Hearing Loss News

2016-12-30T21:26:00.002-06:00

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/07/human-hearing-loss-could-be-reversible/491777/

Human Hearing Loss Could Be Reversible
Many animals regenerate the tiny hair cells that enable hearing—and there are promising signs that people can be made to do the same.

Phillippe Wojazer / Reuters

JESSA GAMBLE JUL 19, 2016 THE NEW ELIXIRS
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After a songbird loses its hearing due to physical trauma or loud noise, the sensory hair cells in its inner ear regenerate naturally. The healed bird can use its restored hearing to decode complex songs from other birds. In fact, this ear repair is almost universal in vertebrates. Fish and frogs share it. Only for mammals is hair cell death irreparable.

The New Elixirs
Exploring the frontiers of medicine
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More than a third of seniors suffer from at least moderate hearing loss, and while hearing aids have improved over the years, no drug currently exists on the market to recover their lost hearing. In the lower vertebrates like fish and birds, those new hair cells arise from the supporting cells of the cochlea’s lining. Now, for the first time, scientists are developing methods that could do the same for humans.

We owe our hearing to a tiny field of swaying cilia deep in the skull. Four rows of hair cells sprout in the snail-shaped cochlea of the inner ear, which is filled with fluid. Sound vibrations cause them to bend, opening pores that activate electrical signals bound for the brain. We are born with 15,000 hair cells in each ear, but unlike skin or other cell types, they do not turn over or replenish themselves. Loss of these hair cells over time accounts for much of the age-related hearing loss around the world, as well as that caused by too much loud noise. A loud sound can permanently bend or physically prune a fragile hair cell, rendering it ineffective.

Dr. Albert Edge showed in 2013 that a “notch inhibitor” class molecule gives rise to new hair cells in a culture. Each hair cell responds best to a particular frequency of sound—they are arranged in order of frequency along the cochlea—so scientists can pinpoint the effect of these new cells on hearing. When regenerated hair cells were then grown in the cochlea of mice, the pitches corresponding to their placement were better detected by the animals.

Edge and his team first noticed the drug’s potential in a serendipitous report of its side effects in dementia treatment.

“We thought, ‘These side effects in an Alzheimer’s patient are exactly what we’re looking for in treating deafness’,” says Edge. “So we decided to try that idea out in these mice.”

Dutch company Audion Therapeutics, of which Edge is a part, is working on a proof of concept for regeneration of human-ear hair cells. They are using compounds developed by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and applying them locally to the inner ear. With funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 fund, which provides extra stimulus to promising but risky investments, animal tests are well under way as part of Project REGAIN. Audion is now planning its first small, human clinical trials.

“Primarily we aim to show that it is safe and well tolerated,” says Rolf Jan Rutten, Audion’s CEO, “And also we will look for an efficacy signal.”

Meanwhile, this year in Farmington, Connecticut, start-up Frequency Therapeutics’ patent filings indicate they have been developing ways to induce supporting cells to multiply, then become hair cells, using a notch inhibitor. The procedure would involve releasing the drug locally, perhaps as a foam or using a tube in the tympanic membrane to send doses into the middle ear.

Unlike drug trials for long-treated ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, there is no development trajectory for something as new and different as hair cell regeneration. It is anyone’s guess how many years or, indeed, decades it will be before hearing-loss patients can benefit from these discoveries. Still, this challenge of bringing a product to market has the atmosphere of a race. Frequency Therapeutics declined an interview on the subject on the basis that they are in “stealth mode” pending a big research announcement.

“It is a competitive field, but everybody has their own approach,” says Ruttan. “Obviously there will be one of us that will be successful first, but it may be that our different approaches are complementary.”

In an organ as complex as the ear, he says, there is a place in the ecosystem for everyone. Perhaps that ecosystem even has room for a mammal that can regenerate its hearing like a songbird.

What Is Hearing Loss?

2015-03-10T05:09:00.000-06:00

What is hearing loss?

Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic health problems affecting people of all ages, in all segments of the population and from all socioeconomic levels. Hearing loss affects about 17 of every 1,000 children and young people under 18. The incidence increases with age: approximately 314 of 1,000 people over 65 suffer from hearing loss. It may be hereditary or may result from disease, trauma, long-term exposure to noise, or medication. Hearing loss can range from a mild but significant decrease in hearing sensitivity at a total loss.

Levels Of Hearing Loss

2015-03-06T12:00:00.002-06:00

Doctors classify hearing loss by degrees: from mild, moderate, severe, or profound. As the stages progress, the person with hearing loss becomes increasingly cut off from the world of speech and sounds. The symptoms of these categories include:

Levels of Hearing Loss

Mild hearing loss. One-on-one conversations are fine but it becomes hard to catch every word in the presence of background noise.

Moderate hearing loss. You often need to ask people to repeat themselves during in-person and telephone conversations.

Severe hearing loss. Following a conversation is almost impossible without a hearing aid.

Profound hearing loss. You cannot hear other people speaking, unless they are extremely loud. Without a hearing aid or cochlear implant you cannot understand speech.

Degree of hearing loss refers to the severity of the loss. The table below shows one of the more commonly used classification systems. The numbers are representative of the patient's hearing loss range in decibels (dB HL)

Normal	–10 to 15
Slight	16 to 25
Mild	26 to 40
Moderate	41 to 55
Moderately severe	56 to 70
Severe	71 to 90
Profound	91+

Levels of hearing loss

We use the term 'hearing loss' to cover all kinds of deafness.

There are four different levels of hearing loss, defined by the quietest sound that people are able to hear, measured in decibels (dB).

Mild hearing loss:

Quietest sound: 25 - 39 dB.
Can sometimes make following speech difficult, particularly in noisy situations.

Moderate hearing loss:

Quietest sound: 40 - 69 dB.
May have difficulty following speech without hearing aids.

