are
literally going to try to drag each other over a line.
So they're really going.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
To be back I'm not a rower, but are they're
going to be back to back as opposed to.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Exactly? Yeah? So, so they will actually be facing each other, right,
So when you're when you're rowing, you're actually facing backwards
right to get the most leveraged. So they're going to
look at each other straight in the eye as they
tug each other over the line. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
No, wait a second, I'm maybe so you will have
a line in the water. And then how far the
boats separated?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh, that's a good question. Actually, so I don't know
the exact length. I have to talk to my ops
team about that, but it's okay, thirty pretty good, Maybe
ten twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's all. That's all.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, so we we don't want a lot of slack.
We just want maximum carnage, right, we want intensity.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, So they are looking face at each other, face.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
To face, uh huh, yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But instead of going forward, one of them is going
to pull the other across the line. And so this
is sort of like a one and done tournament. You have,
I believe, is that sixteen teams and each team is
co ed one guy, you got.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It right, Okay, exactly right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It must be eighteen years of old. Is it too
late to sign up? Not that I'm going to sign.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Up, but yeah, so it's a little too late to
sign up. But this is an inclusive event, so we
want to get as many people down there as possible.
Even if you've never seen rowing, you never touched an
or it doesn't matter. Just come down check it out,
and who knows, maybe next year, hopefully we're hoping to
make this a tradition and maybe next year some of
the spectators can join in and get in on the fund.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, so my understanding is it runs from one o'clock
tomorrow afternoon until approximately four to forty five, and the
best viewing sites are the Week's Footbridge. Is that near
the Well Boathouse. I'm trying to figure where the Week's
footbridge is.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
They have so many exactly yeah, that's exactly right. So
we nails you nailed it, yeah, absolutely man. So yeah,
so it's on the Charles River at the Week's Footbridge.
So that's not the bridge that leads into JFK Boulevard.
If people are used to driving around like Soldier sealed
road and all that, but it's close, right, So it's
a pedestrian bridge that's right next to it. It's near
(14:06):
well Boat House, it's near Harvard's campus, and of course
you could do a web search for weeks foot bridge
and GPS will take you right there.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So, now, how did you select the lucky participants?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yeah, so I don't know how lucky they're going to
be because this is going to be a lot of
a lot of action, right so, and they're going to
be really tired at the end. But so we put
out an open call for participants. Again, I have to
talk to my registration team to figure out exactly how many.
But we very carefully curated the list right to be
(14:41):
inclusive and make sure that we've got some really top
end athletes from conventional traditional growing and some relative newcomers
as well, just to shake things up.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So there will be sixteen teams, and so you'll have
eight competitions. Those eight winners will then face off in
a second round. You'll go down four people for four teams.
They'll face off, and then the two finalists will face off.
Is it all one and done? There's no like two
(15:14):
out of three or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, no, we're we're going cutthroat, We're going brutal. Right,
So it's a single elimination bracket tournament, similar to March
Badness or or other kinds of tournaments like that. Yeah,
and whoever wins gets a trophy at the end. No really,
Oh yeah yeah, no, this trophy, I've seen it. It
would look pretty good sitting on your mantle, just saying.
(15:37):
And of course the ultimate prize is the bragging rights,
which you can't really put a value on. Of course.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Now I'm assuming I could be wrong, but I'll make
the assumption that all of your teams are probably, if
not New England based, at least maybe even Boston based.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah, so that that is definitely a fair assumption.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Right, Ringer team from Siberia, I assume.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
No, definitely not. But I mean, so the Charles is
in many ways the best possible venue for this event, right,
So we have a critical mass of really good rowers, right, So,
super great athletes signed up, including some former national team athletes, right,
who have competed at the highest levels of sport has
to offer. So you know, spectators tomorrow are really going
(16:25):
to be in for a treat.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, people going to be able to. We now have
legalized sports betting in Massachusetts. If there's going to be
anyone taking bets.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
On over the on the bridge, yeah, I don't know.
People could be taking action. I'll be on the lookout
for that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah. So how did you get involved in this? Are you?
Are you actually a Boston guy who's coming home for
this event or are you somebody who is Boston based? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I have lived in Yeah, I've lived in the Boston
area now for twenty five years. I've been a rower.
I'm a champion myself, so I've won Head of the
Charles three times, and so a few friends of mine
we're putting this together in collaboration with Red Bull. We've
done similar events in the past as well. And they
called me up and I said, yeah, man, sign me
(17:13):
up for one more ride.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
I'm only did you row in college?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I did?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
No, So I wrote it Mit. You lost every race
except one, and I decided that wasn't enough, so I
kept going.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
My son in law played basketball at MIT, and so
I know that it's a Division III school. I had
no idea what they were in terms of rowing. But
you were able because you went to MIT. You can
figure this sixteen down to eight, down to four, down
to two, down to a champion pretty easily. You got
the math down at least for this, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right, absolutely, Yeah, I'll be checking the list twice, but
I think I got it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, all right, Mike. You got a good sense of
human you got a good way about you. You could
be a radio guy or a TV guy. Very good
at what you're doing. You're gonna be the MC tomorrow.
