Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

I get some very interesting email at times. A man wrote:

I’m under the care of Dr. Jonathan Wright of the Tahoma Clinic in Renton WA. He’s been working with Professor Dennis Trune (U of OR Hearing Sciences Center) on an aldosterone therapy trial on a human patient. His previous research demonstrated that aldosterone added to mouse drinking water restores damaged hearing. Their first human patient has experienced cessation of further hearing loss plus a total stop of his vertigo (from Meniere’s).

I’ve been on the same treatment—125 mcg twice a day of compounded aldosterone for seven months. (I get the compounded aldosterone from a Canadian pharmacy.) To date, although my balance is still poor, I have recovered 30 dB (at 250Hz) in my nearly-deaf left ear, and about 20 dB each in the rest of the test frequencies. On my still “sort of functioning” right ear, I got back 20 dB across the test frequencies. My discrimination came up to 95% on my right ear (from 70%), while the discrimination in my left ear rose from 20% to 65%. Also, it stopped my serious recruitment!

This is great news for people with hearing loss from AIED (autoimmune inner ear disease), people with Meniere’s disease and people who are losing their hearing as a result of aging (presbycusis)!

Aldosterone is a naturally-occurring hormone (technically a mineralocorticoid [steroid]) made in our adrenal glands. It plays an important part in regulating our sodium and potassium levels—both critical for normal hearing. Unfortunately, as we age (that means you and me brother), not only do our potassium levels drop, but so do our aldosterone levels. This results in some hearing loss. Furthermore, some people have below normal levels of aldosterone in the first place, and thus, they too have hearing problems.

Researchers have discovered there is a direct link between blood levels of aldosterone and our ability to hear normally. Thus, for people with lower than normal aldosterone levels, taking bio-identical aldosterone supplements can help restore their hearing, and even help with related issues (balance, recruitment, discrimination, etc.).

If you want to know more about aldosterone therapy and where you can get bio-identical aldosterone, check out the easy-to-read article “Take Control of Your Hearing Loss Before It’s Too Late” by Dr. Jonathan Wright.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man asked,

Our HLAA [Hearing Loss Association of America] chapter needs reliable information on how to access remote real-time captioning (CART) for our meetings. Can you help us with the specifics?

Sure. Remote CART displays the same real-time captioning you’d see if the captionist was present. The basic difference is that with remote CART the captionist is elsewhere in the world, not physically present in the same room with you. You are connected with her (most captionists are women) via the Internet.

Typically, remote CART is cheaper as there is no traveling time for the captionist, and there is no 2 hour minimum. You just schedule the amount of time you need.

In order to access remote CART you just need five things:

1. An Internet connection (faster is better)
    
2. A computer that can access this Internet connection
    
3. A microphone hooked up to the computer to capture the speaker’s voice
    
4. A projector hooked up to the computer to project the captioning onto a big screen for all to read
    
5. The appropriate software or web address used by the captionist (Your captionist will give you this and your username and password.)

Here’s how it works out in practice.

First, you have to contact your remote CART provider and schedule your time slot. Do this well ahead of time. At our HLAA chapter, we do this a year at a time since we know when our meetings will be. That way we guarantee our time slot won’t get taken by someone else.

At the appointed time you hook up the above devices and log on to the web site.

Set up the projector so whatever appears on the computer screen is projected to the big screen at the front. (Incidentally, you can ask to have the font size changed to something that is easy for your people to read. Also, you can request FULL CAPITALS or normal lower case letters—whatever you find the easiest to read. Personally, I like lower case.)

Next do a microphone check to be sure your captionist can hear you well. (Remember, she can only caption what she hears and understands.) Now you’re ready to go.

Where we have our HLAA meetings, they have their own “in house” sound system. We have our speakers wear the “house” wireless microphone that is hooked into their sound system. The output of the house system is plugged into the computer’s microphone or line input jack, as well as feeding the public address system.

If you’re curious, here’s how it all works. The speaker’s voice goes into the microphone to the computer. From there it travels via the Internet to the captionist’s computer where she listens on her speakers or headphones. She types what she hears into her steno machine that is hooked up to her computer. Her computer converts the “gibberish” she types into proper English text which appears on her monitor.

This text is automatically sent to the web page you are connected to, and thus is displayed on your computer’s monitor, and at the same time projected on to the big screen where everyone can see it as fast as she types it—typically only 2 or 3 seconds after the speaker has spoken the words. Its just like magic!

Click here to find captionists that provide remote CART.

