June 12, 2007 Issue

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

Volume 2, Number 5                June 12, 2007
Publisher: Neil Bauman      neil@hearinglosshelp.com
            http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
    Copyright Center for Hearing Loss Help 2007

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                      "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.

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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.

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In this issue
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1. Hearing Health Magazine Special

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

3. Answers to Your Questions

4. Coping Strategies

5. Subscriber-only Special

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

7. Musical Ear Syndrome—Phantom Sounds

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1. Hearing Health Magazine Special
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Wow! Hearing Health Magazine Subscription Now at No Charge!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

Recently Hearing Health Magazine, one of the two national magazines in the USA written specifically for for hard of hearing people (HLA's Hearing Loss magazine is the other) stopped charging for their subscriptions.

I've subscribed to Hearing Health magazine for a number of years and it was always a good value at $24.00 per year. Now you can get the same informative, top-quality magazine for nothing!

To get your subscription to Hearing Health magazine, either write to:

Deafness Research Foundation
2801 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007

or phone toll-free 1-866-454-3924;

or FAX your subscription info to 1-202-338-8182;

or email your subscription info to mailto:info@drf.org;

or sign up online at
http://www.drf.org/hearing_health/subscribe.htm.

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Having trouble hearing your iPod (or MP3 player) in true stereo?

If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, the dual
Music-Links will let you hear beautiful, clear, true-stereo sounds
in both ears! Click here to learn more.

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2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
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We're Taking Too Many Medications? Here's Why

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

Each year more and more people are damaging their ears from taking ototoxic drugs. Why? Simply this. People are taking more and more drugs, and the law of averages says that the more you take, the greater your chances of having adverse side effects.

Dr. John Abramson of Harvard Medical School, when asked, "Are most Americans overmedicated?" replied, "They sure are!" He further explained, "It is no secret that Americans take many drugs unnecessarily, and when drugs are needed, people often take the wrong ones."

So who's to blame—patients? doctors? or the drug industry? They all are! Here's why.

People: People want the magic pill that instantly gets rid of their physical problems, so they buy into the idea of "A pill for every ill" and "A drug for every bug." They don't want to change their lifestyle, eating habits or exercise habits in order to get (and stay) well.

Doctors: Most doctors prescribe drugs because they think it's in their patients' best interest. Why? Because that is what they have been taught to believe. Where did they get this idea? From the drug companies, of course. Doctors need to quite believing everything the drug companies tell them and look into all the different methods for healing people apart from drugs.

Drug Companies: Drug companies are in the business of making money, and they have found a cash cow that is making them billions of dollars. Here's what's happening. There have been radical changes in the way that our medical knowledge is provided. Bottom Line Secrets (April 27, 2007) in their article "Are You Taking Too Many Medications" made this revealing statement, "Before 1980, most clinical research was publicly funded, but now most is funded directly by the drug and other medical industries, whose primary mission is to maximize the return on investments for investors [and thus not to cure people's illnesses—or they wouldn't need their drugs any more]. Remember, drug ads that tell you to "ask your doctor" about a particular drug have a single purpose—to sell more drugs, not to improve your health.

Ninety percent of clinical trials now are commercially funded—as well as 75% of published clinical research. [I think these figures, while shocking, are still much too conservative.] When a pharmaceutical company sponsors a study, the odds are FIVE times greater that the findings will favor its product."

Furthermore, this article explains, "Drug and medical industries fund 70% of continuing education lectures and seminars, which are among the activities that doctors are required to attend to maintain their licenses to practice. Wherever doctors turn for sources of information, drug companies dominate."

Did you catch that? The doctors primary source of information is ultimately from the drug companies, and the drug companies are in the business of making money for their investors.

So where does that leave us? If we want to get healthy, we need to do our homework before we decide whether to take a drug for a given condition, or whether we should look for some alternate solution that is not harmful to our ears (and the rest of our bodies too).

