Having a hard time hearing in noisy situations? Try positioning your head so that the speaker you are trying to hear is aimed at your right ear.
Recent Italian and British studies have proved that people understand 58% better when spoken to in the right ear.
Professor Sophie Scott, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, agreed.
"Most people process speech and language on the left-hand side of the brain and while it is not cut-and-dry a lot of what goes in our right ear will be dealt with by the left-side of the brain.
"The other side of the brain is more involved in things such as interpreting emotion and that is why we have these kind of findings.
"We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear."
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Real Cost of Hearing Loss
We've all been told that hearing loss affects our relationships and our mental health. Studies show that it also affects our wallets.
An American study "The societal costs of severe to profound hearing loss in the US", found that the societal cost of hearing impairment totals an average of US$300,000 over the lifetime of a hearing-impaired person.
The researchers estimated that 67 per cent, or $200,000 per individual, of these costs are due to lost work productivity.
The Better Hearing Institute in the U.S. made a similar estimate of the societal costs. BHI estimated the annual cost of untreated hearing loss to be US$56 billion in the United States and 92 billion euro in the EU, mainly due to lost productivity. According to the study, the estimated societal costs of not treating hearing loss in Europe in the years 2001 to 2005 amounted to a staggering 400 billion euro.
Compared to those costs, it is relatively inexpensive to treat hearing loss. The best technology available today costs around 3% of what you can expect to lose if you leave hearing loss untreated. Furthermore, the earlier you treat the hearing loss, the less likely that you are to suffer any financial loss from the condition.
Kind of puts the costs in perspective, huh?
An American study "The societal costs of severe to profound hearing loss in the US", found that the societal cost of hearing impairment totals an average of US$300,000 over the lifetime of a hearing-impaired person.
The researchers estimated that 67 per cent, or $200,000 per individual, of these costs are due to lost work productivity.
The Better Hearing Institute in the U.S. made a similar estimate of the societal costs. BHI estimated the annual cost of untreated hearing loss to be US$56 billion in the United States and 92 billion euro in the EU, mainly due to lost productivity. According to the study, the estimated societal costs of not treating hearing loss in Europe in the years 2001 to 2005 amounted to a staggering 400 billion euro.
Compared to those costs, it is relatively inexpensive to treat hearing loss. The best technology available today costs around 3% of what you can expect to lose if you leave hearing loss untreated. Furthermore, the earlier you treat the hearing loss, the less likely that you are to suffer any financial loss from the condition.
Kind of puts the costs in perspective, huh?
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Coping with Tinnitus
There are many ways to cope with tinnitus. The following are some suggestions:
- Rest and relaxation. Tinnitus tends to be exacerbated when you are tired and
under stress. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night along with relaxation
techniques (such as yoga and deep breathing exercises) can help to lessen the
effects of tinnitus. - Limit caffeine, alcohol and sodium. These things have been shown to have
adverse effects on blood pressure, which in turn makes tinnitus worse. - Protect your hearing. Hearing-loss induced tinnitus gets worse as hearing loss
increases. Protect your hearing by avoiding loud noises and wearing ear plugs in
noisy environments. - Avoid Aspartame and MSG, as a new study has recently linked these chemicals, often found in prepared foods and "diet" foods and drinks to increased tinnitus symptoms.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tinnitus Treatment
Just as there are many causes of tinnitus, there are also many treatment options. Here are a few that are currently available:
Neuromonics: The treatment utilizes a customized neural stimulus combined with specific music, delivered according to a coordinated program. The treatment is designed to interact, interrupt, and desensitize tinnitus disturbance for long term benefit. Neuromonics has been shown to reduce symptoms quickly and provide significant, long-term relief. This treatment has been shown to be effective for 90% of suitable tinnitus cases.
