Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. with Linda Grasmick

Getting a job is typically more difficult when you have a hearing loss. Linda, herself hard of hearing, has some important words of wisdom for people with hearing loss when applying for a new job. She explains:

You don’t want to approach your prospective employer with an attitude of “this is what I need because I have a hearing loss. Are you willing to give me these things/accommodations if I take this job?”

[Yes the American’s With Disabilities (ADA) law requires employers of a given size to accommodate your needs, but shoving that down their throats at the beginning of an interview is NOT the way to make a good impression that results in them offering you a job!]

Rather, approach your prospective employer from the opposite perspective with an attitude of, “This is why I will be a great employee for you. These are the special skills and knowledge that I will bring to your company. This is what I can do for your business.” Then, somewhere near the end of the interview you say something like, “This is why granting my hearing loss accommodation requests will be so worthwhile for you.”

Always consider the situation from the employer’s point of view. Answer the question, “Why should they grant you your requests?” Answer it for them. If you don’t answer it, they might not see it for themselves. Practice explaining those reasons prior to the interview.

With so many qualified people out of work right now and competing for every available job, anybody wanting a job needs to be flexible, and be able to meet the employer’s needs. Anyone who wants special treatment needs to be able to show why they are worth that special treatment. Your best chance lies in identifying your strengths as a employee and “selling” the idea that your experience, knowledge and character are valuable assets that they don’t want to lose.

It’s hard to know what to say at job interviews. Put the odds in your favor right at the beginning. Put a smile on your face, hold out your hand, and say something like, “Hi. I’m Jim. I’m very excited about this job possibility. It’s the type of work I want to do, and I think I have the skills to do it very well. I’d like the chance to show you what a good employee I can be for you.”

If you’re not doing that sort of thing when you interview for a job, then you are unlikely to be taken seriously. When you apply for a job, you are asking the employer to give you some of their money. You need to “sell” yourself by giving them reasons to spend their hard-earned money on you.

You do not need to beat around the bush and/or play games. Just tell them in a straightforward way what your skills are, and why you would be a better employee for them to hire than most other people. Be prepared to answer questions about your skills and about your performance on previous jobs.

It’s also great if you can show them some evidence of your skills—such as past performance reviews that have been positive, letters of recommendation, certificates of accomplishments, etc. You can’t expect a stranger to automatically know why they should hire you. You have to both tell them and show them.

Save all this “evidence” of your accomplishments in a special folder. Include things like performance reviews, letters to your personnel file that are positive, certificates of educational programs attended, examples of your best work, etc. Save those things throughout your career, then you will have them handy when you want to show evidence of your good work. Sometimes, you can organize those materials neatly in a folder. That’s called a “portfolio”.

I always keep my resume current and have a box where I keep all of my career-related materials and examples of my important projects. I keep that collection of materials up-to-date even though I have had the same employer for 12 years. I never know when I might need it.

Prepare for the interview by identifying your strengths. Next, practice how you would talk about those strengths with others. Identify what evidence you would talk about or show that would illustrate those strengths to a potential employer. If you discover that you don’t have evidence, or that your skills need a little work, then work on developing those skills and evidence to show.

Avoid emphasizing your weaknesses in an interview. You want to focus on all your positive qualities and skills—not on your problems and weak areas. At the same time, you need to be prepared to talk about your weaknesses if the interviewer asks. A common question would be something like, “What would you say is your greatest weakness on the job?” The trick is to discuss your weaknesses (learning needs) in ways that still make you look attractive to an employer.

When discussing your weaknesses, be honest, but present your weak areas as challenges that do not hurt your ability to do the job well. Yes, like everyone else you have learning needs (weak areas) and challenges in your life. Just remember, the employer is looking to hire people who can be successful. You want the employer to respect you and consider you an attractive employee who will contribute to the company’s financial health. Therefore, present any weaknesses as areas that you are in the process of mastering so they should pose no problems for your performance on the job.

When you follow the principles that Linda has laid out here, you are well on your way to a successful interview, and hopefully you will walk out with a job offer that will make all the time and effort you put into the interview worthwhile.

Thanks for you insight Linda. You’ve helped a lot of hard of hearing job seekers today.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. with Bob Eldridge

Bob Eldridge has been a teacher for many years. He is also hard of hearing. Here is how he warns his students about protecting their ears from hearing loss.

As a hearing impaired teacher I make it my business, when I introduce myself to new students, to talk about hearing loss.

I ask them if they like to listen to their I-pods with the volume turned up loud. I share with my students that as a kid I liked to listen to music loud. As a teen I got one of the first transistor radios with headphones. I outfitted my cars with pumped up sound systems. When I played with a live band, I did not protect my ears from microphone feedback and loud noises.