 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

I am forwarding this to ask your opinion. I don’t suffer with tinnitus but friends do and I would like to be able to recommend this product if it is something you might recommend.

The ad reads:

What is Tinnitus? Research shows almost 40 million adults suffer from tinnitus commonly referred to as “ringing in the ears”.

This problem may be caused by excess ear wax, nerve damage or dysfunction, or irritation from an unknown source. The constant ringing or noises in the ears can greatly interfere with the quality of life.

If this sounds familiar, you’ll be happy to hear Bronson’s Ring Eze formula may offer you the relief you’ve been searching for! This topical formula is an all-natural, high quality liquid containing a proprietary blend of Bio-Chelated concentrated herbal extracts in a synergistic combination shown to help relieve the ringing, buzzing and noise in the ears. Though there is no cure for Tinnitus, this unique blend of natural ingredients helps by nourishing nerve endings in the ear and gently improving circulation.

So much for the hype. What is the truth? Will this formulation help people with tinnitus?

Let’s look carefully at the claims this ad makes and see what it is really saying—not what you thought it said based on a quick reading.

Here’s the first statement.

This problem may be caused by excess ear wax, nerve damage or dysfunction, or irritation from an unknown source. The constant ringing or noises in the ears can greatly interfere with the quality of life.

This is a true statement. There are many different causes of tinnitus. What they don’t say is that consequently you need specific treatments based on these causes. It is not a case of one treatment fits all. It continues:

If this sounds familiar, you’ll be happy to hear Bronson’s Ring Eze formula may offer you the relief you’ve been searching for!

Notice the “may offer you the relief”. It doesn’t say it will—but they are counting on you to believe it will—so that you will order it. Now comes the part—long on hype and lacking in any concrete evidence:

This topical formula is an all-natural, high quality liquid containing a proprietary blend of Bio-Chelated® concentrated herbal extracts in a synergistic combination shown to help relieve the ringing, buzzing and noise in the ears.

It sure sounds good, doesn’t it. It’s got all the right buzz-words. However, where are the studies showing that this particular formulation really works? They’ve got you believing you can say bye-bye to your tinnitus, but in the very next sentence they essentially contradict themselves. Notice:

Though there is no cure for Tinnitus…

If there is “no cure”, why should a person think their formula will work for them?

It then continues,

…this unique blend of natural ingredients helps by nourishing nerve endings in the ear and gently improving circulation.

Now they finally get to what their formulation can do—improve circulation. Thus, ifyour tinnitus is caused by a lack of blood flow to your inner ears—then this formulation may help you. I agree.

What they don’t say is that most people with tinnitus do not have this problem, so it helps a relatively small proportion of people with tinnitus.

As I’ve said in previous articles, if you have wax in your ears, or partially obstructed arteries in your head and neck, or have tinnitus from taking ototoxic drugs, or tinnitus from noise damage, this formulation is not going to help you much, if at all, because your tinnitus is not caused by a lack of circulation in your inner ears.

I once tested a whole case of a similar product—took it faithfully for 9 months—and at the end I couldn’t discern any difference in my tinnitus because, like most people, my tinnitus is not caused by poor circulation.

Do I recommend this product? Actually, I neither recommend nor not recommend it. It certainly won’t hurt your ears. It can help your tinnitus if your tinnitus is caused by lack of blood flow to your ears, but otherwise don’t expect any/much help from it. That’s my assessment based on my knowledge and
experience.

 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

An eZine reader in Australia wrote: “Thanks once again for the excellent newsletter. The subject of ototoxic earwax removal medications got me checking the products we have in Australia. One particular product which sells under the brand name here of “Cerumol” lists amongst it’s contents ortho-dichlorobenzene and para-dichlorobenzene.

I note that in your book “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“, dichlorobenzene is listed as an ototoxic chemical.

Even though this product was recommended to me by a health professional, I will pass. When one looks at what dichlorobenzene is and what it is used for, I will certainly not be putting that into my ears. I did try it once, since a health
care professional recommended it. I remember my ears feeling sore and a bit “stingy” afterwards. Not surprising given that dichlorobenzene is an industrial solvent!”

I’m with you in this. All the dichlorobenzenes (ortho, meta and para) are industrial solvents, pesticides, etc. For example para-dichlorobenzene is used in moth balls. The dichlorobenzenes are somewhat ototoxic and can cause
dizziness and vertigo.

I’m sure the Cerumol will dissolve ear wax just fine—but it is not the kind of thing I want to put in my ears either. There are much safer alternatives.