The above Board Room Secrets article then continues. "Are natural therapies a better alternative to some drugs? If you look at the data rather than listen to the drug ads, you see that natural alternatives, such as improved diet and routine exercise, often are far more effective than drugs at achieving real health improvements, such as less heart disease and longer life."

Here comes the kicker. "Many patients prefer pills because they're easier. [In other words, we are lazy when it comes to protecting our health.] There is no question that many of us would rather take a pill than change our lifestyle. If the pills worked, it would simply be a question of how we want to spend our money. The problem is that the "magic" of the pills often is empowered by our cultural beliefs, but without a genuine scientific basis. About two-thirds of our health is determined by the way we live our lives, and—for better or worse—no pills can change that."

So instead of worrying whether a certain drug is ototoxic or not, you should be questioning whether that drug is really necessary in the first place or not, and be actively looking for better alternatives. For example, see the following article "Addicted to Nasal Drugs" to see one way this can work out in practice.)

Reference: Bottom Line Secrets April 27, 2007 "Are You Taking Too Many Medications?"

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Addicted to Nasal Drugs?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

Millions of Americans take nasal sprays to try to alleviate the symptoms of the common cold. Unfortunately, in so doing, they become addicted to such drugs. When they try to stop taking these drugs,, their sinuses clog up, and they have trouble breathing. Thus, they go on month after month, year after year—addicted to nasal sprays. When they go to their doctors, their doctors may want them to try a steroid nasal drug which only compounds the original problem.

For example, a man wrote: "I just read an article where you stated that prednisone could possibly cause hearing loss and tinnitus. I have both, after taking prednisone for about a week two months ago. Now my doctor wants to prescribe more to help me kick an Afrin (Oxymetazoline) addiction. Any advice?"

Why are doctors so all-fired ready to give yet another drug to try to kick the habit/problems of the first one? You just end up worse off than you were before you started since Prednisone is hard on both your body and your ears.

It's time to take a different approach. I'd suggest you use something like Rhinostat which helps you wean yourself off the medication you're addicted to now. Go to http://www.rhinostat.com and click on the link at the right called "How Does Rhinostat Work".

With this device, you can slowly cut down the dosage in precise amounts day by day until you are no longer addicted to the Afrin.

Investigate Rhinostat and see what you think—then discuss it with your doctor. To me this is a much more sensible approach than taking yet another drug—especially one that is known to be damaging to your body and your ears.

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Having trouble hearing on your cell phone because of lack of
volume or interference?

If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, try the dual
T-Links and hear beautiful, clear, interference-free sounds in both
ears! Click here to learn more.

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3. Answers to Your Questions
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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.
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Air-Bone Gap—What's That?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote: "After three years of badgering, (and constant reminders that I was getting tired of repeating myself) my 84 year old aunt finally went to an audiologist for a hearing evaluation.

Upon finishing the audiogram, she was told to go see an ENT, in order to have her "Air-Bone Gap" evaluated. I've never heard of an air-bone gap before. What the Sam Hill is it anyway?"

Good question. The reason for this strange and oxymoronic- sounding term, and the cause of your confusion, is that this term is really just a contraction audiologists use instead of saying, "The results of your air-conduction hearing tests and the results of your bone-conduction hearing tests don't match each other because your air-conduction tests gave much poorer results than your bone-conduction tests."

The difference (or gap) between these two lines plotted on your audiogram is the air [conduction] - bone [conduction] gap or air- bone gap for short. For example, if your audiogram showed an air- conduction hearing loss of 70 dB while your bone-conduction test results only showed a 40 dB hearing loss for a given test frequency, then the difference between them in this case would be an air-bone gap of 30 dB (70 - 40 = 30).

In case you are interested, air-conduction tests evaluate your ability to hear sounds traveling through the air in your ear canals, then vibrating your ear drums, which in turn vibrate the three tiny bones in your middle ears and then transmit these vibrations via the oval window to your cochlea.