Then I tell them that about 5 years ago, I started not being able to understand what my students were saying. I tell them about going to the doctor and being sent to a practitioner who fitted me for hearing aids. I take out my hearing aids and show them. I tell them that hearing aids help but are not replacements for natural hearing.

Usually there is a ventilator fan running in the classroom and I ask them to notice the fan noise. They do and are amazed that their brains tend to block out that noise. I tell them with hearing aids, my brain can no longer block out the fan noise. (I do have a setting to reduce it.) Then I ask them, “Do you think I told you all of this so that I could show off my hearing aids?”

“No, Mr. E”, comes the reply ‘You don’t want us to make the same mistakes you did.’ And they are absolutely right.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A chaplain to seniors asked:

Do you know where I can get a doorbell type device that can activate a vibrator worn by a fairly deaf senior?

There are a good number of alerting systems available that flash lights and shake beds, but to my knowledge, there are only three systems that have wearable vibrating receivers. Of the three, I can only recommend two, as I found the third very unreliable when I purchased it.

Both of the two I can recommend are made by Silent Call. The legacy system uses a vibrating pager you typically wear on your belt. When the doorbell (or any of the other alerting devices that are available) goes off, it vibrates and a light comes on to let you know which device is trying to alert you.

The newer system uses a vibrating wristwatch instead of a pager. I am wearing this vibrating wristwatch as I type this. I love it! Besides vibrating, it shows an icon on the watch face. For example, when the doorbell goes off, it shows a “door” icon at the same time.

Both of these systems are flexible. Besides alerting you to the doorbell, they can alert you to the phone, your alarm clock, to smoke detectors, CO detectors, sound monitors, fire alarms, window and door burglar alarms, weather radios, etc.

When you are in bed you can put them in their charger/docking stations and with bed vibrators plugged into the docking units, they will alert you while you are asleep too.

You can start with a basic system and add to it whenever you want. For example, you can start with just one transmitter (e.g. doorbell) and one receiver (e.g. pager or watch depending on the system) and if you want to, add more transmitter modules as you find the need for them. I use the doorbell, telephone, smoke detector, fire alarm, CO detector, and sound monitor modules at present, although I also have the weather radio module as well.

You can learn about (and purchase) the newer Signature Series modules (wristwatch series) here, and the older legacy series (pager series) here.

Besides the body-worn receivers, both series also have bed table (and other) receivers that flash lights and have bed vibrators. I use them too. I love how flexible these systems are. I have tailored them to fit my exact needs. I’m sure you will find they will do the same for you.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

If all of a sudden you feel dizzy and your balance is off, has something just happened to the balance parts of your inner ears, or have you just had an ischemic stroke in your brain? Your doctor needs to determine what has happened right away.

Up to now, doctors typically ordered MRIs to look for a blood clot in your brain which would indicate a stroke. Unfortunately MRIs are both expensive and do not always find tiny blood clots, especially at the outset.

Now researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Illinois have discovered a fast, accurate, low-tech way to determine which is which. Your doctor can tell in under a minute whether you’ve just had a stroke or not. Here’s how he can do it.

Your doctor gives you a three-part eye test called H.I.N.T.S. (In case you’re interested, H. I. stands for “head impulse”, N.T. for “nystagmus test” and S. for “skew”.)

First, is the Head Impulse Test. Here your doctor rotates your head while you keep your eyes focused on his nose. If you have had a stroke you cannot do this. However, if you have an inner ear balance problem, you can keep focused on his nose.

Second, is the Nystagmus Test. You follow your doctor’s finger as he moves it. If you have a balance problem, your eyes will jerk in only one direction. However, if you have had a stroke, your eyes will most likely jerk in both directions.

Third, is the Skew Test. Here your doctor looks at your eyes to see if one eye appears higher than the other. If one eye is higher than the other, you have had a stroke. If they are the same level, then it could be inner ear balance problems.

According to David E. Newman-Toker, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and coauthor of this study. “These three eye tests tell, with 96% certainty, whether or not the patient has had a stroke.”

According to Bottom Line’s Daily Health News, December 14, 2009, “Dr. Newman-Toker advises seeking attention for any dizziness that comes on unexpectedly and has no obvious explanation, particularly if it lasts more than a few seconds. In situations where you still feel dizzy when you arrive at the ER, request the eye tests, he says, but be aware that not every doctor has the training and experience to perform them.”

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A short article in the November, 2009 issue of the AARP Bulletin recommends that you do what most people don’t do—and that is, haggle over the price of your next hearing aids.

