June 6, 2006 Issue

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


Volume 1, Number 4                          June 6, 2006
Publisher: Neil Bauman      neil@hearinglosshelp.com
            http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
    Copyright Center for Hearing Loss Help 2006

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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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In this issue
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1. Tips for Successfully Coping with Your Tinnitus

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

3. Answers to Your Questions

4. Tips to Help You Prevent Hearing Loss

5. Subscriber-only Special

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


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1. Tips for Successfully Coping with Your Tinnitus
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"Tinnitus Keeping You Awake?"

Here is a novel idea that may help you get to sleep (and stay
asleep) if your tinnitus typically keeps you awake at night.

Researchers at John Carroll University discovered five years ago
that the blue component in white light prevents the pineal gland
from producing melatonin (the sleep hormone). When there is lots
of melatonin in your bloodstream, you naturally fall asleep
easily and sleep sounder.

This melatonin production happens naturally each day after
sunset. However, since we live in houses with artificial light,
this natural "sleeping pill" produced by our bodies is blocked.

However, if you block out all blue light for a couple of hours
before you go to bed, your pineal gland thinks it is time for
sleep and begins loading your blood with melatonin. Thus, when
you "hit the sack" you'll hopefully fall asleep quickly. This can
prove to be a blessing if your tinnitus makes it hard for you to
fall asleep and stay asleep.

The simplest way to start this melatonin production before you go
to bed is to get special wrap-around yellow glasses that will
block all blue light from reaching your eyes. Such glasses, which
fit over your existing glasses, are available in large, medium or
small sizes for $37.50 from
http://www.sleepglasses.com/products.asp?PageIndex=2.

SleepGlasses have a number of other products on their web site,
but these glasses seem to be the simplest to use, and can be worn
anywhere. Besides they never "burn out" like the yellow light bulbs will.

Although these glasses will work for most people, they will not
work for everyone. A few people's bodies do not produce
melatonin. If you are one of these, then blocking blue light
obviously won't help. But for the rest of you who have bothersome
tinnitus, and have trouble falling asleep, this is something you
might want to investigate.



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

"Gentamicin and Its Routine Use in Infants"


A mother wrote: "My daughter, 28 months old, has bilateral
sensorineural hearing loss ranging from 25 to 40 decibels. She
failed her newborn hearing screening at 2 days old and later
received an ABR to confirm her hearing loss.

She received Gentamicin following her birth for 2 days--receiving
4 doses in total because her doctors were concerned she MIGHT be
septic. She was NOT septic and has no health problems. She
received this drug as a 'precautionary measure' according to
neonatologists.

Her ENT's and audiologists have all down played the importance of
Gentamicin as a possible cause of her hearing loss. They stated
this was the standard drug given in NICU with very few problems
especially for such a short duration.

However, from the first moment they gave her Gentamicin, a family
doctor felt the neonatologists were being extremely over
aggressive. He truly believes this drug played an important role
in my daughter's hearing loss.

I don't understand why this drug is 'standard care procedure'
(again told this by many pediatricians) in the NICU. My
daughter's hearing was not tested prior to receiving this drug. I
don't see how they could possibly know how many children this
drug is affecting since they do not test their hearing prior to
receiving this drug. Why can't they test their hearing prior to
receiving Gentamicin? I think it only takes around 5 minutes to
perform this test.

Furthermore, when my daughter was approximately 3 months old she
began receiving physical therapy due to developmental delays in
the areas associated with balance and vestibular functioning.
Could she have had these vestibular problems due to ototoxic
drugs?"

I hear you! You raise some excellent points.

Gentamicin belongs to a class of drugs called Aminoglycoside
antibiotics. ALL of the Aminoglycosides are very ototoxic.
Ototoxic just means that such drugs damage ears.

Never forget it. Gentamicin is a dangerous drug as far as our
ears are concerned. Thus, it should not be used indiscriminately
for "precautionary measures." This is like playing Russian
roulette with your ears! Each year hundreds of thousands of
people lose their hearing and/or have serious balance problems
for the rest of their lives as a result of taking Gentamicin.
(The equivalent figure is in the millions when you take the
Aminoglycosides as a whole.) It seems to me that Gentamicin
should NEVER be given unless there is a very good reason--such as
a life-threatening condition.

An interesting thing about Gentamicin is that it typically
attacks the balance (vestibular) system even more than it does
the hearing system. Thus, it is more common to have balance
problems than hearing problems from taking Gentamicin.

As you have confirmed, your daughter has BOTH hearing AND balance
problems. This is a very strong indication that this drug was
responsible for her ear damage.

Since you now know your daughter's ears are sensitive to ototoxic
drugs, she needs to be very careful in the future whenever she
takes drugs so that she doesn't needlessly lose more hearing
and/or balance.