I'm sure it's going to be very entertaining, entertaining and
a lot of fun. It starts at one o'clock goes
until close to five, four forty five. The the John W.
(18:13):
Week's Footbridge on the Charles kind of near Harvard and
the world Boat House, and the parking's not bad over
there at this time of year. I hope Harvard doesn't
have a football game tomorrow. Maybe you know that. I
don't know if they do.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, I'm sure there will be a spot for everyone,
and it's not too hard to get to via the
tea or the bus as well. So come check us
out Week's foot Bridge. Like you said, one to five tomorrow,
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Sounds great, Mike Ferry. I appreciate the time. You've got
a great sense of humor in for an M I T. Guy.
You're pretty quick. I mean no, no, only kidding, only
getting Thanks very much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Right, have a great evening, Dan, Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
We go back. We're going to talk about something all
of us would like to have more of happiness. Stay
right with us here on Nightside. We're trying to have
fun on a Friday night. Tell you about some things.
Maybe that if you have nothing to do tomorrow, or
if you do it, have something scheduled earlier in the day,
go down and get the and take it. This should
be fun. That should be fun. We'll be back on
(19:13):
Nightside right after this. Now back to Dan ray Line
from the Window World.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
All right, I'm delighted to introduce to you doctor David Wexler.
He's an ear nose and throat specialist at Marlborough Hospital
and he's been collaborating with NASA to analyze the effects
of space on hearing. Doctor Wexler, I don't want to
sound like a pessimist, but this sounds like an extraordinary
(19:44):
effort that you're making.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
How are you able to even do this, well, I've
been an inros Anda guy for a long time. Oh,
I've always been interested in the ear and hearing. It
took me a little while to find there was a
need to do this study with NASA. NASA is always
interested in cup health and safety right from the beginning,
(20:08):
from the early days of the military transition into modern spaceflight,
so they've always checked hearing. But in the last twenty
years or so, they've started checking hearing on orbit, not
just before and after spaceflight, but while they're up there orbiting,
like on the International Space Station, so that test is
caught an on orbit hearing assessment. It's actually done by
(20:31):
the astronauts and the OOHA or ouha is the on
orbit hearing assessments that they do. Interestingly, side note, the
Russian word for ear is uha uha, So the Russians
have their uha, but we in NASA have ouha the
hearing tests, and that data has been collected for a
long time. There's hundreds of these tests. Of course, it's
(20:53):
been looked at, but it's never been systematically and fully
analyzed or published. So I got involved with that this
past year, okay, And so the study is underway. It's
a whole process to get approval for this. There's a
lot of privacy issues with the astronaut data, but you
go through all the committees and all the training and
like there you go. The study is happening, and it's
very exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, so let me ask you. There have been I
can remember Alan Shepherd and John Glenn and some of
the astronauts who died, Gus Grissom, as well as of
course the Challenger and all of that. They must have
a lot of data on the astronauts who have spent
(21:35):
a lot of time up in space. Is the focus
of this study to find out what impact spaceflight has,
what residual impact spaceflight has on an individual's hearing? Is
that the focus of the study.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
It's a very good question, what you ask, and we're interested,
of course in all of it. So there's an office
called the Longitudinal Surveillance of Astronaut Health. They can concerned
themselves with the whole thing during the astronaut years and
the rest of the life of the astronauts to see
how things play out. The main focus of the study
that I'm doing is to say, hey, what happens to
(22:12):
hearing in space? We know what their baseline hearing test
was pre flight. How we doing when we're on orbit
for a month or six months or.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Up to a year.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
That's a lot of stress on the system. Of course,
it shows up in other ways too, not just the ears.
There's concerns about changes in vision, there's bone loss. There's
a lot that happens if you stay in space for
a long time. So all the organ systems are understudy,
they're under surveillance, and of course I'm interested in the
hearing part of it. So we have the hearing tests
(22:45):
and it's done by astronauts, not by professional audiologists, So
we're we have to factor that into the accuracy of
the data. That's my job to work on that and
get the proper statistical analysis.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
When the study is.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The astronauts, the tester done on the astronauts, but they're
not being tested by audiologists. Are being tested by other astronauts.