Severe hearing loss:

Quietest sound: 70 - 94 dB.
Usually need to lipread or use sign language, even with hearing aids.

Profound deafness:

Quietest sound: 95 dB+
Usually need to lipread or use sign language.

What Are The Signs I'm Losing My Hearing ?

2015-03-04T14:38:00.000-06:00

The telltale symptoms that you are experiencing hearing loss are :

difficulty hearing other people clearly

misunderstanding what people say

asking people to repeat themselves

listening to music or watching television with the volume turned up high

difficulty hearing the telephone or doorbell

regularly feeling tired or stressed, due to having to concentrate closely while listening

Experiencing problems to hear words clearly when there is background noise.

Feeling of isolation because you can't follow a conversation

Signs in babies
You should consider seeing your GP if you notice that your baby or toddler:
is not startled by loud noises
does not turn towards the source of a sound while under four months old
does not say single words by the time they are one year old
notices you when they see you but not when you call their name
hears some sounds but not others

Signs in children
You should consider seeing your GP if you notice your child:
is slow to learn to talk, or they are not clear when they speak
often asks you to repeat yourself
often talks very loudly
often turns up the volume of the TV so that it is very loud
have difficulty following conversations involving more than 2 people.
think that other people sound muffled or like they're mumbling.
have difficulty hearing in noisy situations, like conferences, restaurants, malls, or crowded meeting rooms.
have ringing in your ears.
read lips or more intently watch people's faces when they speak with you.

Emotional signs:
feel stressed out from straining to hear what others are saying.
feel annoyed at other people because you can't hear or understand them.
feel embarrassed to meet new people or from misunderstanding what others are saying.
feel nervous about trying to hear and understand.
withdraw from social situations that you once enjoyed because of difficulty hearing.

Medical signs:
have a family history of hearing loss.
take medications that can harm the hearing system (ototoxic drugs).
have diabetes, heart, circulation or thyroid problems.
have been exposed to very loud sounds over a long period or single exposure to explosive noise.

How Do I Know When It's Time to Protect My Ears?

2014-12-09T12:47:00.000-06:00

Photo credit: jzlomek from morguefile.com

It's time to protect your ears if :

You must raise your voice to be heard.
You can't hear someone 3 feet away from you.
Speech around you sounds muffled or dull after you leave the noisy area.
You have pain or ringing in your ears (this is called “tinnitus”) after exposure to noise.

What Causes Hearing Loss?

2014-12-09T12:38:00.000-06:00

Photo credit: Prawny from morguefile.com

Causes of Hearing Loss

Several factors can cause hearing loss like ear infections(otitis media), noise, medication(ototoxic medications), advanced age, genetics.

The WebMD website states that "Advanced age is the most common cause of hearing loss. One out of three people aged 65-74 has some level of hearing loss. After age 75, that ratio goes up to one out of every two people.

Advanced age is the most common cause of hearing loss. One out of three people aged 65-74 has some level of hearing loss. After age 75, that ratio goes up to one out of every two people.

Researchers don't fully understand why hearing decreases with age. It could be that lifetime exposure to noise and other damaging factors slowly wear down the ears' delicate mechanics. Genes also play a role.

Noise wears down hearing if it's loud or continuous. In some workplaces, ears are exposed to dangerous noise levels every day. To understand the impact of noise, consider this: 44% of carpenters and 48% of plumbers report some hearing loss. Other noisy lines of work include the military, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation.

Even musicians, who literally create music for our ears, are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss. Some now wear special earplugs to protect their ears when they perform. The earplugs allow them to hear music without harming their ears' inner workings.

Loud noise can be very damaging to hearing. Both the level of noise and the length of time you listen to the noise can put you at risk for noise-induced hearing loss. Noise levels are measured in decibels, or dB for short. The higher the decibel level, the louder the noise. Sounds that are louder than 85 dB can cause permanent hearing loss. The hearing system can be injured not only by a loud blast or explosion but also by prolonged exposure to high noise levels.

Certain medications can impair hearing and/or balance. More than 200 medications and chemicals have a track record of triggering hearing and/or balance side effects in addition to their disease-fighting capabilities. These include some antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs, aspirin, loop diuretics, a drug used to treat malaria, and several drugs for erectile dysfunction.

How Loud is Too Loud...to cause hearing loss?

2014-12-09T08:06:00.001-06:00

Dangerousdecibels has a very graphic answer to this question.

http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/

The noise chart below lists average decibel levels for everyday sounds around you.

Painful

150 dB = fireworks at 3 feet

140 dB = firearms, jet engine

130 dB = jackhammer

120 dB = jet plane takeoff, siren

Extremely Loud

110 dB = maximum output of some MP3 players, model airplane, chain saw

106 dB = gas lawn mower, snowblower

100 dB = hand drill, pneumatic drill

90 dB = subway, passing motorcycle

Very Loud

80–90 dB = blow-dryer, kitchen blender, food processor

70 dB = busy traffic, vacuum cleaner, alarm clock

Moderate

60 dB = typical conversation, dishwasher, clothes dryer

50 dB = moderate rainfall

40 dB = quiet room

Faint

30 dB = whisper, quiet library

(Retrieved from www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/parents/athome.htm andwww.lhh.org/noise/facts/environment.html on September 24, 2009)

Flies Exposed to Loud Noises Suffer from "Hearing Loss"

2013-09-09T04:57:00.004-06:00

Ridiculous, but true. Flies and humans are not that different when it comes to hearing loss.

Photo credit: justcola from morguefile.com

Daniel Eberl, researcher at The University of Iowa says “We found that fruit flies exhibit acoustic trauma effects resembling those found in vertebrates, including inducing metabolic stress in sensory cells."

The effect on the molecular underpinnings of the fruit fly's ear are the same as experienced by humans, making the tests generally applicable to people, the researchers note.

So, how were the tests conducted?

