Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

I started taking Adalimumab (Humira) 40 mg in April 2007. Approximately 4 weeks after the first shot, I started having severe vertigo and dizziness along with tinnitus. My balance has been an issue ever since. I have visited and asked several doctors including my primary care physicians, my rheumatologists, 2 otolaryngologists, 2 neurologists, and a neuro-otolaryngologist. I have also had a million dollar work up so they say. I have asked each an every one of these doctors if Humira would cause these symptoms, and each one has informed me that it would not. After taking injections for 17 months I decided to stop taking the injections in October of 2008. Since stopping the injections the symptoms have gradually subsided. I am not completely free of the symptoms and have reached a plateau. Was the Humira causing my balance problems and tinnitus? Will these symptoms ever go away?

I see no reason to doubt that the Humira was causing your balance problems and tinnitus. Although not reported in the PDR, there are other sources that list dizziness, vertigo and tinnitus as side effects of Adalimumab. So it spite of all your doctors to the contrary, Humira could indeed have caused the symptoms you have.

The proof that the Humira caused your tinnitus and balance problems is that they began after you started taking the Hurira, and then later when you stopped taking the Humira, your symptoms began to go away.

I do not have any information on whether the damage will be permanent or not. However, obviously, to some extent your side effects are temporary as your symptoms are slowly going away. We can hope that eventually all your symptoms will disappear, but I do not know if that is realistic to expect or not. You may find some permanent damage remains.

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.

If you had to guess, what percentage of children between the ages of 6 and 19 years of age would you think have noise-induced hearing loss? (Note: this is not hearing loss from causes such as middle ear infections, heredity, etc., but just noise-induced hearing loss.)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the answer is 12.5%. This means that approximately 5,200,000 kids in the USA have permanent noise-induced hearing loss (1). It’s shocking to realize that on the average, 1 in every 8 children you meet each day has a significant hearing loss just from listening to sounds that are too loud.

There are two areas of concern.

First, it’s about time parents take an active interest in what their kids are listening to and at what volume. Safe sound levels are a maximum of 80 dB if they are going to listen for any length of time.

Second, teachers need to be aware that at the very minimum 1 out of every 8 of their students have trouble hearing them. Yet I hear so many teachers say they don’t know of any students in their classrooms that have hearing losses.

Now you know. They are there—3 or 4 in the average classroom— in every classroom in the nation. Add to these, the many other children, especially in the lower grades, with hearing loss from ear infections, allergies, etc. One study showed that on any given day, 15% of the children in elementary schools have a significant hearing loss. Consequently, ALL teachers need to practice good hearing-loss coping strategies so their hard of hearing student’s can hear them.

(1) “As Teens Plug In, Parents Fret—Worries are justified, say hearing loss experts who urge prevention” by Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay Reporter, US News & World Report. October 8, 2009.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

A friend of mine with a cochlear implant is considering taking a medical course. During the class she will need to use a stethoscope. Can she just use a regular one over the T-mic on her cochlear implant, or does she need to purchase an special one that plugs into her CI processor? Also do you know of a website that sells such amplified stethoscopes?

I have written about amplified stethoscopes before. You can read this article called “Amplified Stethoscopes“.

In addition, there are several good sources about amplified stethoscopes. Probably the best place to learn about amplified stethoscopes is the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss (AMPHL) since their members regularly need and use them.

AMPHL has a great illustrated article “Stethoscope Information” that is probably the most comprehensive article on the subject—complete with links to other articles about stethoscopes and links to various sources for obtaining one.

Also, the Spring 2008 edition of Hearing Health magazine carried an article called “Hearing Help for Medical and Healthcare Practitioners“. You can read it online but you may have to log in. (Registering is free.) It also contains good information on amplified stethoscopes.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

The father of a hard of hearing child asked:

Does your kid (or did you, as a kid) ever get depressed about hearing loss?

Our eleven year old son has worn hearing aids since age three. When he started, we successfully made it a happy condition, as he ran to show everyone the cool colored ear molds on his “electric ears,” etc. No problem from his point of view.