That I misunderstand.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Well, until we get an audiologist in space. I mean
they're on the space station, gotcha, Okay, they're doing instrumentation
on this. Everything that's measured on astronauts is done by astronauts.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I think what I thought, what we were talking about
was when an astronaut first goes into space. All of
us who have ever been on an airplane know that
as the airplane moves up five thousand and thirty thousand
feeds you your ears sort of pop. Everyone has had
a has had that experience. So if that happens while
(23:44):
you're on an airplane, which is in a controlled situation,
obviously they must be more impact on astronauts. My question
is this, and again I probably am asking dumb questions,
but I learned in law school there's no such thing
as a dumb question. Has there been studies which say, okay,
before this space flight, their hearing level is here, and
(24:08):
after that seven days in space or seven weeks in space,
the hearing when they come back to Earth, they test
them up in space. I assume they test them when
they come back and you can have an audiologist test.
Is there a change.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
So that data, the older data is published. It was
looked at around two thousand and three and published, and
the ear holds up pretty well. When you test postflight,
it's looking not bad.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Okay. I like that.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
There was some concern that there's changing during flight, because
again your body's floating, the fluid is shifting in your body.
You're getting different pressure in your head and then your
sinuses and then your mastoid. So there was concern is
the hearing shifting on orbit and could just have operational implications.
But to answer your question, before and after, so far
(25:00):
that data is looking good. Now there's some additional review
I'm doing in a large data set, but my main
focus is what's happening in between before and after. I'm
doing like while they're up there.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Okay, so you're testing up there, and I assume that
the results are still too early to define anything specifically.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Well, I'm not supposed to release what I have yet
until it clears with NASA, they're very careful, okay with
data control mass. This study is happening and we will
have some answers.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Okay, how long do you think we'll have to wait
for those? Are we talking about six months? People will
want to look forward to hearing it and say, gee,
I heard doctor Wex Lauran with Dan Ray and WBZ
in September. Is there a time frame on the release
of that information.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well, I'm hoping to get approval for an abstract for
Aerospace Medical Association meeting. You know, in the next couple
months or so, and that'll get our foothold.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, so that would be a public formal presentation with
be open to the media and the public or is
that a closed event by.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
The time of the official meeting, which is I think
it's going to be on June first, then it's definitely
out in the public. Okay, So I think it might
be approved for release before then, but the official public
presentation would be like in June in Atlanta, Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So therefore less than than a year from now the
findings will be released. One final question, has there been
a long term study on astronauts compared to the to
the to the non astronauts, to the public at large
that as the astronauts have aged, I think all of
(26:41):
us who age lose a little acuity in hearing. I
would think that probably true. Absolutely their loss of acuity
and hearing any greater than the public at large?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Or is it is it?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Is it better you know, less loss of acuity and hearing.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Well, you definitely ask all the right questions. There's some
unpublished data, even though we do there is a study.
I'm holding a study from twenty fourteen that shows how
this hearing drops off with age in astronauts, and although
we still have to go back and compare against the
(27:20):
general population, I think it's a bit worse than astronauts
because many of them that are older now started off
as military pilots with a lot of noise exposure from
the old jets, so that was a disadvantage. Let me
say something interesting to close out. In this same chart
that I'm looking at right now, the female astronauts did
(27:40):
better than the men as a group. The male astronauts
really have diminished hearing compared to the women with age.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
But I will also add there were male astronauts for
many years before female astronauts, so I hope they have
taken that into consideration.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Yeah, the curbs don't go all the way out for
women because they got into the game later. Okay, there's
many trends that have to be followed, and NASA does
follow them, and that's and I'm trying to be part
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You've you've been a great guest. I really enjoyed it.
I've asked you tough questions and uh, but you've more
than my match. Doctor. Thank you so much, Thank you very.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Much, And let's let's follow up next to your Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I'd love to doctor David Wexler ear knows and throws
specialists at Marlborough Hospital. You know what I like about
your doctor. You're enthusiastic about what you're doing, and I
just think that is the key for anyone. Your enthusiasm
comes through the radio loud and clear. I mean that
as a total, the absolute compliment that I could possibly
are for. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I really appreciate that and my pleasure to speak with you.
Thanks great.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
All right, we come back. We're going to talk about
a pretty ugly incident that took place in Newton last night.
I guess around five point thirty six o'clock. We'll break
it down, and I hope you'll join the conversation on
this one because this is an ugly incident in what
a considered to be one of the nicest communities in
the country, Newton, Massachusetts. Back on nightside after the nine
(29:05):
o'clock news
It's Nightside with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Thanks a lot, Madison. Welcome in everybody. My name is
Dan Ray. As Madison was kind enough to mention Rob Brooks,
our producer back in the control room tonight, as we
start a Friday night edition of Nightside, heading you into
the weekend. All I gotta do is jump aboard the
Nightside train. We will bring you right up to Saturday morning,
(00:27):
well till about eleven fifty eight Friday night. Close enough,
close enough. I hope you'll stay with us. If you're
driving anywhere on this beautiful mid September weekend, roll the
windows down, turn the radio up, and we'll keep your company.