For more information on ototoxic drugs in general read our
various articles on ototoxic drugs at
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles.htm#ototoxic_drugs

For complete information and individual listings on the known
ototoxic drugs and chemicals, go to
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/ototoxicdrugbook.htm



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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.
______________

"Phantom Traffic, Furnace and Other Sounds"

A man asked, "What could be causing a rumbling, banging sort of
sound in both my ears? It's like hearing traffic from a distance,
and a greater awareness of noise made by air conditioning
systems?

I feel this super sensitivity is from hyperacusis. I don't think
it is tinnitus. I have had tinnitus for the past five years. My
tinnitus was caused by stress and an episode of panic. It
remained after that, and is a ringing sound, and occasionally a
crackling sound.

I also have bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in the high
frequencies.

My hyperacusis comes on periodically and goes away after a few
months. More specifically, I have the following symptoms and find
them very disturbing.

1. Awareness of heavy traffic (buses, trucks, vehicles) sounds
heard from a long distance as rumbling, not noticed by others.

2. Awareness of the bass sounds from a music system, again from
a long distance. I hear this as a throbbing, pulsating sound,
again hardly noticed by others.

3. Awareness of the working of air conditioning systems with
sound coming from the vents. I hear this as a low-level rumbling,
throbbing sound, not at all noticed by other people in office.

This super sensitivity and acute hearing seems to indicate
hyperacusis. Do you agree?"

No. Hyperacusis is where you hear normal, everyday sounds as much
too loud--a person talking is too loud. Cutlery clanking is too
loud. The phone ringing is too loud, etc., etc. You are not
hearing these normal sounds as too loud. Thus you do NOT have
hyperacusis.

However, I do know what you are experiencing based on your very
interesting set of symptoms.

You are NOT hearing real traffic sounds from a distance; not
hearing real music; and not hearing real air conditioning sounds.
You are really "hearing" phantom sounds, but phantom sounds that
are so real to you that you cannot distinguish them from the real
thing. This is why the people around you with normal hearing
can't hear them. In short, these sounds are all in your head.

What you are describing is not tinnitus, not hyperacusis, nor
even hyperacute hearing. Rather, you are hearing some of the many
sounds associated with Musical Ear Syndrome (MES).

People with MES almost always already have tinnitus and hearing
loss such as you do. Furthermore, anxiety and/or stress is also
commonly associated with MES.

Musical Ear Syndrome is fairly common, but seldom talked about.
Just as you are doing, people try to find some other logical
reason for "hearing" such sounds because they do not want to be
thought crazy--which you're not, by the way.

Your MES is more limited to lower-frequency rumbling sounds. Some
people only hear beautiful music, but whatever sounds you hear,
they are all just phantom sounds.

You don't specifically say so, but I think you also sometimes can
feel these sounds vibrating the floor/ground with their rumbling.
Is that right?

You are not alone in what you are hearing (and feeling). You
might be surprised to know that I "hear" the same things you do
from time to time. So do many other people. For example, one
sound I hear is a rumbling sound like a big truck idling outside
the house. Another is hearing the furnace rumbling in the plenum
under the floor. The strange thing is that these sounds are so
real that I can actually "feel" them shaking the house.

The truth is, when I go to look, there is no truck anywhere
around my house, nor is the furnace even running! When this
happens, I am experiencing totally phantom sensations, just as
you are.

Musical Ear syndrome is nothing to be worried about. You are
definitely not going crazy because you hear these sounds, so you
can put your mind at rest in this regard. These sounds are just
symptoms of damage to your auditory system as evidenced by your
hearing loss and tinnitus. Thus, when they occur, just ignore
them--even though they seem so real.

You would do well to read my article entitled "Musical Ear Syndrome". In
addition, you can learn much more about MES in my book, "Phantom
Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds". This book has brought
peace of mind to many people with MES.

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4. Tips to Help You Prevent Hearing Loss
==================================================

"The Danger to Your Ears of High-Impact Aerobics"


On June 4, 2006, the New York Times ran an article entitled:
"Inner Ear May Take Beating From High-Impact Aerobics" It pointed
out that the last thing on the minds of people jumping and
bouncing to music is that they could be damaging their inner
ears. Let me explain what can happen.

There are two separate causes of inner-ear damage. The first is
that generally music is played at ear-damaging levels. Often the
first symptom to appear is tinnitus or ringing in your ears. If
you do not heed this warning, later you may notice that your ears
begin to feel plugged or blocked, and if you get your hearing
tested, you'll discover to your shock and dismay, you now have a
significant hearing loss. This may not happen all at once, but
the longer you expose your ears to loud sounds, the quicker it
will happen.