The fly uses its antenna as its ear, which resonates in response to courtship songs generated by wing vibration.The researchers exposed a test group of flies to a loud, 120 decibel tone that lies in the center of a fruit fly's range of sounds it can hear. This over-stimulated their auditory system, similar to exposure at a rock concert or to a jack hammer. Later, the flies’ hearing was tested by playing a series of song pulses at a naturalistic volume, and measuring the physiological response by inserting tiny electrodes into their antennae. The fruit flies receiving the loud tone were found to have their hearing impaired relative to the control group.
When the flies were tested again a week later, those exposed to noise had recovered normal hearing levels. In addition, when the structure of the flies’ ears was examined in detail, the researchers discovered that nerve cells of the noise-rattled flies showed signs that they had been exposed to stress, including altered shapes of the mitochondria, which are responsible for generating most of a cell’s energy supply. Flies with a mutation making them susceptible to stress not only showed more severe reductions in hearing ability and more prominent changes in mitochondria shape, they still had deficits in hearing 7 days later, when normal flies had recovered.

http://now.uiowa.edu/2013/08/flys-hearing

Hearing Loss in Dogs : Hunting Is Bad For Your Pet's Ears

2013-05-31T07:16:00.002-06:00

Photo credit: jade from morguefile.com

A couple of years ago the Mississipi State University published an article about hearing loss in dogs due to gun noise. Their conclusion was that frequent exposure to gunshots can progressively damage a dog's hearing.

One researcher who worked on the study concluded : We are very excited about our preliminary data."
"Practically all of the hunting dogs have some hearing loss and practically all of the non-hunting dogs have great hearing."

The difference in hearing ability between the two test groups "is extreme," said one researcher. Ultimately, results of the study could have great consequences for hunters.

"Perhaps in the future we will recommend the same precautions for hunting dogs as for hunters, including earplugs," one of the researchers said.

You can read the original article at :

http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=1812

Ever Wondered Which Famous People Suffer from Tinnitus?

2013-05-08T12:29:00.000-06:00

Image by Dosionair via Flicker http://flic.kr/p/dprVpH

"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired.”

-- Pete Townshend (Guitarist from the Who)

"I was a major glutton for volume: 'Gotta feel it, gotta hear it.' Sooner or later you're going to pay the reaper."

-- Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mack)