We'll keep you awake. Don't worry about that, that is
for sure. We have four very interesting guests coming up
in this hour. There'll be no phone calls in the
first hour. We call it the Nightside News Update. We
(00:49):
give you a little bit of information. Some of it
is social information, some of it deals with cultural matters,
some of it deals with news. It's kind of a polperri.
Then'll get into the main course of the night at
nine o'clock, going to talk about this crazy scene in
Newton where some pro Israel demonstrators were attacked by an
(01:09):
individual both well, at least most of the TV stations
have been covering that story today, and we have some
sound from that event. There's a again, you know, why,
why can't we all just get along? I mean just crazy?
And then we're going to look at ten o'clock at
the Karen Reeve case. I think that the lawyers for
(01:31):
Karen Reid have a real shot here at the State
Supreme Court. I will explain why. And then in the
twentieth hour tonight, I would really like to hear from
some of you about your Friday the thirteenth phobias. We'll
get to all of that, I promise, But first off,
I love to introduce to you Patty Zappa. She's the
executive vice president of One Warm Coat, which sounds like
(01:52):
a fabulous organization. Patty, my first question has to be
any relation to one Frank Zapper.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Unfortunately no, but I a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Second. My follow up question is how many times have
you been asked that question?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Many?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I've been married for about twelve years, and I think
I get it more than my husband does. But no,
not to our knowledge at least.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean I got to assume there are on too
many people with the last name of Zappa.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I just we have not heard many. I really should
do some you know testing on those sites to see
if we're a connection toological research.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah. Related, Well, first of all, we're not here to
talk about Frank Zappa or music you hear in your
capacity as executive vice president of one warm Code National
Share of the Warmth Day? Is that today or is
it coming up?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's coming up on October eighth, and it's really our
kickoff to CODE Drive season. So it's a national awareness
day that you know, we started a few years ago
to get people aware of our organization and of the
need for warmth, you know, especially among vulnerable populations as
we get into the four months of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, let me tell you, no matter what happens, it
gets chili right around Thanksgiving and it stays with us
about Saint Patrick State, particularly all of us here in
the Northeast. So let me let me ask you, is
you as a national organization or are you located just
in the cold weather spots? Tell us about the group.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So we're a national organization. We were actually sounded in
San Francisco and I am from the Philadelphia area. So
to me, I was like, oh, this coat organization, you know,
started in California. Sounded like a little strange, but you know,
of course the weather in San Francisco. San Francisco can
get so cold. And we started in nineteen ninety two
when a woman had a coat that she no longer
(03:40):
had a need for and she could not find anywhere
to donate it. So she started a coat drive and
did that for a number of years before our national
founder a proaster and said, you know, this is such
a great idea. This should be happening everywhere. Anyone should
be able to donate a coat at any point. So
since then we've grown. We're a national organization, you know,
primarily the facilitate coat drive across the country. Last year
(04:02):
we collected and distributed about five hundred thousand coats across
the US. We have about four thousand volunteers that work
with us. Every year, they register hold a coach drive
in their local community, and those coats stay local. So
although we are national, the impact is local stays local.
Any coats that are collected in Boston, you know, stay
in those local communities. So it's a great program.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, We're a Boston radio station, but we're heard not
only throughout in New England, but our over the year signal,
what's called the terrestrial signal, is very strong, and we
have people anywhere east of the Mississippi River who are
listening to us right now, and that doesn't include those
around the world who can pick us up on the internet. So, yeah,
(04:42):
we're at Boston station. I get that. But what can
people do nominally here in New England, but up and
down the East coast and as far really as west
as the Mississippi River. How do they find a contact
locally so they can help out, volunteer or maybe even
start a coke drive themselves. What's the last way people
(05:03):
who want to help can find you or get in
touch now with you personally but within the organization.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So the best way is to go to our website,
which is one Warm coat dot org. And to your point,
you know what you were just saying, you can do
a number of things. You can just donate coats, you know,
go through your closets, pull out the coats that are
gently worn, they don't have holes and stains, they're clean,
but you're just not using them anymore. And you can
search on our website to find co drives in your area,
(05:30):
so you can just drop off a coat. The next
step is to hold your own co drive. So you know,
we have preschoolers, we have huge companies, we have churches,
Girl Scouts, sports teams. It's a great activity for any
group or an individual. You can make it a couple
of days, you can make it a couple of weeks.
