September 30, 2007 Issue
HEARING
LOSS HELP E-zine
"The premier e-zine for people with hearing loss"
Volume 2, Number 8
September 30, 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,
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-- Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
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================================================== In this issue ==================================================
1. News Items
2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
3. Answers to Your Questions
4. Subscriber-only Special
5. Coping Strategies
6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or Assistive Devices
==================================================
1. News Items
==================================================
Don't Let Ototoxic Drugs Break Your Hips!
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
According to a recent article in the American Family Physician,
"Falls are the leading cause of injury-related visits to
emergency departments in the United States, and the primary cause
of accidental deaths in persons over the age of 65 years."
The article continues, "More than 90% of hip fractures occur as a
result of falls, with most of these fractures occurring in
persons over 70 years of age."
Now, notice the risk factors that cause these falls. They include
"increasing age, drugs, cognitive impairment and sensory
deficit." (As reported by Jess Dancer, Ed.D., in Advance for
Audiologists, Sep. 14, 2007.)
If you investigate carefully, I think you'll find that drugs are
the main culprit. What most people don't know is that many of the
drugs seniors take are ototoxic. One of the side effects of such
drugs is that they affect the balance system in the inner ears,
and that results in falls.
How bad is this problem? This just crossed my desk.
"Each year 32,000 older adults suffer hip fractures, attributable to drug-induced falls, resulting in more than 1,500 deaths."
That's a lot of broken hips each year just from taking ototoxic
drugs.
The report continues, "In one study, the main categories of drugs
responsible for the falls leading to hip fractures were sleeping
pills and minor tranquilizers (30%), anti-psychotic drugs (52%)
and antidepressants (17%). All of these drugs are often
prescribed unnecessarily, especially in older adults." (As
reported in Worst Pills Best Pills News, September, 2007.)
Specifically notice the above sentence. Doctors commonly
unnecessarily prescribe these drugs for what are essentially
minor problems. The result is major problems such as hip
fractures and death.
Therefore, if you want to keep your "pins" under you as you age,
go easy on the drugs! Make your doctor justify any drugs he
prescribes for you. You want to see that the benefits far
outweigh the side effects—and as the above cases so powerfully
testify, your doctor may be hard-pressed to do this.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Absenteeism Higher Among Hard of Hearing Employees When Proper
Workplace Accommodations Are Not Made
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Some researchers have apparently discovered that hard of hearing
people call in sick more often than employees with normal
hearing. Here's the salient parts of the story.
"The extra energy expended on overcoming hearing problems takes
its toll on hearing-impaired employees. This may explain why
hearing-impaired employees are likely to take more sick-days than
their colleagues with normal hearing.
Hearing problems can wear on a hearing-impaired individual's
mental health. A Dutch survey among people in the workplace found
that hearing-impaired employees were five times more likely than
their co-workers with normal hearing to experience stress so
severe that they must take sick-days.
More than 75% of the hearing-impaired respondents had called in
sick during the preceding year, as compared to 55% of their
colleagues with normal hearing. One in four of the hearing-impaired respondents cited stress and burn-out as the reasons for
calling in sick, as compared to just 7% of those with normal
hearing." (As reported in "Intl. J. Audiol. 2006;45(9):503-512,
via
http://www.hearingreview.com/insider/2007-08-30_02.asp.)
What the study apparently overlooked was whether the people in
this study had appropriate accommodations made to compensate for
their hearing losses, or whether they were just left to fend for
themselves as best they could.
One such employee explained, "I totally agree that it takes much
more energy at work for hard of hearing people to cope. It
certainly did for me. It was a very stressful situation and got
worse as the years went by. I would go home at night simply
exhausted."
Treating hard of hearing employees like that is a sure recipe for
burn-out and resulting absenteeism. However, it does not have to
be this way. An employee at another company explained, "I am
fortunate that I am infrequently sick and use less sick leave
than most of my colleagues, but I agree that it takes plenty of
extra energy to hear well at work."
What is the difference? Look at the above figures again. 25% of
hard of hearing people as opposed to just 7% of hearing people
cited stress and burn-out as the culprit. There is no need for
this disparity if employers would make adequate and proper
accommodations for the special communications needs of their hard
of hearing employees.