The worst that can happen is that they say no, but if they want your business, they may sweeten the deal, and you’ll save some of your precious dollars as a result.

Apparently, only about 15% of shoppers in general ever ask for a discount, but the good news is that of those that do ask, close to half get a better price, according to this article. You may find that a bit of haggling gets you a better price on your next pair of hearing aids too. It’s certainly worth a try.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A mother explained:

My son has had a few bouts of tinnitus followed by a hearing drop in one ear. This always seems to be as a result of, or following, strenuous exercise. So far the ear has always recovered to its old level. I reported the last episode to my doctor who has now raised the question that it could be “labyrinthine hydrops.” The drugs that he recommended we consider are Betahistine or Cinnarizine, but the side effects seem severe. Up until now, these episodes only occur when my son has congestion, and this has thrown even more questions into the pot! I’d appreciate your advice.

Strenuous exercise can raise the internal pressure in the head, just like a blow to the head can. If your son has large vestibular aqueduct syndrome (LVAS), this can cause hearing loss. This is nothing new. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be exercise—any form of extreme straining can cause this in people with LVAS if they are susceptible. Fortunately, not all people with LVAS are susceptible to this.

It’s great that his hearing comes back after each episode. Of course, there are no guarantees that his hearing will always return, but it seems you can go by your son’s previous history—which is, it is a temporary hearing loss.

It could be labyrinthine hydrops or anything else, but if your son has LVAS, that would be the most likely cause. Maybe your doctor considers LVAS to be a form of labyrinthine hydrops?

Personally, I’d not take either Betahistine or Cinnarizine if I were in his shoes. To me, the solution is much simpler—just don’t strain so much when exercising. He should be able to find the level below which this doesn’t happen, and then limit himself to that much straining effort.

Incidentally, labyrinthine hydrops is an inner ear condition, whereas congestion is a middle ear condition.

If his hearing loss only occurs when he is congested, then it could be that the strenuous exercise is causing “gunk” (to use a fancy medical term), to clog up his Eustachian tubes and middle ears causing some degree of conductive hearing loss. When the gunk drains out, his hearing returns to normal. If this is the case, it has nothing whatsoever to do with LVAS.

One way to determine which is which is to go to an audiologist and have an audiogram done as soon as he loses some hearing from straining. If the audiogram shows only a sensorineural hearing loss, then it is LVAS (or another inner ear condition). If it shows a conductive loss, it is likely gunk in the middle ear or Eustachian tube. If he already has a sensorineural hearing loss from LVAS, and it is gunk in his middle ear, the audiogram should show an air-bone gap indicating the conductive component. Once you know what the audiogram shows, then you’ll better know how to proceed.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. with Dana Mulvany

A lady explained:

My cell phone contract is nearing its end, and I am looking at other carriers—trying to find a better phone for me. I’ve had several cell phones over the years, but have never had one that I was comfortable with except when making calls myself. Which is the best cell phone for hard of hearing people?

My friend, Dana Mulvany, herself hard of hearing, and like me, an expert in hearing assistive technology including phones explains:

There are actually quite a few issues you may want to consider when purchasing a cell phone. Some of these include:

• The audio quality of voice transmissions. It is important to assess how well your voice comes across on the phone in addition to how well you can hear on the phone. Unfortunately, some phones do a poor job transmitting all the frequencies people need in order to hear speech as well as possible. This is particularly important if the person you are talking with is also hard of hearing.
• The volume of the phone. Is the maximum volume enough so that you can hear people well?
• The M and T rating. Ideally, you want a phone that is rated M4/T4. This gives your hearing aids the greatest immunity from interference from the phone in both voice and t-coil modes.
• The availability of a 2.5 mm jack (for accessories such as a neckloop or T-links).
• Whether you are effectively alerted to the phone ringing. Is the ring tone audible to you. Is the vibration strong enough?
• Whether you can be alerted effectively to call waiting, text messages, etc.
• Whether or not Web CapTel will work on the phone
• Whether the phone will support Mobile CapTel (both voice and Web CapTel at the same time).
• Compatibility of the phone’s Bluetooth feature with hearing aid compatible accessories such as bluetooth neckloops.
• Access to text messaging.
• Ease of use of texting.
• Access to email.
• Access to web sites.
• The cost of voice and data plans.
• Video capabilities (in the future) for people who use sign language or lip reading.
• The availability of mobile TV with captioning (in the future).

No phones come with all the above features. You need to decide which features are important to you and get the phone that best meets your needs..

