August 8, 2006 Issue

             HEARING LOSS HELP E-zine
"The premier e-zine for people with hearing loss"


Volume 1, Number 7                       August 8, 2006
Publisher: Neil Bauman      neil@hearinglosshelp.com
            http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
    Copyright Center for Hearing Loss Help 2006

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

You are receiving Hearing Loss Help e-zine because you
valued your ears enough to specifically ask for this
subscription, or you are a customer of the Center for
Hearing Loss Help. If you no longer wish to receive
Hearing Loss Help e-zine, just scroll to the bottom where
you can delete yourself from this e-zine mailing list
quickly, easily and automatically.

If you are missing any previous issues, you can read them
in our archives.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

                      "Hearing loss may change your life,
                        but your life need not be any less
                                rewarding and fulfilling
                        because you have a hearing loss."

                                                               -- Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>


Please recommend and/or forward this issue of Hearing Loss Help
e-zine to at least one of your hard of hearing friends, or to
anyone you know that is interested in successfully living with
their hearing loss. We just ask that you keep this e-zine intact
and only forward it in its entirety.

**************************************************

Having trouble hearing on your cell phone?

If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, try the dual
T-Links and hear beautiful clear sounds in BOTH ears! Click on
the following link to learn more.
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/earlinks.htm#t_links

**************************************************

If you are receiving this issue of Hearing Loss Help e-zine as a
forward, you can sign up for your own subscription at
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com, or send a blank email to
hearingloss-158260@autocontactor.com. Hearing Loss Help e-
zine doesn't cost you a cent!



==================================================
In this issue
==================================================

1. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears

2. Subscriber-only Special

3. Answers to Your Questions

4. Tips for Successfully Coping with Hearing Loss

5. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or
Assistive Devices



==================================================
1. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
==================================================

Clarithromycin, Doxycycline, Lansoprazole and Tinnitus

I continue to be amazed (appalled would be a better word) by the
number of people who contact me because the drugs their doctors
prescribed for their various ailments ended up afflicting them
with permanent and distressing tinnitus and often other ear
problems as well.

Here is one woman's story. Take it as a warning of what can
happen when you blithely take drugs without carefully checking
out their side effects first.

"I recently read the article you had on the Clarithromycin &
tinnitus. I have been doing research on the Internet on both this
drug and Metronidazole because of my problem.

On April 21st, my doctor prescribed Prevacid (Lansoprazole) for a
stomach condition I had after a endoscopy. One week later, my
doctor prescribed Metronidazole and Clarithromycin in addition to
the Prevacid.

On May 2nd my ears started ringing and from then on I could not
sleep. The next day I called my doctor. The nurse told me to stop
taking the Metronidazole. After not sleeping for 3 days I called
them back. She told me to stop taking all the medications.

I went 4 days without sleeping and felt very disoriented and
wired and my ears STILL were ringing. She prescribed Alprazolam
to help calm me down and sleep. A week later, after not being on
the medicine, I went back to the doctor, and he prescribed
Doxycycline. It is now August 3rd and my ears are still ringing
non-stop 24/7.

I went to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor about 3 weeks ago. He
told me I now have sensorineural hearing loss, and my ears would
most likely ring forever. Furthermore, I could lose my hearing.

I never had any problem with my ears before this, and I wasn't
taking any other drugs. I haven't been on any medications at all
now for over 2 months. I am scared to even go to the doctor now.
I do not feel that I can trust one now after this has happened.

All the doctors I have been to around here think I am crazy when
I tell them I think the medications did this to me, because I was
fine before this. It started when I was taking them. It's like
they don't want to take the blame for not thinking before
prescribing drugs. I feel like I have been ruined for life now."

I hear you. Unfortunately, the drugs you were prescribed can, and
as you now well know, do cause tinnitus.

Clarithromycin causes tinnitus in 2% of the people taking it
according to the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR), and hearing
loss in 1%. I believe these figures are very conservative and the
true incidence is much higher.

One man told me that after taking Clarithromycin for just 3 days
for a sinus infection he got severe tinnitus that has never
stopped since. In addition he lost much of his hearing.

Doxycycline (another antibiotic in the Macrolide class which
includes Clarithromycin) can cause hearing loss and tinnitus
also. Doxycycline can (and does) cause significant hearing loss.
For example, one man explained that after he took a 10-day course
of Doxycycline, "the hearing in my already-impaired right ear
suddenly reduced to virtually zero and remains there."

Lansoprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor, is also listed in the PDR
as causing both hearing loss and tinnitus.

The Metronidazole you took can also cause tinnitus, but it is not
so listed in the PDR, so it may not be very common.

After taking 3 drugs that are known to cause both tinnitus and
hearing loss, it is not surprising that you are one of the ones
that now have both of these ototoxic side effects.

Unfortunately, once tinnitus starts, it can take days or weeks
after stopping a medication before it goes away--if indeed it
ever goes away. Sometimes it goes away, and other times in is
permanent. You see, removing whatever triggered tinnitus in the
first place is no guarantee that your tinnitus will go away.
Often it doesn't. Thus, you have to learn how to "habituate" to
your tinnitus so it will not bother you.

If you now have a significant hearing loss, getting and wearing
hearing aids can help keep your tinnitus under control. In
addition, there are a number of other things you can try that are
explained in my book, "When Your Ears Ring! Cope With Your
Tinnitus--Here's How." This book has helped many. You can get a
copy from our web site. Even better, see our Subscriber-only Special
below for three special offers on this book.

For information on the more than 450 drugs known to cause
tinnitus (and other ototoxic side effects too), click on Ototoxic
Drugs Exposed.



==================================================
2. Subscriber-only Special
==================================================

As is our custom, with each issue of Hearing Loss Help eZine we
bring you a subscriber-only special that is only available to
you, our loyal subscribers.

Since we have been talking about permanent tinnitus, here is a
special offer on the book "When Your Ears Ring! Cope With Your
Tinnitus--Here’s How." This 118 page book explains what tinnitus
is, and how you can bring it under control (habituate to it),
reduce its intensity, or eliminate it altogether.

You have three special choices.

1. You can get the printed edition of this book for only $16.95,
a savings of 10%+ off the regular price of $18.95.

2. Here's an incredible bargain. Our printer goofed and printed
some of these tinnitus books perfectly, but bound them in another
book's cover. If you'd like to take advantage of our printer's
mistake, you can have one of these tinnitus books for only $3.95
(plus our regular P&H), a saving of $15.00 off the regular price.
There are only 8 of these books left, so the first 8 people to
order one will get it. Don't be disappointed. Order one now!

2. If you'd rather have the eBook version (identical content to
the printed version), but instantly downloadable to your computer
as soon as you place your order, you can get it now for only
$9.49 and save $5.00 off the regular eBook price. Just think, you
can be reading this eBook a mere 5 minutes after you complete
your order--even if it's 3 AM!

Get your tinnitus book now while you are thinking about it. This
special offer is only good until August 29th.

To take advantage of any (or all) of these special offers, you
must click on the below link. Do not order from the regular links
on the web site or you will be charged the regular prices.

Here is your special link.



==================================================
3. Answers to Your Questions
==================================================

If you have a question, or if something has been puzzling you
concerning your ears, email it to mailto:neil@hearinglosshelp.com
and put "e-zine question" as the subject. Suitable questions will
be answered here.
______________


Coping with Sudden Hearing Loss

A man explained: "Almost 5 years ago I suffered from Sudden
Sensorineural Hearing Loss in my right ear. I have been told that
it was the result of a virus and at present no help exists.

I have found some help with the use of a behind-the-ear hearing
aid in my right ear and a completely-in-canal hearing aid for the
left ear, but I need more help. What should I do?"

When your doctor said "no help exists" he really meant that no
medical help exists. This is true since too much time has gone by
since this hearing loss occurred. However, that doesn't mean that
there is no help. On the contrary, there is help available. What
you need is help in learning how to successfully live with your
hearing loss. One great resource is the book "Help! I'm Losing My
Hearing—What Do I Do Now?"

As you have already discovered, hearing aids are not the whole
answer to hearing loss. Yes, they do help in many situations, but
they are not the whole answer.

In fact, there are 5 areas you need to address in order to
successfully cope with your hearing loss. Hearing aids are just
one of the five. Too many people think hearing aids are all they
need. This is just not so.

