Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Millions of hard of hearing people still face serious barriers to employment. Just getting a job–any job–is tough for those with significant hearing loss. Getting promoted is even harder.

According to the RNID in the United Kingdom:

Over half (53%) of those surveyed cited “attitude of employers” as one of the main barriers preventing them from finding employment. These barriers also severely restrict career prospects for those already in employment, creating artificial and unnecessary “glass ceilings.” In fact, 51% of those currently working felt they had been held back from promotion or developing their careers as a result of their hearing loss and 34% felt their job didn’t make full use of their qualifications.

The situation is not much different here in the United States or in Canada.

So often, employers treat hard of hearing people as though they lost their brains along with their hearing. This is just not true. Hard of hearing people have abilities, skills and talents just like everyone else. As Cheryl Cullen of the RNID says, “People with hearing loss represent a talented and skilled, but largely untapped, labour resource.”

Hearing loss isn’t the barrier to working that so many employers ignorantely assume it is. Hard of hearing people just need the right support so they can do their jobs in spite of their hearing losses. The cost of accommodations for hard of hearing people is generally minimal, and the payback can be enormous.

Not only are hard of hearing people loyal to employers who accommodate their needs, many of them make even better workers than those with normal hearing! This is because they focus on the job and are not as easily distracted by sounds around them, nor do they waste as much of their employer’s time in social chit chat around the water cooler.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

About 15 years ago I started having panic attacks and began taking Xanax (Alprazolam) at 1.5 mg/day and have been on it ever since. Two years ago I had some really bad panic attacks so my doctor doubled my Xanax medication to 3 mg/day.

Now everything is out of control for some reason. In the past year or two, in spite of the increased dose, things have been getting much worse to the point I don’t feel normal any more.

My hearing is a lot worse, I have vertigo and balance problems. I feel unsteady on my feet. My ears are ringing. They are also supersensitive to sounds. As a result, I can’t wear a hearing aid in one ear any more.

I feel like I am only 50% here–kind of like a bad head cold feeling, or living in a dream state. I feel shaky and out of sorts and panicky. I feel weird and feel like I am going to pass out. I can be fine one minute, then BAM–all of a sudden I feel this odd feeling coming on as if my hearing gets very quiet. I feel as if I am chilled. I get a tingly feeling in my head, and then I feel a sort of darkness and closed-in feeling about to happen. I start to shake and sweat, and I just feel as if I am drifting away.

I have always thought that my medications could be hurting me more than helping me. Why did the doctor do this to me? My neurologist feels I won’t be able to stop taking the Xanax as my body is now dependent on it. If I would go off this drug, he feels I would spin out of control–but I’m already out of control!

For some time I have wanted to try to taper down or get off the Xanax, but I am scared I will feel worse. How am I going to live my life without the Xanax? I want to be able to get through the day, but not like this! I would love to be free and be me again! What should I do?

Unfortunately, you are not alone. From time to time, I hear similar stories from people who have been taking drugs of the Benzodiazepine (pronounced ben-zoe-die-AZ-eh-peen) class for a number of months or years. Eventually, like you, they realize the drugs are not really helping them, yet when they try to go off them, the nasty time bomb hidden in these drugs not only ambushes their ears, but also flips their lives upside down and leaves them worried about their ability to function in the future.

Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs commonly known as tranquilizers and sleeping pills. They are predominantly prescribed for anything associated with anxiety or sleeping problems.

In case you don’t know which drugs belong to the Benzodiazepine class, some of the more common Benzodiazepines include Xanax (Alprazolam), Valium (Diazepam), Ativan (Lorazepam), Rivotril (Clonazepam) and Halcion (Triazolam).

Benzodiazepines are only meant to be taken for short periods of time. They are temporary solutions to problems such as anxiety and sleeplessness. In fact, safe and appropriate use of Benzodiazepines is for no longer that 2 to 3 weeks if taken daily. They were never meant to be the long-term solution to these problems. Unfortunately, doctors allow multitudes of people to stay on these drugs for months, and in many cases, years.

Used responsibly, and taken in the short term to tide you over a rough spot, Benzodiazepines can do some good. However, so often these drugs are abused. For example, according to one estimate, 1 person in every 50 people has been taking a Benzodiazepine for longer than 6 months!

Getting on Benzodiazepines is easy, but getting off them once you have built up a dependence to them is very hard, and for some people, almost impossible. You see, dependence to the Benzodiazepines is insidious and sneaks up on you without your even being aware of it—often you don’t realize this until it is too late.