Neil Young - (loud music) main reason for his "acoustic" music during early 90's
Barbra Streisand - "Streisand has ascribed her volatile temperament to the tinnitus from which she has suffered since she was seven." source: news.independent.co.uk
Pete Townshend - "I have severe hearing damage. It's manifested itself as tinnitus, ringing in the ears at frequencies that I play guitar. It hurts, it's painful, and it's frustrating." Townshend is completely deaf in one ear from an explosion when Keith Moon blew up his drum set live on stage in the early 1960's and loud amps. He has tinnitus, resulting partly from the band's live gigs but mainly the deafening volume in which he and Entwistle used to listen to playbacks over the studio "cans." There are reports saying that he is unable even to hear his phone ring. The Sun newspaper reported Townshend said his hearing got worse after the band's recent US tour. Quote from Pete: "The recent return to touring and to me playing electric guitar - albeit more quietly than in the 1970s - led to further deterioration of my hearing," the 57-year-old said. "My right ear, which encounters my own edgy guitar and the machine gun strokes of the drums, has suffered badly. Luckily for me, I still have my left ear, which seems to be less @#%$ up. When I've worked solo in the past five years I've not used drums. This has meant I could play more quietly I think. With The Who, there is of course no way to play the old songs without drums. I've no idea what I can do about this. I am unable to perform with in-ear monitors. In fact, they increase the often unbearable tinnitus I suffer after shows." source from Sky News
John Entwhistle - According to Who scholar Andy Neill, Entwhistle was pretty deaf, and tended to rely on lip-reading. He didn't have tinnitus but still played bass at his usual "everything on 11" volume.
William Shatner - stage/prop explosion on set of StarTrek (during mid 1960's)
Leonard Nimoy - stage/prop explosion on set of StarTrek (during mid 1960's)
David Letterman - T in one ear, has had T a long time: Dave mentioned that he too had ringing in his ears, and has had it for a long time to William Shatner
Paul Schaffer - "He's got that?! I've got that!" on Billy Bob Thornton's character with Tinnitus in 'BANDITS'
Bill Clinton? - (wears hearing aid) T probably?
Tony Randall
Engelbert Humperdinck
Rosalynn Carter
Steve Martin - musician (banjo player), actor, comedian. He acquired Tinnitus while filming a pistol-shooting scene in "¡Three Amigos!" in 1986. "You just get used to it."
Leslie Nealson - (actor in Police Academy movies)
Mark O. Hatfield
Ronald Reagan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Influential eighteenth century political philosopher. From "Confessions" (1780) "...a great noise started up in my ears, a noise that was triple or rather quadruple, compounded of a low and muffled humming, a softer murmuring as though of running water, a piercing whistle...This internal noise was so loud that it robbed me of the keen ear I had previously enjoyed and made me, not completely deaf, but hard of hearing... in spite of the throbbing in my arteries and the humming in my ears, which since that time, some thirty years ago now, have never left me for a moment...The noise was irksome, but it caused me no suffering: it was not accompanied by any chronic affliction, apart from insomnia at night..." P. 222, Oxford World's Classics paperback edition, Oxford University Press, 2000
Jean-Francois Champollion - (1790-1832) Champollion was a French Egyptologist and scholar who is acknowledged as the father of modern Egyptology. He is best known for deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone. His deciphering of hieroglyphics laid the foundations for modern Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology. In the book "The Keys to Egypt", it describes how Champollion drove himself to complete an encyclopedia of his work. "Depressed and feeling more and more unwell, Champollion now wrote to his brother about the damage done by the strain of work: 'My poor head hurts, my tinnitus, the humming and buzzing noises, has worsened and leaves me neither day nor night. I have frequent spasms and am incapable of occupying myself seriously for more than a quarter hour...' "
Richard Thomas
Brian Wilson? T? - deaf in one ear from when his father hit him in the head with a board at an early age
Dave Pirner - (Soul Asylum) (loud music)
Bob Mould - (alternative music icon)
Neve Campbell - loud dance clubs
Jeff Beck - band Yardbirds (loud music), From an interview with rock guitarist Jeff Beck: "Yes, it's in my left ear. It's excruciating... I mean, it's the worst thing 'cause it's not... It never... It does go away - it's not true to say that it doesn't but, uhh... It doesn't... The doctors say it won't... It isn't actually going away - you've just gotta suppress... They try to come to terms with what it actually... Why some people fear it - that's the psychology behind it. They know it's there but why is it such a horrible sound? Well, you can say why is a guy scratching at a window with his nails such a horrible sound - I couldn't put up with that! This is worse!"
As Jeff told MTV - June 1993, He was asked to do a special guest spot with Guns 'n' Roses but had to cancel out. Jeff was going to play "Locomotive" with the band, but during the rehearsals, he used Slash's amp rig which aggravated his tinnitus forcing him to drop out of the gig.
Douglas J Noble - musician, guitar instructor, and music journalist out of Edinburgh, Scotland. From a Jeff Beck interview: "I've got tinnitus in my left ear...I mean it's permanent! Like just now..."
Mike Patton - T? lead singer for Faith No More; Wrote the Mr. Bungle's tune "Slowly Growing Deaf".
Burt Reynolds
Sting - (loud music)
Liberty Divito - (Billy Joel's drummer) (loud music)
Eric Clapton - (loud amplifiers)
Eric Johnson - has developed T (loud music/amps); source from Guitar Player Magazine interview: "I'd run two Marshall stacks onstage and crank the monitors. I started using Fender Deluxe Reverb amps and 50-watt Marshalls around '97, after I started having some problems with tinnitus. It was my own doing -- being irresponsible and thinking I was invincible...Yes, though it has been better lately. Take care and wear plugs. Don't think it can't happen to you. When I had a speaker reconed at the been here for years reconing shop in Austin the owner said, "I've reconed speakers for every guitarist in Austin for years and as far as I know there aren't any rock 'n roll lead guitarists here who don't have tinnitus to some degree or another. Many have it so bad they have trouble sleeping."
James Hetfield - Metallica rhythm guitar and uses Sonic II Ear plugs
Lars Ulrich - drummer for Metallica
Vanilla Fudge - Tim Bogert (bassist): "Tinnitus, big time. That’s the price you pay for having a darn good time. Nothing’s free!"
Radiohead - lead singer
Motorhead - Lemmy Kilminster (thrash-punk-metal pioneers): "We just like it loud, you know?"
Kevin Shields - guitarist/singer for My Bloody Valentine: "I did the damage to my ears listening to mixes in headphones at very loud levels without giving my ears time to recover."
Blinda Butcher - bassist/singer for My Bloody Valentine: "I had a punctured ear drum which fortunately they were able to put right but for a while I couldn't hear out of one ear and it was very depressing. On stage we all wear hearing protection and encourage anyone who sees us regularly to do the same."
George Martin? - retired from music due to hearing loss
George Harrison? - had hearing damage from loud music
Thomas Edison
Graham Cole - UK actor and singer, suffers tinnitus and hearing loss
Sylvester Stallone
Ted Nugent - Amboy Dukes guitarist: "My left ear is pretty much whacked. But I can still hear really good in my right ear. Early on, I would stick shell casings, which I always had handy, in my ear, to protect my right ear because that was the one that was facing the amp the most."
Rick Emmett - Triumph guitarist, source from Guitar Player Magazine
Bono - U2 lead singer, he even sings about it in his lyrics. Bono derived his name from a hearing aid store in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland which had a sign that read 'Bonavox Hearing Aids'.
The Edge - U2 guitar player
Ben Bossi - Saxophone player for Romeo Void. From a VH1 interview: His ears had started ringing and he was losing his hearing when the band was in it's heyday. He quit playing the sax after the band broke up and hasn't played since.
Peter Jennings
Jerry Stiller - Frank Costanza on Seinfeld
Lorence Henderson
Husker Du/Sugar - frontman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Martin Luther
Phil Collins - sources: newspapers/website. From Sky News: He will have to severely cut back on live performances "thanks to the buzzing in his ears."
"Phil Collins recently declared an end to his concert touring because of the hearing loss he has suffered. The 51 year-old former Genesis drummer and vocalist announced that he will perform live only occasionally to avoid further hearing loss on his hearing damaged left ear." source from hear-it.org
Cher
Morgan Fairchild - T? Actress; She was born a preemie who developed scarlet fever. She has so many kidney and ear infections as a child that she admits she is "partially deaf."
Cheryl Tiegs - Super model
Blixa Bargeld - (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Einstuerzende Neubauten)
Ozzy Ozborne
Huey Lewis
Tony Franklin
Alan Shepard - (T and Meniere's Disease)
Ira Flatow - National Public Radio - Host, Talk of the Nation: Science Friday
