WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
According to a recent report from the CDC, nearly 10 percent of millennials (those born between approximately 1976 and 2004) have some degree of hearing loss. The primary cause of this hearing damage is loud noise. While previous generations were mostly exposed to loud noise in work situations, millennials and younger children receive most of […]
HEARING YOUR OWN PULSE
To understand “pulsatile tinnitus,” it is helpful to know the difference between the two main types of hearing loss: “conductive” and “sensorineural.” Conductive loss is due to problems involving the ear canal, eardrum, or middle ear; sensorineural loss involves problems of the inner ear. With this in mind, people suffering from a condition causing conductive […]
THE BENEFITS OF TWO HEARING AIDS
Those with hearing loss in both ears benefit most from wearing a hearing aid in each ear. Being fitted with “binaural” hearing instruments provides the listener with a better ability to locate sounds. This increased “localizing” capability occurs by being able to differentiate between the spatial location of the desired speaker and undesired noise. When […]
PAINKILLERS LINKED TO HEARING LOSS
As you probably already know, over-the-counter pain-killing medications such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen come with their share of potential side effects, some of which may be quite serious. One recent example of this type of side effect comes from a study that uncovered an association between hearing loss and the long-term use of acetaminophen and […]
AVOIDING WAXY BUILDUPS
It is especially important for hearing instrument users to avoid earwax (cerumen) buildup. Accumulations of the fatty substance produced by the sweat glands inside the ear not only damage the hearing instrument, but they also can reduce its effectiveness by blocking sound, causing feedback, and producing poor fit. Left to its own devices, earwax will […]
HURRICANE FORCE
If you stifle a sneeze, you run the real risk of damaging your eardrums or sinuses or even getting an ear infection. The exhaled air from a sneeze exits through the nose and mouth at speeds of about 100 miles per hour. When these exits are closed, a sneeze has nowhere else to go but […]
It’s Time to Give the Gift of Hearing
We’ve selected the winner of Ear & Hearing Clinic’s annual Gift of Hearing contest! Before introducing this year’s lucky recipient of FREE hearing aids, we want to thank everyone who took the time to enter. There are many kind and caring people in our community who truly live the sentiment behind Gift of Hearing: “To […]
THE RITE STUFF
The most popular hearing instrument is the “receiver-in-the-ear” (RITE) type, which is also referred to as a “receiver-in-canal” (RIC) instrument. While these types of instruments are similar to “behind-the-ear” (BTE) hearing instruments, they differ in important ways. While a BTE instrument houses all the components in a single case that rests behind the ear, RITE/RIC […]
ANTIDEPRESSANTS MAY EXACERBATE TINNITUS
If you take antidepressant medication in the class of drugs known as “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs) and experience tinnitus (ringing in the ears), you should know that your medication might be making your tinnitus worse. The irony of this link between SSRIs and worsening tinnitus is that previous research indicates that people with tinnitus […]
IS HEARING LOSS AN INEVITABLE PART OF AGING?
Hearing loss among the elders in certain primitive tribes is nearly nonexistent because their ears have not been continuously exposed to loud noise. As a result, the health of the “hair cells” of their inner ears (which convert sound waves into nerve signals sent to the brain) remains relatively undiminished. Conversely, older individuals in our […]