In my experience, when communication needs are properly
accommodated, then stress and absenteeism in hard of hearing
people are no different than in people with normal hearing.
Therefore, employers, if your hard of hearing people are absent
more than "normal," that is an indictment against your company
failing to meet the specific communication needs of your hard of
hearing employees.
Often some simple changes are all that you need to implement. It
could be as simple as moving a hard of hearing employee to a
quiet corner of the office, or providing an amplified telephone,
or using email rather than talking to them face to face or on the
phone when giving instructions and orders so they know they have
"heard" everything correctly.
To find out what changes will meet their needs, ask your hard of
hearing employees what specific changes would help them the most.
Your reward will be happy, healthy, productive and loyal hard of
hearing employees. Isn't that worth it?
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)—Changing How You Think About
Your Tinnitus
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
If your tinnitus is bothering you, maybe you should try Cognitive
Behavior Therapy (CBT). CBT is just a fancy way of saying that
how you think about something reflects how you will react
physically and emotionally to it.
Thousands of years ago, wise King Solomon wrote, "As a man thinks
in his heart, so is he (or so he becomes)" (Proverbs 23:7). This
was true back in Solomon's time, and it is just as true today.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that it is also just as
true in regards to how we think about our tinnitus.
Although about 50 million Americans have tinnitus (I'm one of
them), only about 12 million are bothered by it.
Why is it that roughly 75% of the people with tinnitus are not
distressed by their tinnitus? Just as importantly, why is it that
the other 25% are bothered by their tinnitus?
For most people with tinnitus, "after an initial stress reaction,
they simply stop reacting to the same boring tinnitus sound and
become largely unaware of their tinnitus for most of the time.
This process is called habituation. It occurs naturally as long
as the person regards the tinnitus as meaningless."
In contrast, generally the people who suffer from tinnitus
perceive their tinnitus as a threat to their physical and mental
well-being. Their thoughts "reflect despair, persecution,
hopelessness, loss of enjoyment, a desire for peace and quiet
and a belief that others do not understand. Other common themes
are resentment about persistent tinnitus, a wish to escape it
and worries about health and sanity."
They often complain of "feeling depressed, sad, irritated,
anxious, frightened, panicky, agitated, angry or ashamed." In
addition, they may become restless or withdrawn; they can't sleep
and have difficulty functioning; they feel the need for
antidepressants, sleeping pills or other tranquilizers.
You see, it is the psychological processes, not just the
audiological ones, that make the real difference in whether or
not a person habituates to their tinnitus, or is distressed by
it.
Distress due to tinnitus involves a lot of worry, or overly
negative thinking, and a high level of stress, anxiety or
tension.
In fact, those that suffer from tinnitus often either get
tinnitus in the first place, or notice their existing tinnitus
getting worse during or after a period of high stress.
Furthermore, people who suffer from tinnitus think about it much
more than people who have tinnitus but do not complain about it.
Therefore, if you are constantly worrying about your tinnitus
with thoughts such as:
I will have a nervous breakdown if this tinnitus keeps up
- I will ruin my physical health
- I won't get any peace and quiet ever again
- I can't enjoy my life now
- I can't do normal things anymore
- I must avoid loud sounds and/or silence
don't be surprised if these thoughts become a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
All these negative thoughts increase your anxiety. This increased
anxiety not only makes you tense, but also causes you to focus
ever more narrowly on your tinnitus, which you perceive to be a
threat to you. As a result, you begin to focus your attention on
your tinnitus to the exclusion of other things. This makes your
tinnitus seem much louder and more intrusive.
Therefore, if you are distressed by your tinnitus, probably the
largest key to reducing that distress is changing how you think
about your tinnitus.
If you carefully examine your thoughts and beliefs about
tinnitus, you will realize that the above thoughts are obviously
not true since the vast majority of people with tinnitus are not
distressed by their tinnitus.
"Tinnitus is important—not because it exists, but because of
what you believe it does, or will do, to you. As we have seen,
these ideas you harbor are seldom accurate. Thus, if you change
these ideas, you change your reaction to your tinnitus. The
result will be that it becomes less intrusive in your life."
That's Cognitive Behavior Therapy in a nutshell.
(Adapted from the article "Changing Reactions to Tinnitus" as
reported in
http://www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2007-08_01.asp?)