The program is really customizable to whatever people are looking
to achieve. So you know, if there's not any co
(05:51):
drives in your area right now, create a co drive
that would be an awesome way to go. And then
as we get further into you know, the co drive
season October, November, December. A lot of national retailers will
also hold co drives with that, so Land's End kicks
off in September, Jakru will start in October, and we
have a number of others as well. So the goal
always for one Warm Coat is to make it super
(06:12):
accessible so that anyone in the country can go to
our website and find a co drive nearby to take
coats too.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
That's a great answer to my question, which I think
would be hanging over the minds of many people. You
really nailed it. So it's one warm coat and I
assume one is spelled out one warmth yes war mcoachcoat
dot org. Do people participate on an annual basis? Do
(06:40):
you have sort of a backbone of volunteers and people
around the country who you know, every September October are
going to spend some time doing this.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Absolutely, we have a number of people that do it
every year. And you know, someone just came to mind
as a little girl who she's not little Chelly, a
teenager now she's been doing it with us since is
probably eight years old, and continue to do it every year.
But we have probably about thirty percent of our volunteers
each year do it every year, and then we have
a lot of new people as well, and you know
that's also doesn't speak to you know, the bake retailers
and corporations that also will come back and do it
(07:13):
with us every year because it's such a great it's
a simple way to make a big impact in your community.
So once people do it and they realize how fun
it can be, you know, people are really creative with
what they do. We've had companies do like a chili
cookoffs to see you know how many coats they can
bring in. So people are very creative with the way
that they encourage people in their community, in their workplace
(07:34):
to bring in codes. So it's really fun and to
your point, you go to the website. Also, we're one
warm Coat on all of the social media channels, so
we encourage everyone to follow us there as well. We
can really see, you know, what we're doing, what people
in the community are doing, and how you can get involved.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Great great, great program, great drive and certainly you see
people who are walking the streets in wintertime and they
some of them don't have shoes, some of them don't
have coats, and this is a great project. Patty's Apple.
Thank you very much for spending some time with us
this Friday night, and I hope that you having me
volunteers as result of our few minutes talking.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Thank you so much, Thanks so much. I appreciate it,
very welcome.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Coming up on the other side of the break here,
we're going to talk about the Red Bull Tug of
or not the trunk Tug of War, but a tug
of or a r on the Charles River. This Saturday,
we will talk with Mike Ferry, former Riverside President and
the MC of Red Bull Tug of War. We'll get
it all in for you right after the break. You
(08:34):
listen to WBZ. If you have any trouble picking MWBZ
on your car radio and your home radio, and you
shouldn't have because you do have a very strong signal.
You always can listen to WBZ News Radio on the
iHeartRadio app. All you have to do is just go
to that app and download it and you can listen
to it for free. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
You are listening to w BZ, Boston's news Radio ten
(08:56):
thirty and your AM dial. We'll be back with three
more guests before nine o'clock, and then we'll get into
the more controversial topics of the evening right after the
nine o'clock news. Now back to Dan Ray, live from
the Window World nights Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Quer welcome Mike Ferry. He's a former Riverside President, the
(09:19):
MC for Red Bull Tug of or Mike, I'm not
familiar Riverside President. Is that a connection to Boston?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It absolutely is. Dan, Yeah, So thanks for having me
this evening. So I am the former president of Riverside
Boat Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So one of the many
story gun clubs. Indeed, yeah, so so rowing on the
Charles every day. I love it and happy to have
led that organization.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, so now you are going to be as I
understand that coming in here, and are you the organizer?
What is your title with this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, so I'm going to be the MC and I
am part of the planning team for a one of
a kind rowing event going on tomorrow called tug.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Of Or Now when you say one of a kind
are you talking about this is the first time? Because
I have never heard of this type of event. I'll
have you explain it in a moment. But they do
a lot of rowing on the Charles River. But is
this the the initial effort or has this been done
in previous locations before this?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
This has never been done before. And Dan, let me
tell you so, I've been a rower for twenty five years,
and even I know that traditional rowing is frankly not
the best specter your sport. Right, So maybe you've seen
head of the Charles and there you see some boats
crash and that's cool, but you see each boat for
thirty seconds and you never know exactly who's winning, right, I.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Thought it wasn't a crew team. In high school and
we used to go to these crew races and first
of all, you have to have binoculars. They all look
the same in the boats from the Yeah where are they?
You know? Maybe oh no, here the I think she comes,
No there they go.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So, yeah, this is different exactly how it works. And
maybe you see it on the Olympics once every four years,
and unless you're an insider like me, right, it just
looks like people going and boring straight lines for seven minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, okay, so this is not going to be going
in a straight line. It's going to be a tug
of or give us the set it up for us.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Sir, Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's it's red bull tug
of oar. And so it's a twist on tug of war. Right,
So the game we all played on field day when
we were in middle school. But tomorrow we're of course
going to be doing that in the rowing boats and
the two boats are going. So it's going to be
two boats head to head and they're connected to each
(11:41):
other by a strong rope, and then the crews are
literally going to try to drag each other over a line.