"Some interesting and hopeful news for people, like myself, millions of us, who have a constant ringing in one or both of our ears... Researchers have figured out where in the brain that ringing- called tinnitus - originates." Click on the below link to view and listen to Ira Flatow's program on Tinnitus with guests: Dr. Alan Lockwood (Professor of Neurology, Nuclear Medicine, and Communicative Disorders and Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Research Physician, Veterans Administration Hospital, Buffalo, New York) and Dr. Richard Salvi (Professor of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York) Science Friday: Tinnitus
Don Imus
Vincent Van Gogh - maybe why he cut off his ear
Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) - Spanish artist that had tinnitus and hearing loss from a severe illness.
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Famously deaf, Beethoven was also a famous tinnitus sufferer. The great composer was driven mad by "rushing and roaring sounds" in his head.
Robert Schumann - composer
Bedrich Smetana - it was a high E, and it was in his string quartet "From My Life."
Charles Darwin - who kept records of its daily amplitude and frequency
Clive Barker - T? disturbing story "Dread"
Mick Fleetwood - T? Fleetwood Mac drummer; "The world's worst is when you find yourself going like Mother Hubbard and cupping your hand behind your ear. I was a major glutton for volume: 'Gotta feel it, gotta hear it.' Sooner or later you're going to pay the reaper." source: Rolling Stone Magazine
Stewart Copeland - hearing loss but no T yet
- plays bass in the band Dogstar
Keanu ReevesLarry King said he has tinnitus on his left ear. He also said his is very low and it dosn't bother him - fiddle player Fairport Convention mammoth onstage amplification (ironic for a 'folk rock' band).
Charles Arthur - guitar player
Charlie Haden - jazz bassist, Charlie Haden to Charles Arthur (Q&A), "Over the years I have learned to adjust my life to this problem and accepted these ear problems as part of my being. In other words, I tell myself that I've been this way since I was born. This helps me to reduce the stress and frustration of this condition. I wear earplugs when I play that cut out 32 db's, as well as using plexiglass baffles. You are seeing the right person in Dr. Jack Vernon. Many musicians have this problem. I take it you know about "Tinnitus Today" and "H.E.A.R." from Dr. Vernon. Good luck and keep positive, Charlie Haden"
Kathy Peck - bassist/singer, music composer/publisher Monimamusic.com: "My life had really changed when I experienced the loss of my hearing and tinnitus damage after the Contractions opened up for Duran Duran." H.E.A.R. - "As a former bass player and singer for the San Francisco rock band The Contractions, Kathy had suffered hearing damage while playing a set at the Oakland Coliseum in l984. The repeated exposure to excessive noise caused a ringing sensation in her ears called tinnitus, as well as decreasing her ability to hear." Kathy is the co-founder and executive director of H.E.A.R.- Hearing Education and Awareness for Rocker sestablished in 1988 with founding donor support of Pete Townshendof the Who to help musicians and the public with hearing loss and tinnitus issues due to loud music damage. H.E.A.R.'s web site is www.hearnet.com
Michael Tomlinson - musician/singer-songwriter: After an ear infection, he temporarily lost 90% of his hearing for a few weeks, but still has Tinnitus in one ear. Source from: E-mail correspondence
Al Di Meola - musician/guitarist: "I do. That's why i don't play electric anymore."
John Densmore - drummer for The Doors, Ray Manzarek says that things are looking grim for Densmore, in terms of his future as a musician: "Tinnitus, man, you can't...You know, there's nothing you can do about it. It doesn't get better. It can only get worse--that's the hell of that thing. You'd say, 'Well, you know, when it's better, you're gonna play, man.' Well, it doesn't get better. The nature of that problem is that it can only get worse."
Jimmy Savile - "It doesn't bother me in the slightest," he told Michael Church. "It reminds me of all the girls I've known, and all the discos. I'm very happily ensconced with this friend inside my head." Source from: news.independent.co.uk
Michael Church - "I acquired my own tinnitus in the stupidest possible way: on the rifle range at Catterick army camp, while training as an officer cadet. St Albans School in the late Fifties was a grotesquely spartan place, where ear-defenders were unheard of (my fellow victim Stephen Hawking improvised earplugs from blotting paper, and the doctor had to dig them out). After a noisy afternoon with a Bren firing 12 inches from my left ear, I returned home deafened, and though my hearing eventually returned (minus the high frequencies), I was left with a loud hiss. (Yes, I should have sued both the school and the MoD, but 16-year-olds don't have time for such niceties.)" Source from: news.independent.co.uk
Francis Rossi - lead singer and guitarist for the band Status Quo.
Mick Ronson - David Bowie's guitarist, had tinnitus in the ear that was closest to his speaker column.
Hansi Kursch - lead singer and bass player for the band Blind Guardian. Kursch actually lost all hearing on one side, and then suffered tinnitus in the same ear. source from DynamiteMetal.com
Jarmo Miettinen - Rhythm guitar & vocals for the band Status Quiz
Todd Rundgren - Musician
Trent Reznor - Nine Inch Nails
James Destri - keyboardist who wrote "Fan Mail" by Blondie on the album Plastic Letters
Roger Miller - "Mission of Burma...Its career cut short by guitarist Roger Miller’s mounting tinnitus... Miller’s never shaken his condition, but now wears firingrange headphones so that Burma’s full sonic experience--high decibel levels are a key component in the band’s music--can be unleashed upon the crowd." Source from: www.avguide.com
Richard Pleasance - guitarist for Boom Crash Opera, took time off in 1990 from touring with this band due to tinnitus. Source from: www.vh1.com
Danny Elfman - Oingo Boingo, film scores/composer. Touring took a major toll on his hearing and he still suffers from tinnitus. "The last five or six years I was in the band, my instincts were telling me I was doing myself a lot of harm - and I was right. I really should have gotten out sooner than I did, and I'm incredibly regretful that I didn't because I'm paying the price for it now." Source from: OCRegister
Steve Lukather - guitarist/song writer for Toto, developed tinnitus sometime in the 1980's. "Yes I have tinnitus, what a drag. I wear earplugs now 'cause of it. I found that it was all the years wearing headphones that did me in more than live playing. I used to have the real expensive plugs, but I found some 2 dollar ones that work just as good and you don't feel bad losing them, hahaha. My hearing is damaged though. I always have to say "WHAT???", hahaha. Be careful guys, this could happen to you!" Source from: www.stevelukather.net
Chris Martin (Coldplay)believes the painful condition was caused by listening to loud music as a teenager and he has begun wearing ear plugs.
Tinnitus In Song:
Peter Framptom - based on lyrics to Show me the way - "I wonder how you're feeling....there's ringing in my ears....and no one to relate to...cept the sea (?)Who can I believe in?I feel so ....."
Robert Plant - Stairway to Heaven - "You´re head is humming and it won´t go in case you don´t know..."
Bob Dylan - Call Letter Blues - "My ears are ringing, ringing like empty shells... (2x) Well, it can't be no guitar player.Must be...convent bells"
Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have - (Trent Reznor from the album Downward Spiral) "I still recall the taste of your tears. Echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ears."
Nine Inch Nails - The Becoming - (Trent Reznor) "I can try to get away but I've strapped myself in. I can try to scratch away the sound in my ears. I can see it killing away all of my bad parts. I don't want to listen but it's all to clear. Hiding backwards inside of me I feel so unafraid. Annie, hold a little tighter I might just slip away. It wont give up. It wants me dead. Goddamn this noise inside my head [8x] "
The Young Fresh Fellows / The Minus 5 - Little Bell - (from the album Because We Hate You / Let the War Against Music Begin) - an ode to tinnitus?
Garbage - Push It - "This is the noise that keeps me awake, my head explodes and my body aches"
U2 - Staring At The Sun - "...There's an insect in your ear, if you scratch it won't disappear, its gonna itch and burn and sting, you wanna see what the scratching brings...waves that leave me out of reach, breaking on your back like a beach, will we ever live in peace? as those that can't do, often have to preach, to the ones, staring at the sun..."
Francis Rossi/Status Quo - from 1998 single Burning Bridges - "I can't escape this ringing in my ears..."
Bob Seger - Turn the Page - "Later in the evening as you lie awake in bed, with the echo from the amplifiers ringing in your head."
Blondie - Fan Mail - (written by James Destri from the album Plastic Letters) "Beat on my Fender through my Gemini II. Play to the posters on the wall in my room. Thought I was crazy when I thought about you. And the bells in my ears kept ringing, In my ears bells are ringing..."
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Hillbilly Hollywood - (Jim Photoglo, Vince Melamed) "I played some bars where you never wanna go. From Oklahoma City down to Tupelo. My ears would be ringing like an old fire bell when I'd lay me down in some cheap motel."
Wilco - Heavy Metal Drummer - (Lyrics by Jeff Tweedy from the album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) - "Classical music blasting masks the ringing in my ears."
Mr. Bungle - Slowly Growing Deaf - Written by Faith No More lead singer Mike Patton - "To my ears the greatest sin, feel a bit like Beethoven... No one is listening, yet ears are ringing."