You can learn about Cognitive Behavior Therapy and many other
ways to help yourself control your tinnitus in our book "When
Your Ears Ring! Cope With Your Tinnitus--Here's How" at
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/books.htm#tinnitus.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Folic Acid May Prevent Age-Related Hearing Loss—Let's Get
Real!
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
"Supplements of folic acid may prevent age-related hearing loss
in older men and women, says a new double-blind, randomized,
placebo-controlled trial from the Netherlands." (as reported in
Health Truth Revealed, January 3, 2007,
http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/full-page.php?id=08491323508&&page=article).
Sounds wonderful and pretty authoritative, doesn't it? Now we
will be able to prevent hearing loss as we age. Wow!
However, let's look at the study results before we get too
carried away. Before the study, the average participant's hearing
loss in the low frequencies (0.5 to 2 kHz) was 11.7 dB. The
average hearing loss in the high frequencies (4 to 8 kHz) was 34.2 dB.
What do you think the change was after the study—something
significant, right? Hang on to your hats. The change in the low
frequencies was a miniscule 0.7 dB (too little difference for the
human ear even to detect) and absolutely no difference in the
high frequencies. And this is supposed to be so wonderful?
You always have to discount the hype in news items and see what
the results really mean before you get too excited by the latest
research findings. Folic acid is definitely needed for a healthy
body—just don't expect it to preserve your hearing by itself, or
you'll be sadly disappointed.
**************************************************
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**************************************************
==================================================
2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
==================================================
Ibuprofen and Tinnitus
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen for pain relief for
dental work and found I got tinnitus after that. As soon as I
stopped taking the Ibuprofen, which was almost immediately
following getting the side effect, the tinnitus stopped as well.
Now when I need to use Ibuprofen, I keep the dose to 200 to 400 mg
at a time and I don't get tinnitus. Have others had the same
experience?"
Good question. Ibuprofen causes tinnitus in 1% to 3% of the
people taking it according to the PDR and CPS. Since a lot of
people take Ibuprofen each day, that translates into a lot of
people getting tinnitus just from using Ibuprofen. However, I
don't have any information on the dose needed to cause tinnitus
when taking Ibuprofen.
With a number of drugs, higher doses can cause tinnitus,
whereas lower doses of the same drug don't. Aspirin is one
example.
I've not heard specifically that tinnitus is dose-related with
Ibuprofen, but it may well be. So readers, have any of you found
that you can take Ibuprofen at low doses without tinnitus, but
tinnitus kicks in with higher doses? Let me know your
experiences.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Is Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) Ototoxic?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A person asked: "Is Cipro ototoxic?"
Cipro is one of the brand names of the generic antibiotic
Ciprofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin belongs to the Quinolone class of
drugs, all of which can be quite ototoxic.
Ciprofloxacin can cause severe hearing loss, loud tinnitus,
ataxia, dizziness, nystagmus, vertigo and ear pain. Thus, it is a
drug to be taken with caution. Since I've had a number of people
tell me of their woes after taking Ciprofloxacin, the ototoxic
side effects must be relatively common.
For example, one lady explained, "I only took Ciprofloxacin for
three days which resulted in profound bilateral hearing loss,
tinnitus and inner ear damage that affects my balance."
Here's another example. A man lost a lot of his hearing after
taking Ciprofloxacin. His hearing problems started with "weird"
tinnitus. The tinnitus eventually stopped, but his hearing did
not improve.
You can check out the ototoxic side effects of any drugs before
you take them in "Ototoxic Drugs Exposed". This book contains
information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs known to damage ears,
including Ciprofloxacin. For your copy, 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.
______________
Air/Bone Gap
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "My hearing loss has been described as 'an air gap
in the bone'. Whatever do they mean by that?"
What you really mean to ask is, "What is an air/bone gap?"
When your audiologist does the pure tone hearing testing (the
series of beeps at different frequencies and intensities), the
"air" refers to "air conduction" testing using earphones, and
the "bone" refers to the "bone conduction" testing using a
bone oscillator (vibrator) placed behind your ear on the mastoid bone.
If you have a sensorineural hearing loss (meaning inner ear loss)
both the air conduction and the bone conduction results will be
similar.