Is there one perfect phone for us? I’m afraid not at this time!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

I came across your extremely informative articles on the Internet, and I wanted to ask you a question. I was recently prescribed Aleve 220 mg and Soma 250 mg for a neck injury. I was instructed to take the two pills together in the evening for 7 days. I took the pills together (1 Aleve and 1 Soma) for 2 evenings, and then stopped because my ear was ringing very loudly, and I feel a significant loss in my hearing on my left side.

I always have tinnitus in my left ear due to damaging my ear in college from listening to a Walkman radio. However, since I took these medications the ringing is much louder, and I feel that I cannot hear as well.

It has been one week since I stopped the medicines, and the increased tinnitus and hearing loss has persisted. Is this permanent damage to my hearing? I am really worried, and regret having taken these medicines in the first place.

The good news is that Carisprodol (Soma) is not known to cause tinnitus or hearing loss. So Soma is off the hook.

The bad news is that Naproxen (Aleve) is known to cause both hearing loss and tinnitus (and a bunch of other ototoxic side effects as well). In fact the “official” figures (which I think are much too low) indicate that Naproxen causes hearing disorders in up to 3% of the people taking it, and tinnitus in up to 9% of the people taking it. It looks like you are one of the “fortunate few”.

It’s hard to know whether the damage will be temporary or permanent. In one study 40% recovered their hearing and 60% had permanent hearing loss after taking Naproxen. Tinnitus results are mixed too. In some people it is permanent, and in others it goes away after some hours or days.

As a very rough rule of thumb, the level of hearing you have a month after stopping the Naproxen will likely be your new “normal” hearing level.

If you remain emotionally neutral to your tinnitus, and ignore it by focusing on other things, hopefully it will fade into the background as you habituate to it.

I hear from numbers of people who say much as you have said, “I am really worried and regret having taken these medicines in the first place.”

The problem with any drug side effects is that you never know whether they will hit you or not, so you don’t know which drugs you need to avoid. For myself, I don’t take any drugs—not even an Aspirin. I use herbals and alternate medicine instead. That way, I never have to worry about ototoxic (or any other) side effects of drugs.

To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Hard of hearing people are impatient for hair cell research to bring forth positive results so they can have their hearing restored to normal or near normal. That is their desire, but this reality is still far in the future.

In spite of all the advances that have been made in recent years, hair cell regeneration in humans is still at least 20 years away according to Dr. Douglas A. Cotanche, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, and Anatomy & Neurobiology, at the Boston University School of Medicine in MA.

Dr. Cotanche explains, “We are still in the very early stages of developing techniques for inducing hair cell regeneration in damaged mouse and guinea pig ears. To date, we have not yet perfected a technique that leads to full, or even partial functional recovery in a damaged cochlea. We need to accomplish this before we can think of trying therapies in humans. I would project that a potential therapy will not be available for at least 20 years.”

Before human trials can begin, according to Dr. Cotanche, “We would need to be able to show that the therapy did not somehow cause a reduction in the surviving hair cell population and lead to further hearing loss.”

You see, some unexpected negative results have shown up in the animal research undertaken so far. As Dr. Cotanche explains, “We know that mammal cochlear hair cells will not regenerate on their own when the native hair cells are lost. But experimental models have shown that we can induce some levels of regeneration by stimulating genes that cause cells to divide. So we do see an initial burst of hair cell regeneration, but then the ear somehow senses that these new hair cells are not normal—that this should not happen—and eliminates these cells.”

Dr. Cotanche continues, “Now we need to find a way to keep these newly regenerated hair cells in the mammal ear from dying off, and determining if they can regain function.”

As a result, hair cell regeneration in humans is not just “around the corner”. At present we need to use the hearing aids and cochlear implants that are available to us, and not wait for the possibility of hair cell regeneration to give us better hearing.

Although hair cell regeneration is still a long way in the future, Dr. Cotanche confidently asserts, “We’re getting there slow but sure!”

To read the full November 9, 2009 chat transcript with Dr. Cotanche, point your browser to the Hearing Loss Association of America web page.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

Can HCTZ cause the constant roar I now hear in my ears?

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) is about the least ototoxic of all the diuretics. It is listed as sometimes causing dizziness or vertigo, but is not listed (as far as I have ever seen) as causing tinnitus.

However, one lady told me that whenever she takes HCTZ, her tinnitus gets louder. Thus, it could be the cause your constant roar (tinnitus) too.

Think back to when you started taking HCTZ. If you didn’t have the loud roar before you began this drug, and your tinnitus started soon after (in the following 14 days or so), then this is strong circumstantial evidence that Hydrochlorothiazide is indeed causing your tinnitus.

To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.