Exciting Research with Antioxidants

2013-05-05T03:46:00.000-06:00

Photo credit: kakisky from morguefile.com

For some time now, researchers have focused their attention on antioxidants and their potential benefits to prevent and even cure hearing loss. Even the Department of Defense (thousands of US GIs suffer from hearing loss and tinnitus) has shown interest and awarded $1.2 to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill earlier this year (Read article : http://www.hear-it.org/Antioxidants-against-noise-induced-hearing-loss)

Researchers at the University of Michigan's Kresge Hearing Research Institute are also studying this lead. A very interesting finding is that "previously, it was believed that loud sounds or noise damaged hearing by directly destroying the inner ear’s sensory hair cells by intense vibration. More recent studies indicate that noise exposure damages sensory cells by the formation of free radicals, damaging molecules known to cause cell death. Colleen Le Prell’s research shows that damage to the sensory cells can be prevented by antioxidants that prevent free radical damage by binding to free radical molecules and rendering them harmless. " Read the complete article (http://american-hearing.org/uncategorized/high-antioxidants/).

These two articles and others are conclusive in that antioxidants do help prevent and even protect against hearing loss. They do not mention, however, what amount should be ingested to achieve a positive effect.

And now that you'll probably start eating more hearing loss fighting antioxidants, where do you find them?

The Most Common Antioxidants and Where to Find Them

Some of the most common antioxidants, and the foods which contain them, are:

Vitamin A and Carotenoids, which are found in carrots, squash, broccoli, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, kale, collards, cantaloupe, peaches and apples.
Vitamin C, which is found in citrus fruits, green peppers, leafy green vegetables, strawberries and tomatoes.
Vitamin E, which is found in nuts and seeds, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oil and liver oil.
Selenium, which is found in fish, shellfish, red meat, grains, eggs, chicken and garlic.

Some other common antioxidants include:

Flavoniods and polyphenols, which are found in soy, red wine, purple and red grapes, pomegranates, cranberries and tea.
Lycopene, which is found in tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon.
Lutein, which is found in dark green vegetables such as kale, kiwi, broccoli, brusselssprouts and spinach.
Lignan, which is found in flax seed, oatmeal, barley and rye.

An Application to Measure Sound

2013-04-29T12:52:00.001-06:00

There is a Google application that measures sound. If you want to see a video showing how it works click on the read more link below. To download it click on this link :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.sira.sound

If You Have a Child with Hearing Loss This E-book Might Help

2013-04-17T09:04:00.002-06:00

In her book Stephanie Berry from Independent Speech, an online speech therapy private practice, states that children learn to communicate through their hearing. They begin by imitating the sounds they hear around them, if they do not hear themthey cannot learn them. However, many children have a hearing problem and their parents do not realize it! There is a large range of hearing problems that can be experienced by children. While some are quite obvious others may go undetected for several years. At this time, children with hearing loss are an underidentified and thus underserved population.

Photo credit: ronnieb from morguefile.com

All About Hearing Loss by Stephanie Barry

Ear Protection : The Proper Way to Fit Foam Earplugs

2013-03-15T08:16:00.000-06:00

Here's a list of drugs that could Harm Your Hearing

2013-03-13T11:47:00.001-06:00

Photo credit: dhester from morguefile.com

It is known that some drugs are potentially harmful to your hearing. (See a previous article on that topic http://hearing-loss-news.blogspot.fr/2012/08/some-antibiotics-are-bad-for-your-inner.html). Some of these drugs are ototoxic.