So they're really going.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
To be back I'm not a rower, but are they're
going to be back to back as opposed to.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Exactly? Yeah? So, so they will actually be facing each other, right,
So when you're when you're rowing, you're actually facing backwards
right to get the most leveraged. So they're going to
look at each other straight in the eye as they
tug each other over the line. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
No, wait a second, I'm maybe so you will have
a line in the water. And then how far the
boats separated?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh, that's a good question. Actually, so I don't know
the exact length. I have to talk to my ops
team about that, but it's okay, thirty pretty good, Maybe
ten twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's all. That's all.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, so we we don't want a lot of slack.
We just want maximum carnage, right, we want intensity.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, So they are looking face at each other, face.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
To face, uh huh, yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But instead of going forward, one of them is going
to pull the other across the line. And so this
is sort of like a one and done tournament. You have,
I believe, is that sixteen teams and each team is
co ed one guy, you got.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It right, Okay, exactly right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It must be eighteen years of old. Is it too
late to sign up? Not that I'm going to sign.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Up, but yeah, so it's a little too late to
sign up. But this is an inclusive event, so we
want to get as many people down there as possible.
Even if you've never seen rowing, you never touched an
or it doesn't matter. Just come down check it out,
and who knows, maybe next year, hopefully we're hoping to
make this a tradition and maybe next year some of
the spectators can join in and get in on the fund.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, so my understanding is it runs from one o'clock
tomorrow afternoon until approximately four to forty five, and the
best viewing sites are the Week's Footbridge. Is that near
the Well Boathouse. I'm trying to figure where the Week's
footbridge is.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
They have so many exactly yeah, that's exactly right. So
we nails you nailed it, yeah, absolutely man. So yeah,
so it's on the Charles River at the Week's Footbridge.
So that's not the bridge that leads into JFK Boulevard.
If people are used to driving around like Soldier sealed
road and all that, but it's close, right, So it's
a pedestrian bridge that's right next to it. It's near
(14:06):
well Boat House, it's near Harvard's campus, and of course
you could do a web search for weeks foot bridge
and GPS will take you right there.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So, now, how did you select the lucky participants?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yeah, so I don't know how lucky they're going to
be because this is going to be a lot of
a lot of action, right so, and they're going to
be really tired at the end. But so we put
out an open call for participants. Again, I have to
talk to my registration team to figure out exactly how many.
But we very carefully curated the list right to be
(14:41):
inclusive and make sure that we've got some really top
end athletes from conventional traditional growing and some relative newcomers
as well, just to shake things up.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So there will be sixteen teams, and so you'll have
eight competitions. Those eight winners will then face off in
a second round. You'll go down four people for four teams.
They'll face off, and then the two finalists will face off.
Is it all one and done? There's no like two
(15:14):
out of three or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, no, we're we're going cutthroat, We're going brutal. Right,
So it's a single elimination bracket tournament, similar to March
Badness or or other kinds of tournaments like that. Yeah,
and whoever wins gets a trophy at the end. No really,
Oh yeah yeah, no, this trophy, I've seen it. It
would look pretty good sitting on your mantle, just saying.
(15:37):
And of course the ultimate prize is the bragging rights,
which you can't really put a value on. Of course.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Now I'm assuming I could be wrong, but I'll make
the assumption that all of your teams are probably, if
not New England based, at least maybe even Boston based.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah, so that that is definitely a fair assumption.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Right, Ringer team from Siberia, I assume.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
No, definitely not. But I mean, so the Charles is
in many ways the best possible venue for this event, right,
So we have a critical mass of really good rowers, right, So,
super great athletes signed up, including some former national team athletes, right,
who have competed at the highest levels of sport has
to offer. So you know, spectators tomorrow are really going
(16:25):
to be in for a treat.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, people going to be able to. We now have
legalized sports betting in Massachusetts. If there's going to be
anyone taking bets.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
On over the on the bridge, yeah, I don't know.
People could be taking action. I'll be on the lookout
for that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah. So how did you get involved in this? Are you?
Are you actually a Boston guy who's coming home for
this event or are you somebody who is Boston based? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I have lived in Yeah, I've lived in the Boston
area now for twenty five years. I've been a rower.