As is normal for eleven-year-olds, he is now more acutely aware of every slight difference between himself and the “norm”, and especially between himself and the “cool guys.”

He usually deals with all this reasonably well, but when his defenses are down, as when he’s tired, the impact of his hearing loss, the fact that the teachers wear the FM just for him, the fact that he has to wear hearing aids and might someday lose the rest of his hearing, just hits him hard. At those times, he is a very sad boy. The duration of these bouts can sometimes be measured in minutes—other times, hours, but they never persist to a pathological extent. Nevertheless, they’re painful for him and for us when they occur.

We understand that grieving for his lost hearing is normal and healthy, but that does nothing to diminish our desire to help him feel better.

Aside from the obvious prescriptions of active listening and hugs, are there any pearls of wisdom about ways to make people who are sad about their hearing loss feel better?

It’s totally understandable that your son feels down and depressed at times. These episodes are likely more painful to you as the parents, than to him. I understand your desire to help the pain go away. However, you don’t want to take the pain away (well you do—but you shouldn’t) because that is part of the grieving process. He needs to feel his grief, deal with it, and let it go. If you shield him from it (or give him drugs to suppress these feelings) all you are really doing is delaying the grieving process (and causing him other problems in the meantime).

Therefore, the right thing to do is help him through the grieving process. How do you do that, you ask?

One thing you need to do is acknowledge that having a hearing loss is a real pain—it’s not easy living with a hearing loss. I know. I was born with a severe hearing loss and had to deal with it too. Don’t make light of his hearing problems and the pain he feels—but at the same time, explain to him that grieving is a process and that he is working through this grieving process. Assure him that this process has an end—it won’t go on forever, and he won’t always feel this way. This will give him hope.

You can even identify which of the stages of grief he is in so he can see that he is actually making progress through the grieving process. When he is down, he needs to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel—and that it is getting closer all the time, whether he can see it or not. Imagine that he is in a dark tunnel, and that the tunnel has a big bend in it so he can’t see the light at the end until he gets around the bend of depression that is in the middle of the tunnel. You can be his light until he gets around the bend and can see it for himself.

My short book, “Grieving for Your Hearing Loss—the Rocky Road from Denial to Acceptance” has helped many. It can help both you and him successfully navigate this grieving process.

Another thing you can do to help him is to find him some successful hard of hearing role models so he knows that hearing loss isn’t a lifetime sentence to mediocrity and low-paying jobs; that it is possible to be successful in spite of his hearing loss. He can learn from, and emulate, these successful role models and be successful himself.

Also, he needs his own support “group” that he can turn to apart from you—his parents. These can be other hard of hearing people that have already been down the road before him and can show him the way, and other hard of hearing peers. Often parents aren’t the best ones for this role because they are also grieving for their child’s hearing loss and so aren’t emotionally “all there” to help their child.

In summary, acknowledge to him that the pain/depression/grief he feels is real, but it will pass. Encourage him to be the best hard of hearing person he can be. Assure him that although hearing loss may change his life in some ways, his life need not be any less rewarding or fulfilling because of his hearing loss, it may just be a bit different. That has been my experience. It can be his too.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

Would you explore the question of medications that affect hearing loss. My hearing gets noticeably worse every year. I’ve asked my doctor about which of my many medications (I’m 81) might cause deterioration of my hearing. He doesn’t seem to know.

Here is the list of what I am taking.

Ventolin HFA inhaler (Albuterol)
Vytorin (a combination of Ezetimibe and Simvastatin)
Klor-Con (Potassium chloride)
Vitamin D3, 2000 unit
Calcium+D 500mg
Veramyst nasal spray (Fluticasone)
Pataday eye drops
Lisinopril
Warfarin (Coumadin)
Advair diskus (Fluticasone)
Omeprazole (brand name Prilosec)
Fosamax (Alendronate)
Furosemide (Lasix)
Claritin
Centrum Silver
Tylenol Arthritis Pain
Tylenol PM

It can be hard to pin down exactly what is causing your hearing to drop each passing year. There could be any number of factors including aging and various health issues in addition to the drugs you are taking.