We need to be aware of the chemical nature of the drugs and medications health professionals try to pawn off on us as being “good” and safe for us.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Captioned (CapTel) telephones have been around for a few years now. With these special phones, you can both hear the caller and read whatever you miss hearing on the small screen on the phone a few seconds after the caller has said it.

The downside of this is that you need to have the special CapTel phone (and they are quite expensive). What happens if you are away from home, or don’t have a CapTel phone on your desk at work, or you have a digital line?

Here’s some exciting news. March 1st, 2008 saw the beginning of a new web CapTel service by both Hamilton Relay and Sprint Relay. Now you can make captioned phone calls from ANY phone, not just CapTel phones if you have a computer on-line with you, and the best news about it is that it is absolutely free. It doesn’t cost you a penny extra to call anywhere in the USA. (Sorry foreign readers, if you are outside the USA, you are out of luck.)

For example, say you are away from home on vacation. If you stop at a coffee-shop that is Wi-Fi enabled, you could make a web CapTel phone call using your cell phone and read the words on your lap-top computer at the same time. Nice, huh? You could do this in a hotel room, or a client’s office, or a friend’s home—virtually anywhere you can get an Internet connection and be near a phone at the same time.

Web CapTel works with all phones and with all computers with Internet access. You can access in from the two (below) providers:

Hamilton Web CapTel

Sprint Web CapTel

To make things easy, both companies have exactly the same registration/sign up forms. Furthermore, to have your incoming calls captioned, you use the same 800 number.

Before you can use web CapTel, you first you need to register with either or both of the above relay services. Registration is easy, and again, it doesn’t cost you a penny. You’ll need to come up with a different User Name and Password for each service.

When you have filled out the on-line registration form, they send you an email within a few minutes with a link to activate your account.

Once you are registered and have activated your account, making outgoing calls is easy. Here’s all you do. Go to one of the above web sites and log on with your user name and password. Then fill in the appropriate places in the “Place and Receive Calls” form. The left side of the form is for placing calls.

You put the number of the phone you will be using in the first box (this may not be your own phone number, but the number of the particular phone you are going to be using at that point), and the number you are calling in the second box. Choose your language preference. Both English and Spanish are supported, however English is checked by default. Finally, click the “Place Call” button. Now wait until your phone rings, then answer it in the normal fashion. Anything the other party says will shortly appear in the Web CapTel window on your computer screen. It’s that simple.

To receive incoming calls, you fill out the right side of the “Place and Receive Calls” form. You put the number of the phone you want to use in the box (again, this is not necessarily your own phone number, but the number of the phone you are going to be using at that point) and then click on the “Start Waiting For Calls” box. Leave your computer on and connected to the Internet with that program running in the background.

To use this incoming web CapTel service, you need to instruct people that in order to reach you, they must first dial 1-800-933-7219. They will then be instructed to dial your number followed by the pound (#) sign. Your phone will ring and the Web CapTel screen program will become active. You will both hear and read what the person is saying. Again, it’s that easy! When you no longer want to use this service, log off and the “system” returns to normal again.

Note: there is a delay of a few seconds between the time you hear your party’s voice and when those words appear on your monitor. This is normal, so you have to get used to it.

If the captions get too far behind, or things are obviously missing, you need to have your party slow down a bit so the relay operator working behind the scenes can keep up.

It is your responsibility to ask your caller to repeat anything that does not come through properly. Maybe the relay operator didn’t understand it correctly either. (The relay operator has no way of telling your party that he/she didn’t hear them—so you have to be the “mouthpiece” in those cases.)

Finally, don’t forget to log out when you are finished.

Now go try it out. It really works!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A college student explained:

Last semester, I was getting really depressed about how isolated socially I am in my graduate program. I tell my classmates I’m hearing impaired, but only one or two of them ever bother to talk to me before/during/after class. It got so bad, I started seeing a counselor on campus once a week. Last time I met with her, I was complaining about this issue—that when I tell my peers that I can’t hear, no one inquires how they can communicate with me, and after that seem to avoid conversation. It makes me feel even more invisible! Her response was interesting. She suggested that perhaps a lot of people might be afraid of offending me more by asking questions about my disability—like one might refrain from offering physical help to a stranger in a wheelchair, rather than risk sounding condescending and patronizing.

Another lady wrote:

I have found that when I tell people that I’m hearing impaired, they back off, or they come up right to my face and talk. I’ve had very few who will take the time and talk with me. It’s like it’s too much of a bother. I get frustrated at times and feel very lonely to the point of not going out at all.

