(Source: HealthyHearing.com) Hearing loss is the number one war-related injury on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. With the extensive use of improvised explosive devices, insurgents are creating trauma-induced hearing loss. In some regions of fighting, our troops are exposed to damaging levels of sound in the form of munitions fires – everything from rifles to mortars to rockets. Whoever said "War is hell" got that right according to a story that hit the AP wire on March 8, 2008. The story revealed some startling stats. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, nearly 70,000 out of 1.3 million returning vets experience some residual hearing problem. Tinnitus, ringing in the ear, is the most common hearing problem according to a Veteran Affairs report. 58,000 v…
Hearing Aid Articles
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) Hearing loss isn’t fun, but it is a natural part of aging for many seniors who are now entering retirement age…and hearing aid age. Maybe you’ve been putting it off. Too much trouble. Too expensive. You can live with it. Healthy Hearing = Healthy Relationship Well, you may be able to live with it, but what about your spouse – the man or woman of your dreams? What toll does poor hearing have a life-long relationship? Well, a survey conducted by Energizer (the pink bunny folks) clearly shows that healthy hearing and a healthy marriage are closely linked. Must be the frustration factor. May Is Better Hearing and Speech Month Energizer’s "All Ears" hearing survey is part of the battery maker’s popular "KEEP GOING Live Healthy" campa…
MP3 Players and Hearing Loss (Source: HealthyHearing.com) The next time you drop off the kids at school, notice how many youngsters have those ubiquitous white wires draped over their shoulders. These kids are totally plugged in and loving it. There’s nothing better than listening to your favorite tunes. LOUD. Loud enough to block out the background noise that surrounds us from morning ‘til night. Problem is, these electronic toys are real ear busters – especially when you’re pumping 100 dBs down the old tune chute right into the ear. [BTW, dB stands for decibel, a measurement of a sound’s loudness. The more dBs, the louder the sound.] Simple. And potentially dangerous to hearing health according to a professional who’s studied the problem. Dr. Brian J. Fligor, Sc.D., CCC-A,...
EarInfo uses the latest in internet scanning and retrieval technology to find hearing health-related news and web sites from around the world. This information is then compiled and summarized, so that you can take a virtual trip around the "hearing health world wide web" in 60 seconds! This edition of "Now Hear This" includes: Earplugs as jewelry, child’s kiss deafens mother, hybrid cars are unsafe due to low noise levels and much more. Read about these and other stories below. Fashionable Ear Protection? Today’s youth seemed to be oblivious to the affects of loud noise on their hearing. Perhaps it is "uncool" to rock responsibility? Well one young entrepreneurial is hoping to change that. Lesley Sutcliffe created Earshots Jewelry, which combines the preve…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) Feedback: An introduction to that annoying, head-ache inducing, screeching sound produced by your hearing aid. With tips to solve the problem This is one reason so many people are reluctant to go for a hearing test, accept the results and get fitted for a hearing aid that will deliver the sound of a butterfly’s wings across the yard. (That is, if you want your device to be that sensitive). Feedback. We all grew up on it from Jefferson Airplane to Green Day. Feedback is a musical art form when in the hands of a skilled musician, 3,000 amps of raw power and the guts to stand in front of a tower of six-foot speakers and set your guitar on fire. You just don’t get that kind of sound from anywhere. But you just might get that loud whistling feedback from you…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) There are all kinds of myths – Greek myths, Roman myths, urban legends (albino alligators roam the sewers of New York City), tall tales and all manner of folklore – including medical folklore. Red meat causes cancer (untrue), irradiated veggies make you glow in the dark (totally false) and let’s not forget the old saw: Starve a cold; stuff a fever. Or is it the other way around? And what does it mean, any way??? Okay, so for the first time in the recorded history of humankind, Healthy Hearing presents: The Top 10 Hearing Aid Myths Myth #1 Hearing aids make people look old. Chill, dude. First, chances are you are old, but consider the alternative. Second, hearing aid manufacturers have jumped all over this baby boomer demographic about to enter the hearing…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) When Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968), an American author and activist who was both blind and deaf, was asked whether she considered vision or hearing more important, she replied: "The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus—the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keeps us in the intellectual company of man." Helen knew from her own experience that the human sense of hearing represents the primary cognitive window into life itself. "Blindness cuts us off from things," she once said, "but deafness cuts us off from people. To be cut off from hearing (peo…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) Okay, so it’s not a great conversation starter but the fact is that ear wax, called cerumen by hearing health professionals, is a fact of life. It’s not one of those things people want to talk about but as long as we’re here, let’s take a look at ear wax and some important dos and don’ts about taking care of this irritating problem. What is it? It’s a naturally produced substance, i.e. it comes standard with the human body. It’s purpose is to catch dust and dirt, aka, particulate matter, before that microscopic debris reaches the ear drum. It’s a throwback to our caveman days when personal hygiene wasn’t a real big deal. It’s a yellowish brown, oily substance produced by special glands located in the outer ear canal. Typically, cerumen naturally dries and fl…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) As many as 17% of us have experienced tinnitus. Ringing in the ears, unexplained noises that only you can hear. You hear it, or feel it in your head, even though there’s no real source of noise out there. It’s the kind of thing that’ll drive you nuts – and does for those who have serious cases of tinnitus. It gets so bad that these people can’t work or lead normal lives. Imagine a ringing in your ear that never goes away. Ever. Day and night. It might unnerve you, right? You bet it would and that’s the problem. People with tinnitus may experience ear pain but, along with that, it’s normal for these patients to feel anxious and stressed all of the time. Can you blame them? In fact, many people with tinnitus are treated for stress and anxiety. These medications…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) "Mary" is a manager at a car rental agency. One day, because she had hearing loss, she didn’t hear an approaching car and was not able to get out of its way in time. Luckily, she only suffered bruises. Mary was fitted for hearing aids at Audiology Professionals, the office of Drs. Lesley Ericsson and Susan DeBondt, audiologists in Sarasota FL. "When Mary arrived at our offices, there was no doubt in her mind about the value of good hearing on the job," Dr. Ericsson says. "Safety concerns arise frequently among our patients." Another of Dr. Ericsson’s and Dr. DeBondt’s patients, "Lorraine," lives with her 10-year-old grandson and, since she has hearing loss, she worries about her and the grandson’s safety. Her solution i…