However, when I looked at the above list of drugs and vitamins you are taking, one drug instantly jumped out at me.

First, the good news. Of the 17 things you are taking, 16 of them are not known to cause hearing loss. (Some of these cause other ototoxic side effects such as tinnitus or vertigo so they can still damage your ears, but they are not known to cause hearing loss.)

Now for the bad news. One drug is well-known for causing hearing loss, namely Furosemide (brand name Lasix).

Your doctor has no excuse for not knowing that Furosemide is ototoxic because it has been known to cause hearing loss for 39 years now! It’s not a secret. Furthermore, Furosemide is listed as being ototoxic in his PDR.

Incidentally, Furosemide causes hearing loss in about 6.4% of the people taking it. Furthermore, the greater the dose and the faster you take it, the greater the incidence and severity of the resulting hearing loss. For example, in one study, 67% of the people taking Furosemide at the rate of 25 mg per minute ended up with noticeable hearing loss.

I would not be at all surprised if you find that your progressive hearing loss is largely caused by the Furosemide you are taking. You should ask your doctor if you could take another diuretic instead. For example, if it will do the job, Hydrochlorothiazide is much less ototoxic than Furosemide and is not known to cause hearing loss.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A new study by the University of East Anglia has revealed the surprising results that computers are now better at lip-reading (speechreading) than humans are. In one demonstration. the computers recognized 80% of the words presented, whereas the 19 human speechreaders only recognized 32% of the words. (1) That is a remarkably significant difference.

Even more surprising is the fact that with just four hours of training, the computers helped the human speechreaders markedly improve their lip-reading skills. This new research opens the way for teaching hard of hearing people improved speechreading skills that will improve their accuracy dramatically.

Looking into the future, I can foresee the day when a hard of hearing or deaf person, using a video camera attached to their laptop will be able to talk with a hearing person via their laptop. The laptop will speechread the person and print what they say on the screen with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

Unlike speech recognition software, which listens to the person speaking and converts their speech to text, this speechreading software converts facial (mouth) movements to text. Thus, it works just as well in noisy places as in quiet situations, whereas the speech to text software requires relatively quiet situations so that it can hear human speech over the noise.

(1) University of East Anglia (2009, September 13). Findings Could Lead To Improved Lip-reading Training For The Deaf And Hard-of-hearing. ScienceDaily.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked:

What is the best cell phone for a person with a hearing problem?

That question is impossible to answer because there are so many variables. Many of these variables are subjective—so only you can answer them. It is like asking people, “What is the best tasting food?” You will get all sorts of answers—some might say filet mignon, or angel-food cake or spinach or eggplant—and they would all be right—for that person.

Other variables are more objective—and depend on how you plan to couple the phone output to your ears. Thus, the answer to your question is “It depends…”

It depends on your likes and dislikes.

It depends on whether you wear hearing aids, or want to use the phone with your bare ears.

It depends on the degree of you hearing loss.

It depends on the shape of your hearing loss curve.

It depends on your word recognition (discrimination) scores.

It depends whether you are a techno-geek and like lots of “goodies”, or want a plain simple cell phone.

It depends on whether you need texting capabilities, or just normal phone service.

It depends on whether you are going to be using the phone in noise, or just in quiet places.

It depends on your own personal subjective feelings of what sounds good to you. Phones vary in the quality of their sound.

It depends on what features you need in a cell phone and those you would like to have.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

Personally, here are the key things I look for in a cell phone.

1. Loud volume (although no phone has the volume I need).

2. Bluetooth connection.

3. Headset jack—hopefully standard 2.5 mm jack.

4. M4/T4 rating.

Items 2 and 3 are necessary if you want to connect your phone to your hearing aids.

Item 4 is necessary so the phone doesn’t cause interference in your hearing aids.

