by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A lady explained, A horrible, loud explosion woke me up last night and made me scream out a bit. It was really scary! What’s happening? What this lady experienced goes by the ghastly-sounding name of “Exploding Head” syndrome. In spite of its grisly name, your head doesn’t really explode—you just hear […]
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Is Your Hearing Aid Waterproof or Water Resistant? Can You Trust the Manufacturer’s Claims?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A lady declared, I have the new waterproof cochlear implant, but I am certainly never going to wear it in the pool when I am taking aquasize or swimming. I do not trust the manufacturer’s claims. This cochlear implant is too expensive to take the risk of damaging it from water. […]
Don’t Damage Your Child’s Hearing with Secondhand Smoke
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. Smoking is bad for your health. Numerous studies have proven this. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that breathing secondhand smoke is also bad for your health. Again, studies have proven this. Now, a recent study by Dr. Anil Lalwani has shown that in addition to causing health problems and […]
Hear the Dramatic Difference Loop Systems Can Make to Your Understanding of Speech in Church
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. Properly-installed loop systems can help hard of hearing people hear and understand speech dramatically better in meetings, churches and other public venues. Here in the United States, audiologist Juliette Sterkens has been working hard to increase the awareness of people with hearing loss to the benefits of loop systems. She has […]
Musical Ear Syndrome Hits the News
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. November 22, 2011 Back in 2004 when I coined the name “Musical Ear Syndrome” for the strange musical hallucinations many hard of hearing people secretly experience, I never dreamed that someone would actually make a movie about it. But that is what has just happened. In fact, this short movie was […]
Are Hearing Aids an Effective Treatment for Tinnitus?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A recent MarkeTrak study revealed some interesting things about tinnitus and its effects on our lives—what we can do to help ameliorate the effects of our tinnitus and where hearing aids fit into the equation. (1) But first, some background on tinnitus. Tinnitus—ringing in the ears—affects a LOT of people— somewhere […]
Understanding the Difference Between Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and Hearing Level (HL) in Measuring Hearing Loss
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. © November, 2011. A student asked, What is the relationship between the SPL dB scale and HL dB scale? Good question. I’ll bet there are lots of hard of hearing people that are unclear about the differences between those two scales, and often treat these two terms as though they […]
Where Can I Find a List of Ototoxic Drugs?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A lady asked, What is a good website to get a list of ototoxic drugs? There are a number of websites that list a few of the many ototoxic drugs that are out there. One that I like is otologist Dr. Timothy Hain’s website, but this website is very conservative and […]
People Born with Significant Hearing Loss Have Better Peripheral Vision Than Hearing People
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. If you’re like me and can’t hear much, I’m sure you’ll agree that it would be nice to have “eyes in the backs of our heads” to help compensate for our lack of hearing. God didn’t choose to give us this extra pair of eyes, but guess what? The latest research […]
Questions About Ototoxicity
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A man wrote, I am familiar with your work on ototoxic substances, which I think does a great service by bringing people’s attention to this menace. However, I have found a couple of inconsistencies in things you have written, and I am requesting clarification. First, I believe that you recommend 50% […]