(Source: HealthyHearing.com) One out of three teens owns an iPod or some other MP3 music storage and playback device. They’re the ones you see wearing ear buds – those little speakers that produce big sound when placed in the ear canal. They’re also the ones doing damage to their entire hearing systems listening to the latest downloads. And adults aren’t immune. Even if you’re listening to Glenn Miller’s Greatest Hits at loud volume, you’re doing damage – damage that can’t be undone. According to Dr. Craig Kasper, Director of Audiology at the New York Otolaryngology Group, “iPods—and all MP3 players—can damage hearing if they’re used carelessly. And they usually are. Kids like their music loud and MP3 players makes th…
Joe had always been an upbeat and busy person, enjoying a wide range of activities with his family and friends. Then, as he was nearing his 80s, Joe’s happy disposition and positive outlook on life suddenly changed. He became uncommunicative and withdrawn. What happened to Joe? “I started to realize that I was losing my hearing,” he recalls. “All the activities I used to enjoy, like going to concerts and the theater, I couldn’t do anymore.” The breaking point came when Joe’s grandson was in a school play and “I couldn’t hear a thing, even though I sat in the front row. I saw his lips move and people were applauding, but I had the surreal feeling that I wasn’t even there. It was devastating; as if a black cloud descended on my li…
Though it may not be obvious, it just makes sense when you think about it. The better you hear the more you earn – throughout your life! And not just a little bit more in earnings. A recent study, conducted by the Better Hearing Institute (BHI), indicates that hearing loss, when left untreated, translates into a per household job earnings loss of up to $12,000 a year. That’s a lot of money – especially for a problem that can be effectively treated using today’s hearing aid technology and hearing health know-how. Hearing Loss and Earnings Let’s crunch some numbers: Undetected hearing loss leads to lower earnings – $122 billion in lost wages each year across the U.S. economy.Using a hearing aid increases earning power by 50%.31 million Americans currently expe…
A leading health charity was today celebrating after the Duke of York added his support to an appeal to raise funds for a new London-based research centre dedicated to restoring hearing to deaf people and preventing deafness in those at risk.Deafness is the second most common disability in the UK, affecting almost nine million people, and Deafness Research UK’s new Ear Institute brings together nine leading research teams at the UCL to create a world-class centre in hearing research. The Duke has now toured the new centre, which opened this week, and pledged his support for a new appeal which aims to raise money to attract the best young scientists to work at the Institute. He said: "The UCL Ear Institute is bringing the full range of scientific disciplines together under one roof for…
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital continue studies on hearing loss and found that gene knockout affects different areas of the inner ear. The researcher’s goal is to be able to regenerate the inner ear’s hair cells that are responsible for converting sound into nerve impulses that is then transmitted to the brain.The current research study is being reported in the upcoming issue of Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences and will also be published online as well. The researchers focused on the suppression of retinoblastoma (Rb) protein. They discovered that changing the protein had different effects in the inner ear. "In these first studies of the role of the Rb protein in the ears of postnatal mice, we have confirmed that – under the right conditions – mature hai…
(HealthDay News) — Aspirin can help prevent hearing loss caused by common antibiotics called aminoglycosides, a new report finds.Aminoglycosides are inexpensive antibiotics that have been used for the past 60 years to treat acute infections, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis and other conditions. However, their use has also been linked to irreversible hearing loss. As reported by a U.S.-Chinese team in the April 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the study included 195 Chinese patients who received 80 milligrams to 160 milligrams of gentamicin (a type of aminoglycoside) intravenously, twice daily, for five to seven days. Of those 195 patients, 89 received aspirin along with the antibiotic and 106 were given a placebo along with the antibiotic. The rate of hearing loss among pati…
Proving that a hearing impairment is no barrier to success, hearing impaired Jenny Pevreal has been awarded a prestigious Freemasons of New Zealand Postgraduate Scholarship for Doctoral study – one of only eight in the country, and a University of Waikato Doctoral Scholarship. This follows Jenny’s award last year of the $15,000 Quest for Excellence Scholarship for postgraduate study, awarded by the National Foundation for the Deaf to reward and inspire people whose hearing disability has meant they have had to overcome great odds. Jenny, who has mid-range hearing loss and is unable to hear certain speech frequencies, is currently studying for a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Psychology and a PhD at the University of Waikato. Jenny is delighted with the news and is thankful to all the peo…
Today, I-Pods have replaced the CD player and the cassette player as the choice of millions of Americans to download and listen to their favorite music.People in our society have become accustomed to wearing receivers in their ears to listen to music. People listen to music in the car as they travel to and from work, and while they exercise. The world is filled with a multitude of sounds."Unfortunately, more than 18% of all "baby-boomers", ages 45-64 have some hearing loss," reports Loleata Wigall, from Atlantic Audiology, Inc. "Hearing loss can be a mild loss that begins to affect the clarity or discrimination of speech." Many "baby boomers" are noticing that it is more difficult to understand speech in a noisy environment. Many notice having diffic…