Ototoxicity is damage to the ear (oto-), specifically the cochlea or auditory nerve and sometimes the vestibular system, by a toxin. It is commonly medication-induced; ototoxic drugs include antibiotics such as the aminoglycoside gentamicin, loop diuretics such as furosemide, and platinum-based chemotherapy agents such as cisplatin. A number of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) have also been shown to be ototoxic. This can result in sensorineural hearing loss, dysequilibrium, or both. Either may be reversible and temporary, or irreversible and permanent.
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ototoxicity)

You can find the original article at the Hearing Loss Association of Alburquerque, New Mexico : http://www.hlaabq.com/ototoxicdrugs.html.

OTOTOXIC DRUGS
The following list contains drugs that can have a temporary or permanent
effect on hearing such as hearing loss or tinnitus. They were identified through the reading of Dr. Susan Kunkel from the Poison Center at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy where she is a Toxicology Fellow.

Please note that this is not an all-inclusive list of every ototoxic drug
nor an exhaustive list of all drugs in each category. The few
that are especially important are displayed in bold.

Some drugs have more than one use and/or may fit into more than one
category. Certain non-drug substances (e.g., various metals, chemicals and asphyxiant gases) as well as noise have been associated with hearing loss.

In some cases, the medications listed can cause hearing changes even at
regular doses. Nonetheless higher-than-recommended doses are never
a good idea and this practice would certainly increase risk of changes in
hearing. Users of these (or any other drugs) are advised to not exceed recommended dosages and to ask your doctor or pharmacist specifically
if there are any potential ototoxic effects associated with any new drug
or over-the-counter medication you are told to take.

NOTE: Anyone reviewing this list of ototoxic drugs is strongly advised NOT to discontinue taking any prescribed medication without first contacting the prescribing physician.

Ototoxic Drugs by Category, with Examples

Anti-infectives

Aminoglycosides (amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin…)
Amphotericin B
Ampicillin
Antihelminthics (Praziquantel, thiabendazole)
Chloramphenicol
Chlorhexidine (for topical use)
Chloroquine
Colistin
Griseofulvin (antifungal)
Macrolides (azithromycin, erythromycin)
Metronidazole
Nalidixic acid
Sulfonamides
Tetracyclines (Minocycline, tetracycline)
Thiabenzazole (antihelmintic)
Vancomycin

Anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs, salicylates)
Aspirin (salicylic acid)
Ibuprofen
Naproxen
Fenoprofen
Indomethacin
Ketoprofen
Piroxicam
Sulindac

Antineoplastic agents
Bleomycin
Cisplatin
Cytarabine
Mechlorethamine
Methotrexate (also for RA)
Nitrogen mustard
Vinblastine
Vincristine

Cardiovascular agents
Enalapril
Captopril
Digitalis
Guanethidine
Guanfacine
Metroprolol
Minoxidil (also for alopecia)
Quinidine
Tocainide

Diuretics
Acetazolamide
Bumetanide
Ethacrynic acid
Furosemide
Mannitol

Tricyclic antidepressants
Amitriptyline
Amoxapine
Desipramine
Doxepin
Imipramine
Nortriptyline

Substances with abuse potential
Alcohol
Caffeine
Cocaine
Nicotine
Phencyclidine (PCP)

Miscellaneous agents
Albuterol
Antihistamines
Atropine
Bromates
Carbamazepine (anticonvulsant)
Haloperidol
Hydroquinone (antipigmentation agent)
Lithium
Local anesthetics (Bupivacaine, lidocaine, mepivacaine)
Metal chelators (Deferoxamine, penicillamine)
Methylphenidate
Oral contraceptives
Pentobarbital
Quinine
Theophylline

Infographic About Hearing Loss at Work

2013-02-25T14:04:00.004-06:00

THIS PRESENTATION WILL EXPLAIN ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HEARING LOSS AND HEARING AIDS

2013-02-14T07:55:00.003-06:00

From statistics about hearing loss to a description of the inner ear to hearing loss symptoms to hearing aids, this presentation covers everything you need to know in the subject.

Can You Hear Me Now? Hearing Aids: What You Need to Know from Springfield Clinic

Hearing Loss and Dementia

2013-02-12T07:14:00.001-06:00

I have already written about the so far poorly understood link between hearing loss and dementia.
In the last year or so more articles have appeared in reliable health journals and newspapers about this. Unfortunately, we still don't know why and the connection between these two conditions is still there. The New York Times published an article adapted from the book Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You,” by Katherine Bouton.
A salient point in this article is the fact that it's not clear whether hearing aids can help stop this deterioration.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/straining-to-hear-and-fend-off-dementia/?ref=science?src=dayp

Hooray!! Hearing loss partially reversed!

2013-01-14T10:44:00.000-06:00

A drug, LY41175, allows other cells in the inner ear to change into hair cells, which are essential, soundtransmitting cells in the inner ear. Normally, these cells are inhibited from making the switch. LY41175 releases that inhibition by interfering with the activity of a protein called Notch.

To read the original study go to : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312009531

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-hearing-loss-partially-reversed-in-noisedamaged-ears-of-mice-20130110,0,3991224.story

A very clear presentation on Hearing Loss

2013-01-14T10:15:00.004-06:00

Hearing loss from San Diego Continuing Education

Which ear plugs are the best?

2013-01-13T06:58:00.004-06:00

Here you'll find a few articles I found.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/shopping/2005/05/the_sound_of_silence.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_3

http://www.medicinenet.com/noise_induced_hearing_loss_and_its_prevention/page5.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1202116/Five-best--earplugs.html

http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/loud-music/what-earplugs-and-headphones-should-i-buy.aspx

http://answers.webmd.com/answers/1176154/how-effective-are-hearing-protection-devices

Some antibiotics are bad for your inner ear cells, but new research could change that

2012-08-01T06:06:00.000-06:00

Article by the University of Michigan Health System
This story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System. (June 11, 2012)

The world needs new antibiotics to overcome the ever increasing resistance of disease-causing bacteria -- but it doesn't need the side effect that comes with some of the most powerful ones now available: hearing loss. Today, researchers report they have developed a new approach to designing antibiotics that kill even "superbugs" but spare the delicate sensory cells of the inner ear.