Hearing Aids: Many people notice tinnitus only when they are in a quiet environment. This happens because the ambient noise prevalent in day to day life covers up tinnitus. When something happens to cause hearing loss, there is less ambient noise to cover the tinnitus, thus making it appear louder. For many people, treating the cause of the hearing loss can completely or partially cover up the tinnitus. Hearing aids are often a good option to treat certain types of hearing loss. A hearing exam performed by an audiologist can determine what type of hearing loss is occurring and he or she can recommend appropriate treatment.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) teaches the brain to recognize that tinnitus is not a threat and can be ignored. TRT in conjunction with maskers if often an effective treatment.
Sound Therapy: Oftentimes, external sound can “mask” the tinnitus and help the brain to not pay so much attention to it. This can be something as simple as turning on a fan, a radio or a simple sound generator. Sometimes, an audiologist will prescribe a masking device which creates a constant sound in the ear. A simple analogy behind this treatment is that of getting a new refrigerator. You notice the sound the refrigerator makes for a few days until your brain learns to ignore the sound. A masker works in much the same way. As the brain learns to ignore the sound being generated by the masker, it also begins to ignore the tinnitus.
Alternative Treatments: There are many “natural” remedies for tinnitus. However, at the present time, the American Tinnitus Association has the following to say about these treatments:
“Some people have taken minerals such as magnesium or zinc, herbal preparations such as Ginkgo biloba, homeopathic remedies, or B vitamins for their tinnitus and found them to be helpful. Others have experienced tinnitus relief with acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy, magnets, hyperbaric oxygen, or hypnosis. A few of these therapies have been researched in an attempt to verify the anecdotal claims. But the results have not conclusively identified these treatments as helpful for tinnitus. Your doctor might give you clearance to try them for tinnitus anyway given that they generally carry little risk to health and some people find them helpful.” (American Tinnitus Association, http://www.ata.org/professionals/tinnitus-treatments November, 2009)
Drug Therapy:Many drugs have been researched and used to relieve tinnitus, but there is not a drug that has been designed specifically to treat tinnitus. Some drugs that have been studied include anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax, antidepressants like nortriptyline, antihistamines, anticonvulsants like gabapentin, and even anesthetics like lidocaine. All successfully quieted tinnitus for some people.
Next post, we'll discuss some coping strategies for living with tinnitus.
Neuromonics: The treatment utilizes a customized neural stimulus combined with specific music, delivered according to a coordinated program. The treatment is designed to interact, interrupt, and desensitize tinnitus disturbance for long term benefit. Neuromonics has been shown to reduce symptoms quickly and provide significant, long-term relief. This treatment has been shown to be effective for 90% of suitable tinnitus cases.
Hearing Aids: Many people notice tinnitus only when they are in a quiet environment. This happens because the ambient noise prevalent in day to day life covers up tinnitus. When something happens to cause hearing loss, there is less ambient noise to cover the tinnitus, thus making it appear louder. For many people, treating the cause of the hearing loss can completely or partially cover up the tinnitus. Hearing aids are often a good option to treat certain types of hearing loss. A hearing exam performed by an audiologist can determine what type of hearing loss is occurring and he or she can recommend appropriate treatment.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) teaches the brain to recognize that tinnitus is not a threat and can be ignored. TRT in conjunction with maskers if often an effective treatment.
Sound Therapy: Oftentimes, external sound can “mask” the tinnitus and help the brain to not pay so much attention to it. This can be something as simple as turning on a fan, a radio or a simple sound generator. Sometimes, an audiologist will prescribe a masking device which creates a constant sound in the ear. A simple analogy behind this treatment is that of getting a new refrigerator. You notice the sound the refrigerator makes for a few days until your brain learns to ignore the sound. A masker works in much the same way. As the brain learns to ignore the sound being generated by the masker, it also begins to ignore the tinnitus.