The five areas you need to address in order to successfully live
with your hearing loss are:

1. Psychologically adjust to your hearing loss. This includes
working through the grieving process in relation to your hearing
loss. (If you don't do this, you are not even ready to wear
hearing aids--and likely won't.) The grieving process is
explained in the short book "Grieving for Your Hearing Loss—the
Rocky Road from Denial to Acceptance". This book has helped
many people deal with their hearing loss.

2. Wear properly-fitted hearing aids. The emphasis here is on
"properly-fitted" hearing aids. So often, people do not wear
their hearing aids because they are not properly adjusted to
their specific hearing needs.

3. Use assistive (and alerting) devices to supplement your
hearing aids. There are many, many of these devices--ranging from
amplified telephones, to loop systems and personal amplifiers, to
doorbells that flash red lights in your house, to simple things
such as turning on the closed captioning on your TV so you can
read the words you don't hear. You can learn about some of these
wonderful devices here.

4. Practice Speechreading (lipreading) all the time. The easiest
way to do this is to always watch peoples faces when they are
speaking. There is also an excellent CD, called "Seeing and
Hearing Speech" that will really help you with improving your
speechreading abilities.

5. Use the many coping strategies available to you in most
situations such as get closer to the speaker, cut out background
noise as much as possible, have the speaker face you and have
adequate light on his face, etc. The short book, "Talking with
Hard of Hearing People--Here's How to Do It Right" explains many
of these simple and free techniques that make life so much easier.

Using all 5 together greatly improves your ability to communicate
with other people with the least stress and strain to you. I
know. I use them all the time.



==================================================
4. Tips for Successfully Coping with Hearing Loss
==================================================

Hearing Loss and Restaurants—Here's How You Can Cope

Many hard of hearing people (including myself) often have
difficulty conversing in restaurants. This spoils the dining
experience. However, if you think about your needs, and plan
ahead, there are a number of things you can do to greatly improve
your chances of hearing in such situations.

One of my favorite coping strategies is to dine during off
hours--either before or after the crowds. This way the restaurant
is relatively empty. As a result, the noise level is much lower,
In addition, I can request a seat in a low-noise area rather than
having to take the only table available.

The noisiest areas in restaurants are typically near the kitchen
doors or wherever the busboys collect the dirty dishes, near the
cashier, and any high traffic areas—such as near the main
entrance or near the restrooms.

Another strategy I use, if I have a choice, is to request a booth
rather than a table. This is because booths tend to be quieter
and often have a wall on one side that blocks any sound from that
direction. In addition, with a booth, the waiter/waitress can't
stand behind you and ask for your order. He/she has to stand at
the end of the booth in your field of view so you can readily see
to speechread.

Another effective strategy is to learn which restaurants have
loud music playing and avoid them. Find those that have soft
background music. If the music is too loud, request that the
volume be turned down. Some will do this for you, but in my
experience, many refuse. I just don't go back to them again.

Another strategy is to go to well-lighted restaurants, or sit by
a window (if it is still light outside). This makes it easier to
speechread.

Some restaurants are pretty dark because they turn down the
lights for the ambience it gives. This makes speechreading anyone
difficult. In such cases, I choose a table that is as well-
lighted as possible. Look for one with the light directly over
the table.

Classy restaurants may use candles as their main source of light.
However, a romantic candle-lit dinner quickly looses its charm if
you can't hear your partner. If you find yourself in this
situation all is not lost. There are two things you can do to
help improve the situation. First, if the candles are in the
center of the table, and between you and your partner, move them
to one side or the other. This will make speechreading much
easier as the light is no longer in your eyes. If this does not
provide enough light, ask the waiter for some more candles. Line
them up on both sides of your table and you should have adequate
light without destroying the intimate atmosphere.

Each of these coping strategies can improve your dining
experience, and best of all, they are all free!



==================================================
5. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or
Assistive Devices
==================================================

Hybrid Cochlear Implants

A lady asked: "How does the hybrid cochlear implant work better
than hearing aids?"

Interesting question, or perhaps I should say, interesting answer
coming up.

Actually, the hybrid cochlear implant is a misnomer. It really
should be called the short-electrode cochlear implant. A hybrid
implies that two different things are being married together, and
this is to what happens with the short-electrode cochlear
implant.

Since, in this case, you would wear both a cochlear implant (CI)
and a hearing aid in the same ear, this is not really a hybrid
device. The only thing that is truly hybrid, would be the
resulting hearing—half from the cochlear implant, and half
though the hearing aid, or via natural hearing.