Sudden Hearing Loss—What Happens Next?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained:

I am a 37 year old male who has experienced sudden hearing loss in my right ear. Unfortunately, the problem was not treated right away. Prednisone therapy, which didn’t help, was initiated 13 days after the loss. In hearing tests I could not understand any speech, though I hear tones and some low register sounds. I’m curious to know the possibility, if any, of the hearing returning. My MRI came out negative and I experienced very little, if any, vertigo. It has now been four weeks since the loss. If my hearing does not recover, does the ringing, at least, eventually die down? Do hearing aids assist in reducing the ringing?

Sudden hearing loss typically strikes without warning. The standard treatment is Prednisone. Beginning it as soon as possible after the sudden hearing loss gives the best chances of recovery. Just remember that sometimes Prednisone works and sometimes it doesn’t. Also, sometimes hearing comes back on its own without, or in spite of, any treatment.

In your case, it seems the Prednisone didn’t work. Even though you began it after 13 days, that is not necessarily too late—but the sooner you begin, typically the better results you have.

Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Prednisone, nor time, has restored your hearing. Typically, the worse the sudden loss, the less chance there is of full, or even any, recovery.

The way it usually works is that the hearing you have at the end of 30 days or so is what you will be left with—unless your hearing has been returning a bit at a time all along, in which case it could continue to improve after the 30 days. Since you haven’t had any significant hearing returning during this time, I think the chances that more will return are slim.

You ask, “If my hearing does not recover, does the ringing, at least, eventually die down?”

It may, or may not. In any case, you can learn to habituate to your tinnitus so it no longer bothers you—no matter how loud or soft it is. The thing to do is not dwell on, or focus on, your tinnitus. Totally ignore it, and act like it isn’t there. When you do this, you will notice that your tinnitus tends to fade into the background and not be so intrusive. Not easy to do, I know, but it does work for many people. I’ve had tinnitus for 40 plus years now, and although my ears are ringing away as I write this, I do not let my tinnitus bother me. It is just “there”. (Of course, if I had by “druthers”, I’d rather it wasn’t there at all!)

Conversely, if you dwell on your tinnitus, it will get even worse. That is why it is so important, right from the start, to learn to focus on other things and thus ignore your tinnitus.

Since people typically perceive their tinnitus as louder when there is no sound around, enriching your sound environment helps mask your tinnitus. That is why wearing hearing aids help a lot of people cope with their tinnitus. Hearing aids bring in lots of real sounds for your brain to process so it doesn’t concentrate on your tinnitus as much. Thus, your tinnitus seems to fade into the background to some degree. However, when you take your hearing aids off at night, the lack of real sounds allows your tinnitus to come back until the next morning when you put your aids in again.

One trick to help you manage your tinnitus during the night is to set your clock radio to stay on for an hour or so, so your brain has real sounds to listen to while you fall asleep. Other people find that having a fan running in their bedroom does the same thing. Still others listen to CDs of environmental sounds—rain, waves on the seashore, birds, etc. and have good results with that. Do what works best for you. Hopefully your tinnitus will only be a minor annoyance in your life, not a major problem.

If this doesn’t work, my book, “When Your Ears Ring—Cope with Your Tinnitus—Here’s How” teaches you a number of things you can do to help yourself successfully live with your tinnitus.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Americans take a lot of prescription drugs. Doctors in the USA in 2008 prescribed a total of 1,505,200,000 prescriptions for just the 50 top prescription drugs. (And they prescribed untold millions more prescriptions for the hundreds of other drugs.) The retail value of these 1.5 billion prescriptions was a whopping $53,186,000,000.00 according to the October, 2009 AARP Bulletin.

The scary thing for us is that 44 of these top 50 prescription drugs (88%) can be ototoxic and damage your ears in some way (and all of them also have numerous other side effects).

Therefore, you want to be sure that any drug that you take is absolutely necessary before you take it if you truly value your health. Drugs should be your last resort, not the first thing you turn to.