Surprisingly, they have found that apramycin, an antibiotic already used in veterinary medicine, fits this bill -- setting the stage for testing in humans.
In a paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team from Switzerland, England and the University of Michigan show apramycin’s high efficacy against bacteria, and low potential for causing hearing loss, through a broad range of tests in animals. That testing platform is now being used to evaluate other potential antibiotics that could tackle infections such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
The research aims to overcome a serious limitation of aminoglycoside antibiotics, a class of drugs which includes the widely used kanamycin, gentamicin and amikacin.
While great at stopping bacterial infections, these drugs also cause permanent partial hearing loss in 20 percent of people who take them for a short course, and up to 100 percent of people who take them over months or years, for example to treat tuberculosis or lung infections in cystic fibrosis.
U-M researcher Jochen Schacht, Ph.D., a professor of biological chemistry and otolaryngology and director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the U-M Medical School, has spent decades studying why these drugs cause this “ototoxicity” – a side effect that makes doctors hesitant to prescribe them. Hearing damage has also caused patients to discontinue treatment before their antibiotic prescription is over, potentially allowing drug-resistant strains of bacteria to flourish.
Schacht has found that the drugs produce damaging free radicals inside the hair cells of the inner ear. Hair cells, named for the tiny sound-sensing hairs on their surface, are the linchpin of hearing – and once destroyed, cannot be regrown.
In the new paper, Schacht and his research group joined teams led by University of Zurich microbiologist Erik Böttger, and structural biologist and Nobel Prize winner Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of England’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, as well as scientists from ETH Zurich. Each team brought its particular expertise to the issue, and after four years of work they developed and tested this new approach to designing antibiotics.
“Aminoglycosides are some of the most valuable broad-spectrum antibiotics and indispensable drugs today, but we need new options to combat drug-resistant bacteria. Importantly, we must find ways to overcome their ototoxicity,” Schacht says. “Instead of the trial-and-error approach of the past, this new hypothesis-driven tactic allows us to design drugs with simultaneous attention toward both antibacterial action and impact on hair cells.”
According to the World Health Organization, about 440,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis emerge annually, causing at least 150,000 deaths worldwide. Aminoglycoside antibiotics, while carefully controlled in the U.S., Europe, and other developed countries are available over the counter in many developing nations, leading to overuse that makes it even easier for drug-resistant strains of many kinds of bacteria to emerge and spread.
The new paper outlines a rational approach to designing drugs to combat this threat without ototoxicity, based on a theoretical framework that emerged from the work of the three laboratories and centers around the role of ribosomes, the structures inside the cell that “read” DNA and translate the genetic message into proteins. Böttger’s lab, at the Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie which he directs, studies aminoglycoside effects on mitochondrial ribosomes and antibacterial activity with an eye toward designing new ones. Ramakrishnan’s lab studies ribosomes, and partners from ETH Zurich also collaborated.
Aminoglycosides bind to the ribosomes inside bacterial cells, preventing the ability to produce proteins. But while the drugs spare most human ribosomes, they can attach to ribosomes in the mitochondria of cells, which are similar to bacterial ribosomes.
Consistent with U-M-generated theories about ototoxicity, the drugs then cause the production of free radicals in such quantities that they overwhelm the hair cells’ defense mechanisms – destroying the cells and causing hearing loss.
The team’s approach is to design drugs that more specifically target bacterial ribosomes over mitochondrial ribosomes, simultaneously testing the impact on hair cells as well as the ability to kill bacteria. In this way, the researchers try to avoid creating antibiotics that harm hearing.
They are already using the platform employed for this study – which involves cells from mouse ears, and tests of hearing and hair cell damage in guinea pigs – to test other promising novel drugs synthesized based on the theoretical framework that was driving the current research.
Meanwhile, the team hopes to launch a clinical trial of apramycin, an antibiotic that could prove immediately useful because multidrug-resistant TB and lung-infecting bacteria have not shown resistance to the drug yet.
The research also lends more evidence to support the use of antioxidants to protect the hearing of patients taking current aminoglycoside antibiotics. Schacht has already led a clinical trial in China, with collaborators in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, which showed a major reduction in hearing loss if aspirin was given at the same time as aminoglycoside antibiotics. “This kind of protection is important, while we search for the long-term answer to drug resistance without ototoxicity,” he says.
Schacht’s research is funded by grant DC-003685 from the National Institute on Deafness & other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health. Other funding came from University of Zurich, the European Community, Medical Research Council UK and the Wellcome Trust. In addition to Schacht, former U-M researchers Su-Hua Sha and Jing Xie are co-authors along with members of the two Zurich and the LMB teams.

The Hearing Video

2012-07-21T11:41:00.002-06:00

This video also demonstrates the proper use and maintenance of hearing protection and how to chose the right protection for you

Hearing loss demonstration

2012-07-21T11:39:00.000-06:00

If you are a regular visitor of this blog, odds are you're a hearing loss sufferer. You can use this demonstration to make others understand what could happen to them if they don't protect their ears, this demonstration might help. Or if you are simply curious about what is it like to lose your hearing, this demonstration can help you too.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/demonstration.htm
or you can directly try it here :
Noise Induced hearing loss demonstration

Tool to estimate the performance of hearing protection

2012-07-21T11:11:00.000-06:00

The United Kingdom's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a noise exposure tool to help you work out your daily noise exposure, weekly noise exposures, and estimate the performance of hearing protection.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/calculator.htm