Therefore, your first line of defense is knowledge. You now know that Benzodiazepines are only supposed to be used for short periods of time–2 to 3 weeks at the most! Any doctor that prescribes these drugs for longer periods than that is doing you a disservice, and may be harming you. Thus, refuse to take any Benzodiazepine for longer than 3 weeks. By doing so, you will avoid all these withdrawal problems.

Once you finally decide to stop taking a Benzodiazepine, the range and severity of the withdrawal symptoms will likely take you by surprise. For many people, the intensity of Benzodiazepine withdrawal is overwhelming. Unfortunately, there are no predictors for who will likely suffer severe withdrawal, and who will likely have a mild withdrawal experience.

In order to go off any Benzodiazepine, you will have to taper off very gradually–under your doctor’s guidance, of course. Reducing the dose of the drug slowly minimizes the severity of the withdrawal symptoms.

However, overcoming the withdrawal side effects of Benzodiazepines can take many weeks or months, or, for some people, even years. Usually the length of time someone has been taking a Benzodiazepine and the amount they have been taking will have the most impact on how long it takes for their withdrawal
symptoms to pass.

The good news is that if you persist through the agonies of the withdrawal stage–no matter how long it takes–in the end, as the lady in the above story expressed it, you will be free and be “me” again!

(This article is a very abbreviated version. Read the full version here. For more information on ototoxic drugs in general read our various articles on ototoxic drugs , and for complete information and individual listings on the known ototoxic drugs and chemicals, see “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed.”)

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A mother wrote:

My son has the typical ski-slope hearing loss associated with LVAS. His loss at 250-500 Hz is 30-40 dB, then it jumps back up to 10 dB at 1000 Hz. At 1500 Hz it drops down to 60 and it continues dropping from there. Not to sound stupid, but when his hearing aids aren’t in, is it necessary for us to speak a lot louder to him so that he can hear us? I get so confused and can’t quite get it through my head what he is hearing. Help!

I’m not surprised that you are confused. It is difficult to know what a hard of hearing person actually hears and understands.

There are two main factors at play. One is hearing. The other is understanding what you hear.

Since your son has the typical ski-slope loss, he hears low-frequency sounds at near-normal levels. This means that unless a person is talking very softly, he will hear people talking just fine since most of the volume of speech is in the (loud) low-frequency vowel sounds. Thus, you don’t need to speak loudly or shout at him for him to hear you. Just speak up in a clear normal voice.

This solves the hearing aspect. However, what you really want to know is how well he understands what he hears. This is a whole different ball game.

Since most of the intelligence of speech is carried in the (soft) high-frequency consonants which he doesn’t hear, if you speak in a normal voice, or worse yet, mumble, he may not understand a thing you say.

If you speak up and talk louder, he will hear the high-frequency sounds better, but then the low-frequency sounds will be too loud for him (and you too). Thus, the best strategy is to speak up just a bit. At the same time, speak slowly and clearly–with emphasis on good articulation. By doing this, he will be more able to speechread many of the sounds his ears miss. It will also give his brain time to put all this together and decipher what you are saying.

One more thing–and this is important–few people realize that high frequency sounds rapidly “fall out of the air” with increasing distance, Thus, if you talk to him from any distance at all, he won’t hear the high frequency sounds. As a result, speech will sound like so much gibberish. However, if you get close, and talk to him from 1 or 2 feet away, he will catch much more of these high frequency sounds–and thus his understanding will greatly increase.

A good rule of thumb is you can call to him to get his attention from a distance–but you need to get right up to him–nose to nose so to speak–so he has the best chance to understand what you are saying.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A woman asked:

I saw this in a catalog. Anybody hear of it? The ad reads:

“Bio-Ear $16.95. Stop the ringing in your ears. End that constant hum that’s driving you up a wall. Bio-Ear nourishes nerve endings in the ear, providing natural relief for symptoms caused by tinnitus. Regular use stimulates blood flow and helps relieve annoying ringing or buzzing. Safe, all natural herbal remedy used by thousands for continual relief. It’s fast, easy and effective. Buy a bottle and feel better fast!”

The problem with ads like this is that they are both true and false at the same time.

Yes, it is true that such formulations may reduce or eliminate tinnitus in those people whose tinnitus is caused by a lack of adequate blood flow to their ears. (These people are definitely not the majority of tinnitus sufferers.)

No, it is not true that this kind of formula will help all people with tinnitus. The lie of this ad is making you believe that there is only one “kind” of tinnitus, and that this formula fixes it.

The truth is that there are a number of “kinds” of tinnitus–about 12 or so–depending how you define them. Each “kind” requires a different cure. So this formula may cure one of the 12 kinds, but not the other 11.