I know how you ladies feel. I’ve had similar experiences dealing with my lifetime severe hearing loss. You are blaming other people for not wanting to put out the effort to talk with you. Did you ever think these people are afraid about how to talk to you?

When you tell people you are hard of hearing, what you are really doing is warning them to stay away because communication is going to be difficult or impossible. And as you have found, it works!

Much better is to say in the same breath, “I have a hearing loss, but I can converse with you quite well if you….” (and here you tell the person exactly what you need him/her to do so you can understand). This will differ with each person and situation. This shows them that they can converse with you without a lot of hassle.

What you have now done is explain that although you can’t hear well, there IS a way that communication can be successful, and then you tell them one or two simple things you most need them to do (look at me, get close, speak into my microphone, or whatever). Now they are not afraid to talk to you. They know they can do those simple things without embarrassing themselves, so they are much more willing to talk to you.

So the secret is, put them at ease by showing them what they need to do to make the conversation a success. The results may surprise you, so go for it!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

I do not expose myself to high noise levels either in my occupation or leisure. I do not listen to iPods etc. However, 5 days ago after a night out, when leaving a bar with loud music, my hearing felt dull. While my hearing appears normal, I now have a feeling of fullness and a constant ringing. I have scared myself silly reading all the forums and panicking that after 5 days, this may be permanent. Has tinnitus been known to go after 5 days?

I’d call going to nightclubs exposing your ears to loud sounds in your leisure time. You may have been exposing your ears to more loud sounds than you realize.

The feeling of fullness you are experiencing is actually indicative of a temporary threshold shift. In other words you do have a hearing loss significant enough that your brain notices it—thus you get this “blocked” feeling. The constant ringing (tinnitus) is another sign that the noise was far too loud, and you exposed your ears for far too long.

I’m glad you have “scared yourself silly”. Hopefully, you will now carefully protect your ears in the future. Too bad you hadn’t done that before. At the very least, have some foam ear protectors in your pocket, and put them in your ears before you go into noisy places, or leave as soon as the racket gets too loud.

Now to explain about tinnitus and whether it will go away. Typically the way it works is that the first few times you expose your ears to loud sounds the tinnitus goes away reasonably rapidly—hours or a day or so—but the more you expose your ears to loud sounds (and the louder the sounds are), the longer it takes for the tinnitus to go away. Finally, if you don’t wise up and protect your ears, it will never go away.

I doubt this was your first time in a night club, so I fear you have been exposing your ears to excessive noise for some time.

The main thing now is not to expose your ears to any louder sounds in order to give them time to “heal” if they will. After a month or so, re-evaluate your tinnitus and see whether it has gone away. In the meantime don’t dwell on your tinnitus or it will only appear to get worse. You need to totally ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and let the tinnitus fade into the background.

In a month or so, it wouldn’t hurt to go to an audiologist and have a complete audiological evaluation to see the state of your hearing. That way you’d know if there was any permanent damage. I wouldn’t go now—give your ears time to recover, and hopefully the temporary threshold shift will go away.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

To have Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS), both parents have to have the gene, right? And their parents before them have had to have the gene? I come from a big family, and no other relative has had a hearing issue. If it is inherited, I would think you would see it more in the family history. I’ve started to tell family members about my son’s diagnosis and that it is an inherited gene. They look at me like I have lost my mind! They all say they don’t know of anyone that has a hearing problem in the family.

First, remember this is a recessive trait—so yes, both parents have to have at least one gene of the gene pair to give the child LVAS. However, one parent could have one gene from one of their parents who could have one gene from one of their parents, etc., and LVAS would never show up until finally someone in the family (in this case you) married a person who also carried the LVAS gene.

Second, your son has a mild to moderate hearing loss. Maybe there really are some in your family that also have LVAS but have such a mild hearing loss no one was ever aware of it.

Third, we don’t have a clue how many people are walking around with LVAS and never have a hearing loss—we only know some of those that do have the hearing loss. Until they test the general population for LVAS, they’ll never have a handle on just how often it causes hearing loss vs. not causing hearing loss.

Thus, there are 3 possibilities why your son has LVAS (which is passed genetically) and a hearing loss although it doesn’t appear to be in your family.

This mother concluded, “I’m beginning to believe that I caused my son’s hearing loss because of something I did,”

You are right. You did! You married his father didn’t you? But that wasn’t a bad thing, was it?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained:

 I have had tinnitus now for 6 years. It was brought on by an inner ear infection. However I have suffered very little or no noticeable hearing loss. My tinnitus has been chronic and constant, never stopping. It is a hissing, whistling sort of pitch. Usually it is low, always noticeable to me but lately seems louder.