I'm a champion myself, so I've won Head of the
Charles three times, and so a few friends of mine
we're putting this together in collaboration with Red Bull. We've
done similar events in the past as well. And they
called me up and I said, yeah, man, sign me
(17:13):
up for one more ride.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
I'm only did you row in college?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I did?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
No, So I wrote it Mit. You lost every race
except one, and I decided that wasn't enough, so I
kept going.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
My son in law played basketball at MIT, and so
I know that it's a Division III school. I had
no idea what they were in terms of rowing. But
you were able because you went to MIT. You can
figure this sixteen down to eight, down to four, down
to two, down to a champion pretty easily. You got
the math down at least for this, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right, absolutely, Yeah, I'll be checking the list twice, but
I think I got it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, all right, Mike. You got a good sense of
human you got a good way about you. You could
be a radio guy or a TV guy. Very good
at what you're doing. You're gonna be the MC tomorrow.
I'm sure it's going to be very entertaining, entertaining and
a lot of fun. It starts at one o'clock goes
until close to five, four forty five. The the John W.
(18:13):
Week's Footbridge on the Charles kind of near Harvard and
the world Boat House, and the parking's not bad over
there at this time of year. I hope Harvard doesn't
have a football game tomorrow. Maybe you know that. I
don't know if they do.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, I'm sure there will be a spot for everyone,
and it's not too hard to get to via the
tea or the bus as well. So come check us
out Week's foot Bridge. Like you said, one to five tomorrow,
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Sounds great, Mike Ferry. I appreciate the time. You've got
a great sense of humor in for an M I T. Guy.
You're pretty quick. I mean no, no, only kidding, only
getting Thanks very much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Right, have a great evening, Dan, Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
We go back. We're going to talk about something all
of us would like to have more of happiness. Stay
right with us here on Nightside. We're trying to have
fun on a Friday night. Tell you about some things.
Maybe that if you have nothing to do tomorrow, or
if you do it, have something scheduled earlier in the day,
go down and get the and take it. This should
be fun. That should be fun. We'll be back on
(19:13):
Nightside right after this. Now back to Dan ray Line
from the Window World.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
All right, I'm delighted to introduce to you doctor David Wexler.
He's an ear nose and throat specialist at Marlborough Hospital
and he's been collaborating with NASA to analyze the effects
of space on hearing. Doctor Wexler, I don't want to
sound like a pessimist, but this sounds like an extraordinary
(19:44):
effort that you're making.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
How are you able to even do this, well, I've
been an inros Anda guy for a long time. Oh,
I've always been interested in the ear and hearing. It
took me a little while to find there was a
need to do this study with NASA. NASA is always
interested in cup health and safety right from the beginning,
(20:08):
from the early days of the military transition into modern spaceflight,
so they've always checked hearing. But in the last twenty
years or so, they've started checking hearing on orbit, not
just before and after spaceflight, but while they're up there orbiting,
like on the International Space Station, so that test is
caught an on orbit hearing assessment. It's actually done by
(20:31):
the astronauts and the OOHA or ouha is the on
orbit hearing assessments that they do. Interestingly, side note, the
Russian word for ear is uha uha, So the Russians
have their uha, but we in NASA have ouha the
hearing tests, and that data has been collected for a
long time. There's hundreds of these tests. Of course, it's
(20:53):
been looked at, but it's never been systematically and fully
analyzed or published. So I got involved with that this
past year, okay, And so the study is underway. It's
a whole process to get approval for this. There's a
lot of privacy issues with the astronaut data, but you
go through all the committees and all the training and
like there you go. The study is happening, and it's
very exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, so let me ask you. There have been I
can remember Alan Shepherd and John Glenn and some of
the astronauts who died, Gus Grissom, as well as of
course the Challenger and all of that. They must have
a lot of data on the astronauts who have spent
(21:35):
a lot of time up in space. Is the focus
of this study to find out what impact spaceflight has,
what residual impact spaceflight has on an individual's hearing? Is
that the focus of the study.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
It's a very good question, what you ask, and we're interested,
of course in all of it. So there's an office
called the Longitudinal Surveillance of Astronaut Health. They can concerned
themselves with the whole thing during the astronaut years and
the rest of the life of the astronauts to see
how things play out. The main focus of the study
that I'm doing is to say, hey, what happens to
(22:12):
hearing in space? We know what their baseline hearing test
was pre flight. How we doing when we're on orbit
for a month or six months or.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Up to a year.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
That's a lot of stress on the system. Of course,
it shows up in other ways too, not just the ears.
There's concerns about changes in vision, there's bone loss. There's
a lot that happens if you stay in space for
a long time. So all the organ systems are understudy,
they're under surveillance, and of course I'm interested in the
hearing part of it. So we have the hearing tests
(22:45):
and it's done by astronauts, not by professional audiologists, So
we're we have to factor that into the accuracy of
the data. That's my job to work on that and
get the proper statistical analysis.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
When the study is.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The astronauts, the tester done on the astronauts, but they're
not being tested by audiologists. Are being tested by other astronauts.