I try to keep my drug usage to a minimum. For example, in the last 30 years, I can only remember getting two prescriptions—one was an antibiotic for an infection that I couldn’t control any other way, and the other was for a bad case of sciatic pain, and even then, I only took 2 of the pills. Apart from that, the only drug I take is the pain-killer the dentist gives me before working on a live tooth. I never take over-the-counter medications either.

I use other means to stay healthy. In my opinion, most prescription drugs are not necessary. There are many alternative ways of achieving the same results without drugs and their numerous side effects. Avail yourself of the various kinds of alternative medicine practitioners—for example, naturopathic doctors, herbalists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists and so on. These practitioners have a wealth of knowledge in helping your body get and stay healthy.

It’s tragic that we ignore the basic things that will help the most to keep us healthy such as getting lots of exercise, eating a healthy diet, watching our weight and getting plenty of rest. We refuse to do these things because they take effort and we want effortless health—hence we pop pills instead of doing those things that really make a difference.

Build some exercise into your daily routine. For example, when I take my daily trip to the post office to ship my orders, I take my dog along. Afterward, we go into the country (only a mile away) and walk for a couple of miles in the fresh air. It doesn’t take us long. We typically cover two miles in just half an hour. That gets the blood circulating again before I return to my desk.

Follow the above basic health principles, and not only will you save a bundle that you now spend on drugs, but you will likely feel ever so much better, and incidentally, you’ll never have to worry about drugs damaging your ears either.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

One thing I am concerned about is the new swine flu and flu vaccines in general. I’ve heard that they contain a lot of mercury. Do these vaccines have a negative effect on hearing? I have not ever had any kind of flu shot and will not if there is any question of damaging my hearing further. I already have lost almost all hearing in my right ear and some in the other one.

The other problem is that I’m allergic to egg yolks, according to the doctor who did the blood allergy test for me. My internist doesn’t think this is a true allergy. I only have five foods that came up as problems, but avoiding them has improved my health; eating them does cause problems. So I am not anxious to ingest even a flu shot because it is made from egg yolk. I am most concerned about the effect on my hearing though.

What is your take on vaccines?

I have been asked a number of times recently for my opinion on flu shots—whether they are ototoxic, or even necessary.

In general, I’m against vaccines. Apart from the fact that they have a number of side effects—some as serious as death, they seem to mess up the immune system so it can’t do its job properly. This may be one reason for the proliferation of immune system diseases that are so prevalent today.

A number of vaccines can be ototoxic, including the influenza vaccines. I have two anecdotal reports in my files of children having significant hearing losses after getting flu shots.

I wouldn’t take a flu shot unless the situation was life-threatening, and there weren’t any alternatives available. The good news is that there are alternatives.

I was just reading Dr. David Williams newsletter (1) and he addressed this issue. He says keep your immune system robust by doing two things to help prevent yourself from getting the flu—whether the swine flu or any other strain.

First, he suggests taking Vitamin D supplements (adult dose at 4,000 to 5,000 IU a day). You see, adequate amounts of Vitamin D are essential for your immune system to function properly. In the wintertime, when colds and the flu are common, we typically don’t get adequate Vitamin D through our skin from the sun. Therefore, we need to take Vitamin D supplements.

Second, make sure your beneficial gastrointestinal (GI) flora are present and healthy. In fact, the beneficial bacterial flora in your GI tract are so important they are often called your second immune system.

If your GI flora are depleted from taking antibiotics for example, you are much more vulnerable to all sorts of “bugs” including flu bugs. Therefore, eat fermented foods with live cultures such as live yogurt and kindred foods, and/or take probiotic supplements containing bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus to maintain adequate numbers of the beneficial bacterial flora in your intestinal tract.

Dr. Williams ends his article with this admonition. “If you want to avoid the flu and other epidemics, live longer, stay healthier, and minimize the chronic problems associated with aging, make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D, start taking probiotics, and routinely add fermented food to your diet.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself! When you do this, you likely won’t have any problems with the swine flu or any other similar infections.

(1) “Keeping Up With the Flu”. Dr. David Williams. October, 2009. In: Alternatives, Vol. 13, No. 4.