However, if you have a conductive loss (meaning a middle ear
loss) then your bone conduction testing results will be better
than the air conduction results on your audiogram. This
difference between the two lines or your audiogram is called the
"air/bone gap". Thus, the gap is only on your audiogram; it is
not a physical gap in some bones in your head.
You could also have both a conductive and a sensorineural
hearing loss at the same time. They call this a mixed loss. In
this case, you will also have an air/bone gap on your audiogram.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Fluctuating Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "I was diagnosed last year with a mild reverse-slope hearing loss. Since then it has not worsened much—just
slightly. My question is: can this type of hearing loss
fluctuate? There are days when I hear just fine. Other days I am
constantly asking people to repeat themselves. I have trouble
mainly with male voices. I am 46, and hearing loss runs in my
family."
There are a few reasons for a fluctuating hearing loss. Perhaps
the most common one is from colds or allergies. For example,
people with stuffed ears/head colds/allergies can have
fluctuating hearing depending on just how stuffed their ears are
on any given day.
Also, people with Meniere's disease do have fluctuating hearing
losses. Often Meniere's disease begins with a mild to moderate
reverse-slope loss. If you have Meniere's disease, you should
also be experiencing dizziness/vertigo and tinnitus as well as
the fluctuating hearing loss.
Another possibility is if you have large vestibular aqueduct
syndrome (LVAS). Such people are also prone to fluctuating
hearing loss—it often comes with mild head trauma or rapid
pressure changes. However, in my experience, people with LVAS
don't seem to have reverse-slope losses.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS) and Flying
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "We just visited our ENT for my son's biannual
hearing test. My husband asked the doctor if he could do another
cat scan. He told the doctor we wanted to make sure whether my
son had LVAS or not because we want to fly. My doctor told us he
has other patients with LVAS and most of the parents take their
children on flights. So, to reassure us that it is perfectly fine
for our son to fly, he told me I should join a support group and
talk to other parents to see what their opinion is. Thus, I
decided to join your Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS)
list because the reality of not flying is starting to sink in."
Your doctor gave you good advice. Few doctors know much about
LVAS, but there is a wealth of collective wisdom on the LVAS
list.
Here are two rules of thumb.
1. If your child is not affected by rapid pressure changes—such
as from driving up or down a mountain, or when a fast-moving high
or low pressure weather system moves in, or diving down to 6 feet
or so underwater, or blowing on a woodwind or brass musical
instrument, then the chances of him having ear problems related
to LVAS and flying are almost nil.
2. In order to know what will likely happen in the future, you
have to look at your child's past history. If none of the
situations in rule 1 (above) apply, try a flight and see what
happens. If he doesn't have any problems, then you can likely fly
to your heart's content without any problems in the future.
A lot of kids with LVAS do indeed fly, and with no harmful side
effects I might add.
We did an informal survey on our LVAS list some months ago.
Nineteen people responded that they had flown with a child with
LVAS. Of the 19 that have flown, only 2 experienced a hearing
loss which may have been related to flying.
The first child lost her hearing 12 days after flying and
experienced a permanent loss. The family was unable to identify
another reason for her loss such as head trauma or a virus.
However, this child had flown twice before with no apparent loss.
The second child was fine on the way to the destination, but
suffered a loss on the way home after transferring planes (in a
high altitude location—Denver—flying to a low altitude
location—Seattle). She suffered a "vestibular attack" (i.e.
eyes squeezed shut, wanting to lie prone, vomiting nonstop). An
audiogram a week later indicated a drop of 15 dB. Prior to this
trip her hearing was progressive in nature. This child had also
flown prior to this incident with no apparent hearing loss.
As you can see, most kids with LVAS can fly with no hearing side
effects, and even those that did experience side effects had
flown before without any problems.
Thus, you do not need to unduly restrict your LVAS child from
flying unless past history indicates it is not a wise choice.
If you would like to learn more about LVAS or join the LVAS on-line support group, go to
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/lvas.htm.
==================================================
4. Subscriber-only Special
==================================================
As is our custom, with each issue of Hearing Loss Help e-zine we
bring you a subscriber-only special that is only available to
you, our loyal subscribers.
This issue's special is for the dual T-Links. The T-Links let you
hear beautiful clear sound when you are talking on your cell
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your hearing aids.