In contrast, bone-conduction tests evaluate your hearing by placing a bone oscillator (vibrator) on the mastoid bone behind your ear. This directly vibrates your skull and thus your cochlea, which is embedded in your skull—thus effectively bypassing your ear canal, ear drum and middle ear bones.

If there is a difference between the air-conduction and bone- conduction test results, this indicates problems somewhere in your outer or middle ears. This could be something such as wax (or "junk") in your ear canal blocking incoming sounds, a hole or other problem in your eardrum, fluid in your middle ear, damage to your middle ear bones (for example—otosclerosis), etc.

That is why if there is an air-bone gap you typically want to see an ear specialist to find out why. The good news is that often these kinds of problems can be fixed by an ear specialist.

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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!

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4. Coping Strategies
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Coping Strategies for Hard of Hearing Teachers

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

There are many coping strategies that teachers can use in the classroom to make communicating with students easier and less frustrating. However, teachers need to be up-front and proactive about their hearing losses if this is to happen.

Following is what James, a hard of hearing teacher, gives to his students at the start of every school year. It contains a wealth of wisdom (and it is not just for teachers only—but for all hard of hearing people and those that communicate with them).

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Working with a Hard of Hearing Teacher

This is probably the first time you have had a teacher with a hearing loss. Understandably, being hard of hearing can be a difficult handicap for a teacher and his/her students to cope with. With this in mind, I have put together the following guidelines which I hope will make the year go smoothly for both you and me. Please read these carefully and discuss them with your parents. Then, keep this in your binder as a reference.

1. My particular hearing loss makes it difficult for me to hear consonant sounds. Often I can tell that a student is speaking, but I cannot make out all the words that he/she is saying. Words that have similar vowel sounds or that rhyme will sound alike to me.

2. To help me understand you, you must remember to do the following: Speak a bit more slowly than you normally do. Pronounce each word clearly. Speak more loudly than you normally do, but please do not shout. Shouting causes you to speak less clearly and will not help. Do not speak out of turn. Extra background noise will make it impossible for me to hear the speaker. Raise your hand and wait to be acknowledged before speaking. If I have not called on you directly, I may not be aware that you are trying to participate. Do not assume that I have heard you unless I have directly acknowledged you. This is especially true at the start of class before everyone has settled down.

3. Please be patient with me. Most people become frustrated when talking with someone who is hard of hearing and give up. If what you have to say is important, then it is important enough to repeat so that I will hear it correctly.

4. Laugh with me, but not at me. Often it is comical when I misunderstand what someone is trying to say, and it is important for all of us to keep a sense of humor. But, many times the misunderstanding is very frustrating and confusing. Be aware of the difference between the two situations and do not make fun of me when it is obvious that I am struggling to understand something.

I hope these basic guidelines will help us all this year. The school has provided me to with technology to help in the classroom. With their help and yours, the effects of my hearing loss can be minimized. I thank you for taking the time to read this and discuss it with your parents. Please sign below to indicate that you understand all that is written. If you or your parents have any questions or concerns, feel free to talk to me about it.

Excellent advice James! I hope other hard of hearing teachers, presenters and trainers will do something similar.

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5. Subscriber-only Special
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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 just been talking about good coping strategies in the classroom and other places, this issue's special is for the eBook version of our book "Talking With Hard of Hearing People—Here's How To Do It Right!" Talking is important to all of us. When communication breaks down, we all suffer. For hard of hearing people this happens all the time. This book is for you—whether you are hearing or hard of hearing! It explains how to effectively communicate with hard of hearing people in one-to-one situations, in groups and meetings, in emergency situations, and in hospitals and nursing homes. When you use the principles given in this book, good things will happen. You will be able to have comfortable chats with hard of hearing people (30 pages).

This eBook, jammed with coping tips, normally sells for $5.99. If you always wanted this book, now is your chance to save 20% off the already low eBook price. For a limited time you can have it for just $4.99. Furthermore, for our overseas friends, because it is an eBook, there is no shipping charge and you can download it immediately—no waiting time. (Note: the eBook version is identical in content to the printed edition.)