For example, this formula will not help the kind of tinnitus caused by wax touching your eardrum. Nor will it help the kind of tinnitus caused by your heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus). Nor will it help people who have the kind of tinnitus caused by moving their eyes (gaze-evoked tinnitus). Nor will it help the people who have tinnitus, but have their auditory nerves cut–so all the “nourishing the nerve endings in the ear” until the cows come home won’t make a bit of difference. In addition, I seriously doubt it helps people like myself that have tinnitus as a result of severe hearing loss.

To find out if such formulations can produce desirable results, I decided to be a guinea pig. I’ve just begun testing a tinnitus formula (not the above one) that combines both herbals with homeopathic formulations. I want to see whether this formulation can “cure” or reduce my longstanding tinnitus which I’ve had for 35 plus years. I don’t really believe it will help at all–so there’ll be no “placebo effect.” However, I wouldn’t mind being pleasantly surprised. This testing will take 6 weeks to 2 months as such formulations are not harsh on the body, and consequently do not produce results overnight.

Anyway, before responding to ads such as the above one, you need to become an educated consumer and know what kind of tinnitus you have, then seek the appropriate treatment for that particular “kind” of tinnitus.

To learn more about the various kinds of tinnitus and the many different treatments that are available, I recommend you read the book “When Your Ears Ring” Cope with Your Tinnitus–Here’s How.” This book will put you far down the road towards becoming a truly educated person on the various kinds of tinnitus and what you can expect from various tinnitus treatments.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

Has anyone experienced hearing loss from taking the prescripition drugs Maxalt and Zomig? I have been taking them for some time now and gradually lost hearing in right ear. My doctor tells me he never heard of these drugs causing hearing loss. What’s more, Maxalt does come with a paper describing side effects in which hearing is altered. I’m not sure if Zomig causes the same thing.

Your doctor is right that neither of these two drugs are currently listed as causing hearing loss. However, these drugs are definitely ototoxic. Both Maxalt (Rizatriptan) and Zomig (Zolmitriptan) can cause ototoxic side effects such as hyperacusis (normal sounds are now too loud), tinnitus (ringing in the ears), ataxia (staggering gait), dizziness and vertigo (sensation of spinning).

This is not surprising since both of these drugs belong to the same class of drugs called serotonin-receptor agonists. (Notice that all the drugs in this class end in “triptan.” This is a clue that they all belong to the some class, sometimes referred to as the “triptans.”) Typically drugs in the same class have similar ototoxic side effects.

At the present time, neither of these drugs are listed as having hearing loss as a side effect. However this does not mean they never cause hearing loss. It may just not have been reported yet. Your case may be a good example. I say this because two of the drugs in this class–Amerge (Naratriptan) and Imitrex (Sumatriptan) (notice the “triptan” endings) both are listed as causing hearing loss. Thus, it just may be a matter of time until the other drugs in this class are also found to have hearing loss as an ototoxic side effect.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A mother asked:

I recently read they are working on a new internal Cochlear Implant. We are going to be getting an implant for our son this summer. I also know these internal implants are still a few years away. What I want to know is if we go ahead with the current implant, can he be implanted later with the newer implant? If not do you think it’s worth waiting for?

Until the totally implantable CIs are finally designed, no one knows exactly what they will be like. However, it seems that the old technology will not be compatible with the new for a number of reasons.

First, of course, is that all the electronics will be implanted, including the processor, not just the electrodes as is done now. Second, is that the processor will receive the sound signals in a different way. Currently the microphone on the external processor picks up the sound. The new fully-implantable cochlear implants will likely receive the sound from a transducer mounted on one of the bones in the middle ear or perhaps attached to the eardrum itself.

All this will necessitate a new design for how the electrode array attaches to the sound processor. As a result, I do not foresee that the current electrode arrays will work with the new fully-implantable cochlear implants.

However, when these new fully-implantable CIs come out, there is always the possibility that the old implant could be taken out and the new one implanted.

In the meantime, since these new fully-implantable CIs are still a few years away, it would be better for your son to get whatever CI model is available now and be implanted in one ear. He can always get an implantable CI for his other ear when they are finally available.

The reason you need to take action now is because the window of opportunity for fully developing the auditory circuits in your son’s brain is right now while his brain is still plastic. This window closes around the age of 6. So time is of the essence if you want your son to have the best chance at hearing well with his new implant.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A mother asked:

My teen-aged son got fitted for a hearing aid, but he keeps turning it off, and not wearing it. I am so frustrated. How do I get him to get used to the hearing aid?

First, realize that you are not alone. This is a very common problem among new hearing aid users.

One of the biggest problems with wearing new hearing aids, is that people typically go about it all wrong. Unlike glasses, you don’t just put them on and wear them. If you do that, I almost guarantee that you will not keep on wearing them.