The obvious solution to prevent damage to the hearing part of
your inner ears is to turn the music down to a level of 80
decibels or less. Failing this, wear ear plugs with a rating of
20 dB or more when you do your aerobics.

The second cause of inner ear damage is in the vestibular or
balance part of your inner ears. Damage here can result in
dizziness, vertigo, feelings of imbalance and motion sickness.

What happens is that with all the high-impact aerobics, the
jarring of your head causes the "rocks in your head" (technically
known as otoconia) to be jarred out of their normal place (the
utricle in your inner ears) and bounce around in your semi-
circular canals. Whenever one of these "rocks" touches the tiny
hairs (cilia) there, it causes the cilia to generate a spurious
balance signal that is sent to your brain. When you brain
receives both good and bad balance signals it gets confused. That
confusion results in the vertigo and other imbalance problems.

Activities that can cause such imbalance problems include high-
impact aerobics that involve a lot of bouncing up and down with
both feet off the ground at the same time, high-mileage running
or when playing sports where a lot of jumping in involved such as
in volleyball.

To minimize the chances of your developing balance problems, you
can do three things. First, limit the time you spend on high-
impact aerobics. You don't have to stop these activities
completely. Moderation is the key here.

Second, consider switching from high-impact aerobics to less
jarring activities such as step exercises or low-impact aerobics
where one foot is always on the ground.

Third, wear good shoes that are specially designed to absorb much
of the shock of the above activities.



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5. Subscriber-only Special
==================================================


As is our custom, with each issue we bring a subscriber only
special just for you, our loyal subscribers to HearingLossHelp e-zine.

If you've ever dreamed of owning a personal FM system such as the
excellent Williams Sound PFM 350 system the Center for Hearing
Loss Help carries, but have been held back because you couldn't
afford the big bucks, here's an offer you won't want to pass up.

Joe Marin, the head honcho over at General Technologies, has
found a very inexpensive FM system that my be exactly what you
are looking for at the incredibly low price (for FM systems) of
only $199.99. Joe's a great guy, also hard of hearing like the
rest of us, so he knows what we need. Besides, he won't rip you
off.

To take advantage of this special, point your browser to General
Technologies web site.

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


"When Are T-Coils Not T-Coils?"


I was shocked recently to discover that "acoustic t-coils" are
not t-coils at all--but are a deceptive practice to make you
think you are getting real t-coils where you're not.

T-coils, sometimes referred to as telecoils, t-switch or
audiocoils, are tiny coils of wire in your hearing aids that pick
up inductive (magnetic) signals from devices such as telephones
(hence their name), neckloops, ear links (Music Links, T-Links),
silhouettes, room loops, etc.

To use a t-coil, if you have an analog hearing aid, you
physically move a switch from the "M" (microphone) position to
the "T" telecoil position. If you have a digital aid, you
typically just switch to the program (memory) that is programmed
to make your t-coils active. If you have one of the fancy new
autocoils, you just hold the phone up to your ear and the
magnetic field in the phone automatically switches your hearing
aid into t-coil mode. (At least that's how it's supposed to
work.)

However, if you have autocoils, you cannot use neckloops, room
loops, etc., because the magnetic field is not strong enough to
engage the magnetic switch. Thus I recommend you NEVER purchase
hearing aids with autocoils UNLESS they come with a manual
override switch so you can physically switch them into t-coil
mode for listening on room loops, etc. (Note: you can trick
autocoils into turning on by sticking a small magnet to the side
of your hearing aids. Then you will be able to hear on loop
systems.)

These above devices are all real t-coils. Now comes the deceptive
part. At least one manufacturer has resorted to calling their
latest invention an "acoustic t-coil." Acoustic t-coils are not
t-coils at all. In actual fact, they are just one memory in the
hearing aid that is specially optimized to work best on the phone
using your hearing aid's microphone. (If you were really
thinking, that word "acoustic" should have sent up a red warning
flag, since real t-coils are inductive, not acoustic.)

What's the problem. First, these acoustic t-coils don't work as
well on the phone as real t-coils do, according to one person who
has tried both. Second, acoustic t-coils don't work at all with
room loops, neckloops, etc. since there is no actual coil to pick
up the inductive signal.

Therefore, if you are buying hearing aids, make sure you get REAL
t-coils (and make sure they work on a neckloop (or equivalent)
BEFORE you leave the audiologist's office.

If you don't, you may be shocked to discover that when you
finally try to use a room loop (like one man discovered
recently), your fancy hearing aids with acoustic t-coils can't
hear a thing. To add insult to injury, the manufacturer assured
him that his hearing aids cannot be retrofitted with real t-
coils. Since he did not discover this deception until 6 months
AFTER he purchased his hearing aids, he can't return them for a
refund. So beware of such deceptive practices. You've been
warned!

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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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