The dual T-Links normally sells for $57.95. If you always
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the regular price. For a limited time you can get them for just
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Order your T-Links now while you are still thinking about
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October 14th 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
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To purchase the dual T-Links at this special subscriber price
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**************************************************
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==================================================
5. Coping Strategies
==================================================
Are We Hard of Hearing or Not?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
From time to time, the issue arises as to what we (people with a
hearing loss) call ourselves. Many of us refer to ourselves as
"hard of hearing". One person with a hearing loss commented:
"It's a stupid expression if you ask me. Hard-of-hearing makes no
sense."
Everyone is free to have their own opinions. However, I am also
free to disagree with the above opinion. You see, in MY opinion,
the expression "hard of hearing" is actually quite accurate.
Here's why.
Hearing (or more accurately understanding what we hear) is hard.
If all we needed was more volume, we would be "soft of hearing,"
and hearing aids and assistive devices would give us the extra
volume we need. Then hearing would be effortless.
However, amplification isn't enough. We still often can't
understand what people are saying in spite of the extra
amplification. This is because we have less than perfect
discrimination. Thus a lot of words are "fuzzy" and sound much
the same to us. It takes a lot of effort to try to make sense of
what people are saying under these conditions.
For example, we have to strain to hear. We have to go though a
lot of mental gymnastics in order to figure out what they might
have said. We have to concentrate on the person's face to
speechread. Then our brains have to put together what our eyes
see, what our ears hear, what we know about the topic and what we
know about the structure of the language. No matter how you slice
it, all this is hard work. So yes, in a very real sense, we truly
are hard of hearing. No wonder we are wiped out at the end of the
day. All this hard work exhausts us.
So I am quite happy to use the term "hard of hearing" as it
accurately portrays what I go though every day of my life.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Can't Understand Your Voice Mail Messages?—Here's a Solution
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "I'm interested in a service that provides text
conversion for voice mail messages. What company provides this
service?"
The name of the service some hard of hearing people use to
automatically transcribe and send text messages to their cell
phones and computers is SimulScribe (www.simulscribe.com).
As one person explained, "If I'm out of the house and away from
my CapTel phone, I can access and understand my voice messages.
Very easy and very simple—well worth the $10/month in my
opinion. It's very popular with the hearing world also and was
highly recommended by the Wall Street Journal's tech guru Walter
Mossberg. It's just another tool I use to cut down on the stress
of phone use."
So there you have it. If you are interested in such a service,
you might want to give SimulScribe a try.
==================================================
6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants
and/or Assistive Devices
==================================================
Lisa Evans-Smith, Au.D.—Audiologist Extraordinaire
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Recently as I was surfing the web, I came across an audiological
web site that blew my socks right off. This audiological practice
provides an impressive array of services to hard of hearing
people, but what really arrested my attention was that this
particular audiology practice had an "Ototoxicity Monitoring
Program," something that I have been saying for years that
audiologists need to implement, but until now I had never seen
advertised on any audiologist's website.
The thing that really got my attention was that they tested
hearing right up to 20,000 Hz—the upper limit of human hearing.
In contrast, conventional (normal) hearing testing is only done
to 8,000 Hz. Thus, conventional hearing testing misses the early
stages of hearing damage from drugs, which typically first occurs
at the highest frequencies the person can hear.
By the time hearing loss has progressed down to 6,000 to 8,000 Hz
where it can be detected by conventional audiological testing, it
is much too late to do anything about preventing hearing loss. By
that time, drugs have very likely permanently destroyed the
person's high-frequency hearing.
Upon seeing this website, I couldn't let this pass, I just had to
phone Dr. Lisa and find out more about her high-frequency hearing
testing program and why she was doing it.
It turns out she used to work for a cancer clinic where she did
high-frequency hearing testing to monitor the effects of the
highly-ototoxic drugs given to cancer patients. Thus, she knows
the importance of high-frequency hearing testing. Therefore, when
she moved into private practice, she purchased an audiometer that
could test the high frequencies and set up her own monitoring
program.
Incidentally, for years, when I have talked to audiologists, they
kept telling me that normal audiometers only test to 8,000 Hz.
and that it requires special audiometers to test hearing to
20,000 Hz, and that such audiometers were not readily available.