That I misunderstand.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Well, until we get an audiologist in space. I mean
they're on the space station, gotcha, Okay, they're doing instrumentation
on this. Everything that's measured on astronauts is done by astronauts.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I think what I thought, what we were talking about
was when an astronaut first goes into space. All of
us who have ever been on an airplane know that
as the airplane moves up five thousand and thirty thousand
feeds you your ears sort of pop. Everyone has had
a has had that experience. So if that happens while
(23:44):
you're on an airplane, which is in a controlled situation,
obviously they must be more impact on astronauts. My question
is this, and again I probably am asking dumb questions,
but I learned in law school there's no such thing
as a dumb question. Has there been studies which say, okay,
before this space flight, their hearing level is here, and
(24:08):
after that seven days in space or seven weeks in space,
the hearing when they come back to Earth, they test
them up in space. I assume they test them when
they come back and you can have an audiologist test.
Is there a change.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
So that data, the older data is published. It was
looked at around two thousand and three and published, and
the ear holds up pretty well. When you test postflight,
it's looking not bad.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Okay. I like that.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
There was some concern that there's changing during flight, because
again your body's floating, the fluid is shifting in your body.
You're getting different pressure in your head and then your
sinuses and then your mastoid. So there was concern is
the hearing shifting on orbit and could just have operational implications.
But to answer your question, before and after, so far
(25:00):
that data is looking good. Now there's some additional review
I'm doing in a large data set, but my main
focus is what's happening in between before and after. I'm
doing like while they're up there.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Okay, so you're testing up there, and I assume that
the results are still too early to define anything specifically.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Well, I'm not supposed to release what I have yet
until it clears with NASA, they're very careful, okay with
data control mass. This study is happening and we will
have some answers.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Okay, how long do you think we'll have to wait
for those? Are we talking about six months? People will
want to look forward to hearing it and say, gee,
I heard doctor Wex Lauran with Dan Ray and WBZ
in September. Is there a time frame on the release
of that information.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well, I'm hoping to get approval for an abstract for
Aerospace Medical Association meeting. You know, in the next couple
months or so, and that'll get our foothold.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, so that would be a public formal presentation with
be open to the media and the public or is
that a closed event by.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
The time of the official meeting, which is I think
it's going to be on June first, then it's definitely
out in the public. Okay, So I think it might
be approved for release before then, but the official public
presentation would be like in June in Atlanta, Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So therefore less than than a year from now the
findings will be released. One final question, has there been
a long term study on astronauts compared to the to
the to the non astronauts, to the public at large
that as the astronauts have aged, I think all of
(26:41):
us who age lose a little acuity in hearing. I
would think that probably true. Absolutely their loss of acuity
and hearing any greater than the public at large?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Or is it is it?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Is it better you know, less loss of acuity and hearing.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Well, you definitely ask all the right questions. There's some
unpublished data, even though we do there is a study.
I'm holding a study from twenty fourteen that shows how
this hearing drops off with age in astronauts, and although
we still have to go back and compare against the
(27:20):
general population, I think it's a bit worse than astronauts
because many of them that are older now started off
as military pilots with a lot of noise exposure from
the old jets, so that was a disadvantage. Let me
say something interesting to close out. In this same chart
that I'm looking at right now, the female astronauts did
(27:40):
better than the men as a group. The male astronauts
really have diminished hearing compared to the women with age.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
But I will also add there were male astronauts for
many years before female astronauts, so I hope they have
taken that into consideration.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Yeah, the curbs don't go all the way out for
women because they got into the game later. Okay, there's
many trends that have to be followed, and NASA does
follow them, and that's and I'm trying to be part
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You've you've been a great guest. I really enjoyed it.
I've asked you tough questions and uh, but you've more
than my match. Doctor. Thank you so much, Thank you very.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Much, And let's let's follow up next to your Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I'd love to doctor David Wexler ear knows and throws
specialists at Marlborough Hospital. You know what I like about
your doctor. You're enthusiastic about what you're doing, and I
just think that is the key for anyone. Your enthusiasm
comes through the radio loud and clear. I mean that
as a total, the absolute compliment that I could possibly
are for. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I really appreciate that and my pleasure to speak with you.
Thanks great.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
All right, we come back. We're going to talk about
a pretty ugly incident that took place in Newton last night.
I guess around five point thirty six o'clock. We'll break
it down, and I hope you'll join the conversation on
this one because this is an ugly incident in what
a considered to be one of the nicest communities in
the country, Newton, Massachusetts. Back on nightside after the nine
(29:05):
o'clock news
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