Order it now while you are thinking about it because this special will only be available until July 3rd at midnight.

To get this special price, you must click on the below link. Do not order from the regular links on the web site or elsewhere or you will be charged the regular price.

To purchase this eBook edition of Talking With Hard of Hearing People—Here's How to Do It Right at this special subscriber price of just $4.99, click on the above link now.

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6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants
and/or Assistive Devices
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Want a Simple Cell Phone for Hard of Hearing People?—Try the Jitterbug

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote: "I found your website (http://www.hearinglosshelp.com) with a
keyword search via Google, and I'm grateful for the helpful information on it. I wear two Phonak hearing aids with telecoils. I haven't used them so far, but I'm now shopping for a cell phone, and I believe my t-coils will be very helpful to me.

I'm looking online for a cell phone with M3-M4 and T3-T4 capability, and I've found several that seem suitable. I don't want (and don't need) the gizmos on most phones nowadays—camera, video, e-mail, messaging, exotic ring tones, etc. Can you recommend a "plain Jane" phone with M3-M4 and T3-T4 built-in?"

If you want a really plain and simple cell phone and system, have a look at the Jitterbug phones. They are simple and easy to use. They are also engineered for hard of hearing people. If you want to check them out, snoop around the Jitterbug web site to see if these phones may meet your needs.

According to the Jitterbug website: "Jitterbug phones feature a padded earpiece that's not only more comfortable (especially for customers who wear a hearing aid), but keeps unwanted noise out. Plus, the volume adjusts from low to super-high, and has a speakerphone option that appears when you move through the volume choices. The volume can also be adjusted while you are on the call. The newest Jitterbug phones have the latest hearing aid compatibility technology called "T-coil" to ensure the best sound quality for those with hearing
aids."

Note that Jitterbug phones have the highest hearing aid compatibility rating (M4/T4) although it doesn't specifically say this on their website.

The one feature Jitterbug phones don't currently have that you may find you want is a 2.5 mm headset jack. Without this jack, you can't use these phones with t-links and neckloops. However, if you find you can hear well with just your hearing aids and/or t-coils just by holding the phone up to your ear, they should work just fine for you.

______________________

Is A T4 Rating in a Cell Phone Enough, or Do I Still Need the T-
Links?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A person asked: "Will a cell phone with an M3/T3 or an M4/T4 rating work OK as-is if held to my ear in "normal" use? Or should I purchase in addition the T- Links device you describe for optimal results? I have a difficult time hearing in noisy situations where the background noise level is moderate to high."

You'll have to try each phone out and see. That's the only way to tell for certain if it will really work with your particular hearing aids and t-coils.

Compatibility is a relative thing. There are many variables to consider. For example, you may find a given phone interference-free when it connects to a nearby cell tower, but find that it causes interference when the tower is far away.

This is because cell phones only put out enough power to reach the tower nearest them in order to extend battery life. Thus, if the tower is nearby, the cell phone puts out minimal power and with that, minimal interference, but if the tower is far away, the same phone has has to put out full power, and that may result in more interference.

Furthermore, some cell phone networks inherently cause less interference than others. For example CDMA networks cause the least interference, then comes TDMA and finally GSM with the most interference. So if your service provider uses CDMA technology (e.g. Verizon, Bell South, etc.) you will tend to get less
interference than if your provider uses GSM technology (AT&T, etc).

As regards getting T-Links, much as I'd like to sell you a pair, I'd suggest you hold off on purchasing them until you see if you can use your new cell phone with just your hearing aids. If so, you have saved yourself some money and the inconvenience of using extra assistive devices. If you find you need the T-Links, you can always get them later.