Has anyone ever explained to your son how to begin wearing new hearing aids? There is a very specific process your son needs to work through as he learns to wear his new hearing aids.

To learn the proper way to begin wearing hearing aids, read (and study) the article entitled, “Becoming Friends with Your New Hearing Aids“. By putting these principles into practice, your son will likely soon find that he and his hearing aids have became very close friends indeed!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A wife explained:

Your article about ototoxicity was most interesting. My husband has suffered from extreme tinnitus for about four years. He acquired a sinus infection and was prescribed Biaxin. After about two to three days, his personality began to change, and severe tinnitus started and has never stopped. He lost much of his hearing (he did have hearing loss before this). I called Abbott Laboratories when this happened and the lady I talked with said he had suffered the rare side effects of Biaxin. Please shed some light on this if you can.

Biaxin (Clarithromycin) is one of the drugs in the class of drugs called Macrolide antibiotics. In addition to Clarithromycin, other Macrolide antibiotics include Azithromycin (Zithromax), Erythromycin and Dirithromycin. All Macrolides are ototoxic to some extent and can indeed cause hearing loss.

I don’t know what they call “rare”–but about 1 person out of every 100 that takes Clarithromycin ends up with some hearing loss. Furthermore, 1 person in 50 that takes Clarithromycin gets tinnitus. In addition, Clarithromycin can also cause such ototoxic side effects as dizziness and vertigo.

To put these figures into perspective, if, for example, only 1 million people take Clarithromycin every year here in the USA (and this figure may even be low), that would mean that 10,000 people lose their hearing and 20,000 end up with tinnitus every year. As you can see, your husband certainly isn’t alone! I fail to see how they can call these kinds of figures rare.

To be sure, not everyone who takes a Macrolide antibiotic ends up with ototoxic side effects, but significant numbers do. Fortunately, for many, these side effects are temporary.

However, if you take these drugs in high doses or for longer periods of time, you are more likely to end up with permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.

Furthermore, few people apparently know this, but if you have a pre-existing
hearing loss, you are even more susceptible to the side effects of ototoxic drugs than people with normal hearing.

Unfortunately, since your husband has had the hearing loss and tinnitus now for 4 years, it is obvious that his condition is permanent.

Be aware that the hearing loss and tinnitus he has suffered proves that his ears are particularly sensitive to the side effects of ototoxic drugs. Therefore, if he takes any ototoxic drugs in the future, he could expect further (or more severe) side effects.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

I gather that silhouettes and ear links can support true stereo sound (where the left and right ears hear different channels of sound.) What about room loops and neck loops?

In order for true stereo to occur, your t-coils must not pick up each others sound channels (or you’d hear the same thing in both ears, which I call dual mono).

Therefore, by definition, room loops and neckloops are always mono devices since both t-coils pick up the same sound signals.

In order to have true stereo via your t-coils, the magnetic signal for each sound channel must have sufficiently low power that the t-coil on the opposite side of your head can’t pick it up.

At this time, the only truly stereo device that works with t-coils is the dual Music Links. http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/earlinks.htm#music_links

These Music Links are similar in concept to silhouettes. In fact, silhouettes could be true stereo devices if they were correctly wired to a stereo plug. However, all the silhouettes I have seen are wired to a mono plug–so you’d only hear dual mono with them.

Thus, if you really want to hear in stereo via your t-coils, get the Dual Music Links and enjoy true stereo sound. The Music Links plug into any standard stereo audio device such as your computer, MP3 player, DVD player, iPod, etc.

In case you were wondering, although the T-Links http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/products/earlinks.htm#t_links are similar to the Music Links, and look like they should be stereo devices, they actually are mono devices. This is because the second wire/pin that would normally be used for the second stereo channel is used for the microphone signal instead. The t-links are designed to plug into your cell phone’s headset jack and let you hear beautiful clear sound on your cell phone.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

Are Betoptic eye drops ototoxic?

Betoptic is the trade name for the beta-blocker Betaxolol. Betaxolol can cause hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), ataxia (staggering gait), dizziness, vertigo (spinning sensation) and ear pain.

So yes, these eye drops can definitely be ototoxic. However in the amounts that are used in eye-drops, I don’t know how likely it would be that you would experience an ototoxic side effect.

In any case, I’d be cautious and watch for any signs of the above side effects. Then, if any of these side effects ever began to appear, I’d strongly consider immediately stopping that medication (with your doctor’s permission, of course). The real question you should ask you doctor is “Isn’t there a safer (less ototoxic), yet just as effective eye-drop medication you could prescribe?”

For more information on ototoxic drugs 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