Alternative Treatments: There are many “natural” remedies for tinnitus. However, at the present time, the American Tinnitus Association has the following to say about these treatments:
“Some people have taken minerals such as magnesium or zinc, herbal preparations such as Ginkgo biloba, homeopathic remedies, or B vitamins for their tinnitus and found them to be helpful. Others have experienced tinnitus relief with acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy, magnets, hyperbaric oxygen, or hypnosis. A few of these therapies have been researched in an attempt to verify the anecdotal claims. But the results have not conclusively identified these treatments as helpful for tinnitus. Your doctor might give you clearance to try them for tinnitus anyway given that they generally carry little risk to health and some people find them helpful.” (American Tinnitus Association, http://www.ata.org/professionals/tinnitus-treatments November, 2009)
Drug Therapy:Many drugs have been researched and used to relieve tinnitus, but there is not a drug that has been designed specifically to treat tinnitus. Some drugs that have been studied include anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax, antidepressants like nortriptyline, antihistamines, anticonvulsants like gabapentin, and even anesthetics like lidocaine. All successfully quieted tinnitus for some people.
Next post, we'll discuss some coping strategies for living with tinnitus.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
What Is That Ringing In My Ears?
It's called tinnitus. (Some people say it ti-NIGHT-us and some TIN-i-tus-- both are correct.) The clinical definition is when a patient experiences sound where no external sound exists. In layman's terms, it's when you hear a ringing, buzzing, whooshing, screeching or crackling sound, but no one else can hear it.
At some point, especially after being at a loud concert or sports event, nearly all of us will experience temporary tinnitus. For one in five of us, the condition becomes permanent. Twenty percent of those people will seek medical help. Worst of all, another twenty percent of that group will have such severe symptoms that they cannon function in their normal lives.
Tinnitus is often a symptom of hearing loss, but it can also be a symptom of many other diseases, as well as a side-effect of certain medications. It can cause irritability, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, social withdrawal, and anger.
In our next post, we will discuss some of the treatment options for tinnitus.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Want a closer relationship with your children? Wear you hearing aids!
A recent survey among baby boomers indicates that hearing impairment affects their relationships with their adult children. The survey was based on responses from hearing impaired baby boomers (born in the two decades following World War 2), and adult children of baby boomers, one or both of whose parents were suffering from hearing loss.
Almost half of the adult children believed that their parents’ hearing loss had affected their relationships. One in three of the younger generation stated that their hearing impaired parents miss out on important things in their lives. Many said they have chosen to speak and share less with their hearing impaired parents because hearing loss gets in the way.
Even though a majority of the interviewed baby boomers were aware of the adverse effect of their hearing loss on their relationships with their children, only 11 percent of them used a hearing aid.
”Being hard of hearing is a personal struggle, but people with hearing loss often forget that their impairment can have a profound effect on the relationship they have with their friends and family,” said Barry Williams, an audiologist behind the study.
The survey polled two groups: 1,026 men and women born between 1946 and 1964, and suffering from hearing loss; and 1,006 men and women whose parents were born between 1946 and 1964 and were suffering from hearing loss.
Almost half of the adult children believed that their parents’ hearing loss had affected their relationships. One in three of the younger generation stated that their hearing impaired parents miss out on important things in their lives. Many said they have chosen to speak and share less with their hearing impaired parents because hearing loss gets in the way.
Even though a majority of the interviewed baby boomers were aware of the adverse effect of their hearing loss on their relationships with their children, only 11 percent of them used a hearing aid.
”Being hard of hearing is a personal struggle, but people with hearing loss often forget that their impairment can have a profound effect on the relationship they have with their friends and family,” said Barry Williams, an audiologist behind the study.
The survey polled two groups: 1,026 men and women born between 1946 and 1964, and suffering from hearing loss; and 1,006 men and women whose parents were born between 1946 and 1964 and were suffering from hearing loss.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Happy National Better Hearing Month!
May is a good month in the hearing world. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) has designated May as National Better Hearing Month.
This means a couple of different things for us in our office. It means that we are sending out a newsletter to our patients, full of great information which we will be posting on here over the next couple of weeks. It means that we will have a special drawing for great prizes for all of those who refer their friends and family in for hearing screenings. It also means that we will be working hard in the community to spread the word about protecting your hearing and treating hearing loss.
Most importantly, celebrating better hearing gives us each a chance to take note of the wonderful sounds we enjoy-- whether we wear hearing aids or not. Birds singing, children laughing, a gurgling stream-- what is your favorite sound? Do you hear it as well as you would like to? If not, what a great month to do something about it!
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