I have heard talk of marrying a short-electrode cochlear implant
and a hearing aid together to form a true hybrid--but that is
something for the future. In fact, even the short-electrode CIs
are still in trials, and are not yet available to the general
public.

Now let's look at why a short-electrode CI would give you better
sound than a hearing aid.

Hearing aids can only help you when you have significant numbers
of working hair cells for each frequency being amplified. Most
people with a hearing loss have relatively good low-frequency
hearing and little or no high-frequency hearing.

If such a person were to wear a hearing aid, the hearing aid
would amplify the lower frequency sounds very well, but would not
really help much, or at all, in the higher frequencies. This is
because in this case most/all of the hair cells in the higher
frequencies have died off. Since it is the job of the hair cells
to insert the sound signal into the auditory nerve, if there are
no working hair cells, then no signal gets passed to the auditory
nerve, and you don't hear anything in that frequency.

The result is that no matter how much your hearing aid amplifies
any high-frequency sounds, you still won't be able to hear them.

This is where cochlear implants come in. They bypass these dead
hair cells and "inject" the sound signal directly into the
auditory nerve—thus your brain hears these sounds in spite of
the dead hair cells.

So for a person with a ski-slope hearing loss (meaning they hear
some/much low-frequency sounds and little or no high-frequency
sounds), a cochlear implant for the high frequencies and a
hearing aid for the low frequencies is theoretically an ideal
solution. This is the niche that the hybrid or short-electrode CI
is being designed to fill.

In order to understand a bit better why this works, we need a bit
more understanding of how the cochlea works. The cochlea is a
snail-shaped organ. Hair cells are arranged along the length from
the base (large end) of the cochlea to the apex (small end). The
hair cells near the base are stimulated by high frequency sounds
and the ones closer to the apex are stimulated by low-frequency
sounds.

When they insert the electrodes of the CI into the cochlea, some
damage occurs to the existing hair cells, thus destroying some
(or all) of your residual hearing. If they used normal-length
electrodes, they would damage/destroy your relatively good low-
frequency hearing.

Thus they have designed a short electrode that only penetrates a
short distance from the base of the cochlea where high frequency
sounds are picked up (and where most of the hair cells are
already dead), and leaves undamaged the upper portions that is
still working quite well for low-frequency sounds.

As a result, by wearing a short-electrode cochlear implant, you
would hear the high-frequency sounds. At the same time, you would
wear a hearing aid to amplify the lower frequency sounds and
bring them up to normal levels. (If your low-frequency hearing is
still good enough, you wouldn't even have to wear a hearing aid.)

The beauty of this combination is that it leaves your lower-
frequency hearing working normally (with amplification from a
hearing aid if necessary). Thus, you will still get the full
richness of lower frequency sounds so you can hear, understand
and appreciate music for example.

Unfortunately, with today's technology, the cochlear implant,
while a miracle device, doesn't give the richness to sound that
lets us enjoy music to the fullest. This is because a cochlear
implant has somewhere between 24 and 128 electrodes to cover the
whole frequency spectrum as opposed to many thousand hair cells
in the normal ear.

Think of the difference you'd hear if you tried to play a piano
where someone had yanked out 6 or 7 of the 8 keys in every
octave. That is analogous to what you would hear via a CI as
opposed to normal hearing.

If you can't hear anything (e.g. in the high frequencies), then
hearing via the CI, imperfect as it is, is much better than not
hearing anything at all in those frequencies.

This is why wearing a short-electrode CI and a conventional
hearing aid would give you the best of both worlds if you have a
severe ski-slope hearing loss.

Note: if your hearing is stable, the short-electrode CI is a
great choice. However, if your low-frequency hearing is
continually dropping, you might be better off getting a
conventional CI from the start. Otherwise, when your low-
frequency hearing drops to a low level, you will have to have the
short-electrode array surgically removed and replaced with a
standard-length CI electrode array.



<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

                       HEARING LOSS HELP E-zine

Neil Bauman, Publisher               Center for Hearing Loss Help
49 Piston Court                       Stewartstown, PA 17363 USA
Phone: (717) 993-8555                       Fax (717) 993-6661
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com     neil@hearinglosshelp.com

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>