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7. Musical Ear Syndrome—Phantom Sounds
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Musical Ear Syndrome (MES)—A Different Approach

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man recently wrote: "Thank you for your research into Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). Also, thank you for your website postings on the subject, and for your book "Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds". My condition is similar to other people that you describe, but there are a few differences. And more importantly, I want to tell you how I have nearly cured myself of MES.

I have had MES for about 11.5 years. I am 53 and in otherwise good health. I am not hard of hearing. However, all my adult life, I have been acutely sensitive to noise when trying to sleep. I run a fan at night to block out noise when sleeping. I played clarinet & violin in school, but played nothing as an adult. I enjoyed classical and rock music as an adult, until the onset of MES.

I cannot pinpoint the exact onset of MES, but my best estimate is August 1996. Living in an apartment, I thought that neighbors were playing music all night. At first, I only heard the music while trying to sleep. Back then I also heard radio & TV sounds. I could hear a voice (sometimes dialog), tones of voice, and content (beer commercials, radio comedy, nature programs, etc.), but I could never quite make out the words. Eventually, I only heard music.

I approached neighbors, asking them to turn down their music. Naturally, they denied that they were playing music. Eventually, I started hearing music during daylight hours. It was so real I firmly felt that the music was external—that it was coming from the outside, not from within me. I would walk through my neighborhood, trying to find the source of the music. For the first three months or so, I insisted that the music was external to me.

By November 1996, I was starting to break down. The music was so loud and intrusive, that it prevented me from sleeping. I could only get 1 to 2 hours of sleep per night. I could not concentrate, eat, or sleep. My time-horizon contracted to simply getting through the day. The music nearly killed me through sleep deprivation.

There was one odd correlate to the music. It would increase in volume whenever background white noise increased in volume. This puzzled me greatly, because I was accustomed to masking intrusive noise with white noise. But white noise just made the problem worse.

The only way that I could convince myself that the music was in my head, and not external, was to leave the city. A friend and I took a road trip. When the music remained unchanged, I realized that this was a hallucination—something in my brain.

I started going to neurologists and psychiatrists in December 1996. If nothing else, I had to get sleep, or I would die. In all, I saw 3 neurologists and 3 psychiatrists. The neurologists couldn't find anything wrong via their standard tests (EEG, MRI, blood & urine tests). I received a variety of diagnoses—depression, obsession-compulsion, schizophrenia, malingering, etc. I went through about 25 medications, trying to suppress the music. I also had to take medication simply to get sleep at night.

Only three medications had any effect on the music. The first two, Tegretol and Topamax, worked OK, but they only lasted about three months. I finally tried Klonopin, and that was nearly a miracle. It suppressed the music 48 hours after I started taking it. My dosage was 2 mg/day. Even more miraculous, it suppressed the music for over 7 years. I did not need to increase the dosage over time. I settled on a pseudo-diagnosis of "seizure", because these three medications were all anti-seizure medications.

The Klonopin did not completely eliminate the music, but it made everything much better. The music was much softer and less intrusive. I could sleep without taking other medication. And the music became a few monotonous bars, rather than a complete orchestral symphony that changed melodies every 10 seconds.

One psychiatrist nearly diagnosed it correctly. He did not have a name for it, but he said that it sounded like an aural analog of the Charles Bonnet syndrome [where you see phantom sights]. To me, this sounded exactly like what I had. My problem did not have a name, but I could understand it as the auditory (music) perception neurons of my brain activating themselves without actual auditory input.

I analyzed and tried many things to see if anything was related to the music. The only things that affected the music were white noise (made it worse) and the three anti-seizure medications that could lessen the music. Alcohol, diet, rest, sleep, stress, any particular emotion, other sounds/noises, magnets to my head(!), various mental exercises—none had any effect on the music.

At its worst, before Klonopin, the music was loud, varied, and elaborate. It was simultaneously beautiful and oppressive. It constantly ran every waking minute, and sometimes in my sleep. (I would hear music in a dream, wake up, and hear the same music upon awaking). The melody would change every 10 - 15 seconds. It was common for the music to cycle through a dozen different melodies (Christmas songs, songs from childhood, TV jingles, and classical music were the most frequent types of melodies) within a 2-minute period.