Well, I have news for them. Audiometers that test to 20,000 Hz
are indeed readily available. The one Dr. Lisa uses is the
Grason-Stadler GSI-61 audiometer. Hard of hearing reader, you
might suggest to your own audiologist that they get one of these
audiometers so they can monitor your high-frequency hearing.
Another unusual thing I noticed about her website that really
pleased me was that she carries all sorts of assistive listening
devices (ALDs). Few audiologists do this, so I needed to find out
why she places such emphasis on ALDs. It turns out Dr. Lisa is
hard of hearing herself, and well knows the value of such
devices. In fact, her hearing got so bad that she now has a
cochlear implant. So not only is she an audiologist, she is also
one of us hard of hearing people at the same time.
Her Colorado Tinnitus and Hearing Center carries a wide selection
of ALDs including "Amplified telephones; Cellular phone adaptors,
Personal Infrared and FM Television amplifiers; Personal Pocket
talkers; FM Systems for students; Sonic alarm clocks with bed
vibrator; Door bell alerts and much more!"
If you live near Denver, Colorado you might want to stop by for
your audiology needs. You can reach the Colorado Tinnitus and
Hearing Center by phone at 303-534-0163, or visit their website
at http://www.tinnitusandhearing.com/services2.asp.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Interesting Quote
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
As Jim says, "Without my hearing aids, I'm deaf. With my hearing
aids, I'm just confused!"
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Body Aids, T-coils and Music Links
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man asked: "I am enjoying my new Music Links, but I wonder
whether they will work with a body-type of hearing aid? I am
thinking of a body aid because it is more practical for what I'm
doing, and besides, they are a lot cheaper than behind-the-ear
hearing aids."
I was talking to a friend of mine that wears a body-style hearing
aid. He told me that almost all body aids have t-coils AND direct
audio input (DAI) jacks. This means that you could tape or clip
the Music Links over the t-coil on the body aid and hear well.
(He shoves them under the pocket clip on the aid itself.)
However, since they have the DAI jack, you'd be better off using
a patch cord from your audio device to your hearing aid, and
forget about using the t-coils and Music Links. (Just remember
that the hearing aid jack is set at microphone level and the
output of any audio devices is at line level (a much higher
voltage relatively speaking)—so you need a special attenuator
patch cord to reduce the line signal to the microphone level.)
He recommended that when looking for body aids, you make sure
they have both a t-coil and a DAI jack. That way you keep your
options open.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Difference Between T-Links and Music Links
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man asked: "What is the difference between the Music Links and
the T-links other than the T-links have a built-in microphone and
use a different sized plug?"
The big difference is in how the plug is wired. The Music Links
are wired exactly the same way stereo earbuds/earphones are
wired—one channel to the tip, second channel to the ring and
ground to the shank.
The T-Links, because of the microphone are wired with both ears
to the tip, microphone to the ring (or vice versa, I don't really
know) and ground to the shank.
Thus, the Music Links work with all regular audio device jacks
(3.5 mm), and they let you can hear in true stereo. The T-links
only work properly in headset phone jacks (2.5 mm), and you hear
dual mono.
If you used an adapter so you could plug the T-links into an
audio jack, you'd hear one stereo channel in both ears and the
other stereo channel would go to the microphone (which wouldn't
do it much good at all!)
As far as the ear hooks themselves go, they are exactly the same
for both units.
You can see pictures and explanations of the Music Links and T-
links at
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/earlinks.htm.
--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--
Not All Medical People Know About Cochlear Implants
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "I had an incident yesterday trying to give blood.
I was stunned when I was not allowed to give blood because I had
marked (under previous surgeries) that I had a cochlear implant
(CI). The head screener (an RN) argued with me that I didn't know
what I was talking about—any time someone has an organ or tissue
implanted from a cadaver or live donor they can never again give
blood. I explained that my implant was all man made, but she
insisted that was impossible. She had never heard of it. Two
supervisors (one an M.D.) got involved, and then one made a call
to my surgeon and got the misconception cleared up. Incredibly,
the staff running the drive just happened to be from my CI center
hospital."
I know that a lot of the general public are in total ignorance
about cochlear implants, but I find it incredibly hard to believe
that so many of the medical community (doctors and nurses) are
also still totally ignorant about cochlear implants. This major
medical advance is not new. It has been around for almost 30
years!
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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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