I was recently diagnosed with diverticulosis and my Dr. has prescribed Metronidazole and Levaquin. My question to you is, am I at risk for hearing damage or permanently making my tinnitus worse? I explained the situation to my Dr. but she affirmed that these are safe for my treatment. I am depressed because the tinnitus has been very hard for me to deal with over the past 6 years. I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.

You are wise to check out the side effects of drugs before you take them. Metronidazole is mildly ototoxic and may cause tinnitus although I don’t think it very likely as only one source has reported tinnitus. It is not listed as causing hearing loss. I don’t think I’d worry about this drug.

However, Levofloxacin (Levaquin) is another matter. It is moderately ototoxic. In addition to my usual published sources indicating it can cause tinnitus, I’ve had a number of people tell me their stories, and for most of them it resulted in bad tinnitus. One person also reported hearing loss. So this isn’t a drug you’d really want to take since you already have enough tinnitus as it is—but of course, the choice is up to you in consultation with your doctor.

This man also asked, “If tinnitus is listed as a possible side effect to these medications , does one necessarily get tinnitus from taking them? Can I perhaps take them and not make my tinnitus worse and yet solve my other problem?”

Yes, you may take these drugs and not get tinnitus. Not everyone that takes these drugs gets tinnitus. In fact, it may be a reasonably small percentage that do get tinnitus from taking them. The real problem is knowing which group you are going to fit into—the small unfortunate tinnitus group, or the large non-tinnitus group. Since there is no way of knowing ahead of time, I warn people so they can decide for themselves whether they want to take this risk or not—especially as in your case, you already have bad tinnitus, and you don’t want to do anything to make it worse.

It looks like all the Quinolone family of which Levaquin is a member can cause tinnitus, but perhaps some of them are not as likely to cause tinnitus as are Levofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin (another common Quinolone)—I really can’t say.

Finally, this man asked:

Is there a safer medication or treatment to this?

Again, I can’t really say—remember I’m not a medical doctor—so I can’t prescribe or treat medical conditions. I just provide information to help people make more informed decisions.

However, I was looking in one of my books and it says that Cefadroxil (Duricef) is also used in treating diverticulosis—and this drug is not listed as causing tinnitus, nor have I heard any reports of people getting tinnitus from it. If your doctor agrees that this drug will do the job, it would almost certainly be much easier on your ears than any of the Quinolones. Its worth asking your doctor about it.

If you want to check out the ototoxic side effects of the Quinolones (or any other ototoxic drugs for that matter) look them up in “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs known to damage ears (and a number of chemicals too).

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Hearing loss among younger people is reaching alarming proportions. Here are some excerpts of a recent report out of Mexico showing the conditions there—and we here in the USA are probably not all that much different—at least in regards to excessive noise.

The report begins:

The excessive noise found in the main cities of Mexico and the improper use of certain antibiotics are seen as the main reasons for an increase in the number of hearing impaired Mexicans…

A study carried out in a suburban area of Mexico City measured the noise levels in two schools, two manufacturing plants, a shopping center and a block of flats. Researchers found noise levels between 90 and 100 dB. (1)

Sustained sounds above 80 dB are believed to cause hearing loss, and these sound levels are much higher. Remember each 10 dB increase represents a tenfold increase in sound pressure.

The report continues:

135 subjects aged between 15 and 49 years were screened for hearing disorders. Researchers found that 35% of the participants suffered from severe hearing damage. Surprisingly, the group aged between 15 and 29 years was more severely affected by hearing damage.

Researchers concluded that the higher incidence in the youngest group may be due to unrestrained use of personal stereos. More and more people try to drown out the background noise by listening to music on their MP3 players, thus increasing their risk of suffering from hearing loss.

In addition to noise, the misuse of ototoxic antibiotics is another factor causing this hearing loss epidemic. Unfortunately, most antibiotics are ototoxic to some degree, while the Aminoglycoside class of antibiotics is extremely ototoxic. Adding to this problem is the fact that such highly-ototoxic antibiotics are often readily available in developing countries. Mexico is no different. “Unfortunately, any adult can obtain antibiotics without medical prescription in Mexico.”

One thing this report doesn’t mention is that when you combine noise with certain ototoxic drugs, the resulting hearing loss is much worse that what would have been caused by either noise or drugs by themselves.

(1) Hear-it Press, January 31, 2008