At times, the music became extreme. At least three times, I heard two different orchestras playing simultaneously. Once I heard a mostly-string orchestra play Mozart, while a mostly-brass band played "Deep in the Heart of Texas". At least 4 times, I heard beautiful, elaborate music, but melodies I had never heard before (usually strings and low-frequency wind instruments). It seems my brain was actually composing new music, melodies I had never heard before.

You have heard of similar or identical symptoms before. What I wish to share with you now is how I have suppressed MES. I cannot say that I am cured, for I still hear some music every day. But I have not taken any medication to the suppress the music, or to fall asleep, in over a month. I think that what worked for me might work for others.

What I did goes by many names—self-hypnosis, auto-suggestion, affirmation—I will call it self-hypnosis. I read how to do self-hypnosis, hoping that it could help me ignore the music as it could be used by some to ignore chronic pain. Through trial and error, I emphasized some aspects of self-hypnosis, and jettisoned others.

The self-hypnosis instructions I read emphasized the need for a "perfect" trance, the need to be in a trance for 15 - 20 minutes before listening to the actual script. This was too tedious and time-consuming. I just sit/lay back in a dark, quiet room, close my eyes, and after a minute of relaxing and clearing my mind of mental chatter, I listen to my script.

It was difficult to write the script. There was no pre-written script that I could use for such an odd problem. The literature says to use the present tense, use 1st person, only use positive-sounding words, use rhythm, repeat themes and phrases with some variation, and to visualize what you want to achieve.

It is hard to find words for "anti-music". The word "music" normally has positive connotations. If I want to be rid of music, I cannot use the word "music" in scripts. It is also hard to define a positive script when the goal is to eliminate something. Eventually, I settled on concepts of silence, quiet, peace, and tranquility. These have positive connotations, and are opposed to constantly hearing music.

To give structure to the script, I thought of about 10 situations where the music is particularly bothersome (when trying to fall asleep, when hearing white noise, while working at my computer, etc.). The sentences of the script are along the lines of: "When XXX happens/occurs, I ZZZ", where ZZZ is one of 1) I actively create silence, 2) the silence naturally happens, and/or 3) I enjoy the silence.

This was not a quick fix. It took me 18 months to get to the point where I did not need to take any Klonopin. The self-hypnosis has no immediate effect. I only started to hear/feel an effect after about 10 weeks. I did not fully believe that self-hypnosis would be helpful, but I was desperate, so I did it every night before I went to bed. After the first 10 weeks, I took a slightly lesser dosage of Klonopin, and found I could get away with it. About every month after that, I found that I could take a slightly lesser dose.

I had Klonopin withdrawal symptoms—mostly insomnia, headaches, and muscle twitches. However, because I withdrew so slowly, it was manageable.

I hope that by reporting my experiences, others will be able to get relief from MES as well."

Thanks so much for letting me use your experiences in this eZine. I'm sure this will help others who also struggle with the effects of MES.

Note 1: The above person does not fit the typical profile of a person with MES—typically a) elderly, b) hard of hearing, c) has tinnitus, d) lives in quiet surroundings and e) is anxious and/or depressed. Therefore, both the cause of the MES and the "cure" may be somewhat different as described above.

Note 2: Klonopin (Clonazepam) belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. If you take any benzodiazepines for very long, you can form a dependence on them. Once this dependence is formed, getting off a benzodiazepine can be very difficult, and for some, nigh impossible. So I do not recommend taking such drugs for longer than stated in the manufacturer's guidelines—which is typically 2 or 3 weeks at the most.

To learn more about Musical Ear Syndrome and what you can do about it, read the article "Musical Ear Syndrome—The Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds Many Hard of Hearing People Secretly Experience", or get the book, "Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds".
 

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                       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

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