Author: Aaron Rogers

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Pulsatile Tinnitus – Your Heartbeat or Something Else?

Visit to an ENT

A pulsing, swooshing or whooshing sound in the ear, usually just one side, is called pulsatile tinnitus. Many times this may sound like a heartbeat in your ear. Many times you are in fact hearing your heartbeat or turbulent blood flow through the vessels that passed through your skull near your ear. These blood vessels are only a few millimeters away from the hearing apparatus so it does not take very much for you to start hearing the blood flow.

Sometimes pulsatile tinnitus refers to a clicking or popping in that you are that happen spontaneously. This is a completely different condition. In this case it will feel like clicking popping or snapping in your ear, again usually just one side. This may be a spasm of some of the small muscles inside the ear.

Persisting pulsatile tinnitus that sounds like a heartbeat usually deserves further workup. Problems with blood vessels, such as blood clots, aneurysm, or dissection may be discovered. Sometimes there may be thinning of the membranes surrounding the anterior and you could be hearing the pulsations from your brain fluid and meninges (brain lining). Rarely tumors may also present with a pulsatile tinnitus, including glomus tympanicum, glomus jugulare, or tumors next to the brain impacting the hearing nerves.

Workup for persistent pulsatile tinnitus includes a good evaluation of the ear physically, in addition to hearing function, speech discrimination, bone conduction and tympanometry. Angiography, CT, or MRI imaging may be recommended depending what we find to try to sort out the cause.

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Hearing Aids in Background Noise!

Noisy restaurant bad for hearing

Would you like to hear better in a noisy environment? You might have been having a hard time understanding your family and friends. The good news is that there is help for you. Hearing aids are now smaller and more affordable. You will be able to distinguish words better, and hear certain sounds better than before. You might find it easier to follow conversations.

Filtering background noise is a complex task that our brains are working on. But did you know its not just the brain at work? The cochlea of the inner ear actually has nerve endings that are tunable and “learn” to amplify more of what you want to hear. This makes it tricky for hearing loss, because we also lose the ability to “tube” our inner ears.

Hearing aids must incorporate some form of programming or even modern artificial intelligence to try and filter background sound for us. Hearing aids may also use microphone tricks or even remote microphones to better assist.

In any event, background noise filtering is where the action is in terms of hearing aid tech development – helping you to hear what you really want to hear!

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Solving Ear Pain from Inserts

Custom Earbuds

Tight fitting inserts are rarely needed for hearing aids to function well. Most adults have enough residual low frequency hearing to avoid a tight insert (although some do have the need for custom molded inserts to better amplify low frequency sound).

Usually inserts are rubber or silicone and are made to be periodically replaced. These can be easily changed by the consumer in a RIC hearing aid. If there is pain when inserting the device or pain during use then we need to check out the ear canal. Sometimes skin irritation or ear wax build up may be to blame.

Some patients benefit from oily lubricants in the ear canals, or others may need a different style of insert altogether.

Regardless of the reason, if your inserts are painful we can usually get them adjusted or fixed quickly!

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Discreet Hearing Aids

You might need to have your hearing checked. It depends on how much you are missing from the sounds you take in each day. The more sounds you are missing, the more likely you will need help. You will want to be able to hear the sounds that you want to hear. You will enjoy life better when you hear what you really want to hear!

We will take results from your hearing test, and the complaints that you have about hearing in certain situations. There’s usually difficulty using a telephone, television, or listening in noisy situations.

With modern smart phone technology you may also want your hearing aids connected to your smart phone, music sources, or even the Internet. We can work with you about a solution for this. Many systems have this all integrated.

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Anxiety about Hearing Loss?

Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid hearing loss. However, there is a way for you to lessen the embarrassment that comes with hearing loss. Remember, like any other disability, you should not be embarrassed. Your life will go on, and there is always a solution. This article will give you more tips.

Anxiety and embarrassment about hearing those are probably what keep people away from our office. Many people are very nervous to admit their difficulties. They also feel it is a sign of aging.

It is hard for me to reverse the entire stigma related to hearing aids, but it is clear that the adults who cannot hear and communicate well is definitely thought of as being older and more feeble. In these cases it’s even more important to get the hearing restored.

Basically half of all elderly adults have hearing loss, and one in five adults over the age of 50 have significant hearing loss that impairs their daily life. Let’s get to fixing it!

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Lost Hearing Aids?

Nothing is more frustrating than losing your hearing aids. They are a very expensive piece of technology. Sometimes the tiny devices are easy to misplace. What can you do? Have no fear, we have the solutions.

Firstly, often we will lose hearing aids because battery life has increased. As battery life increases we can successfully keep functioning hearing aids away from our body for a longer period of time. However, since about 2019 we’ve had a very good selection of rechargeable hearing aids.

The rechargeable hearing aids, extremely more convenient, but do require that we charge them every night or two. This provides a natural base station for the hearing aids to rest upon at night. This alone has resulted in about a 50% reduction in lost devices.

Young children and certain disabled adults may also benefit from a lanyard on their hearing aids. These can be easily added to any existing pair.

Finally, the major hearing aid manufacturers do offer warranty solutions for loss. Most hearing aids now are custom fit and custom designed. These customizations are easily digitally stored, and re-creation of your hearing aids is cheaper than ever. Warranties exist and may be useful to you for a small added expe

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Answer That Ringing Ear!

If you are one of the millions of people who has experienced tinnitus at some point in your life, you know that it is a problem that you want solved quickly. Tinnitus is the condition of hearing noises when no sound is actually present. It can be a ringing, hissing, whistling, or clicking noise. It can come and go or be constantly present.

Tinnitus accounts for hundreds of thousands of doctor visits yearly. About 10% of patients who experience tinnitus will visit the doctor, and about 10% of those will have ongoing problems. Medication‘s can be tried but none are proven. Usually we will screen for depression, anxiety, or musculoskeletal problems.

Sound therapy is one of the more effective means for treating tinnitus. First and foremost, correct in hearing loss is very important. Correct and any other identified medical problems can also be very important.

Tinnitus can be a troubling condition that can keep you up at night, withdraw you from family activities, and interfere with your workplace production. There are treatments, let’s help to guide you through them!

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Hearing Loss Correction for Adults

Atlanta Lifestyle with Hearing Aids

One of the most common medical conditions that people have face today is hearing loss. Hearing loss can be caused by many factors and they can be repaired through hearing aids. The hearing aids are widely trusted by people as they make it easy to hear sounds clearly again. There are many people who are unsure how to buy hearing aids and there are many sources that gives you information on hearing aids. Hearing loss can easily be corrected by the right methods and the following is some of the ways we work together to get you hearing right.

A full assessment will be performed by one of our audiologist. You may need to see a physician as well if there are on typical findings. We will do a full hearing test and tympanometry. You’ll get some assessment about how you were hearing compared to the normal population, and compared to age.

We also will test speech discrimination which is your ability to understand words when they’re presented to the ear at certain levels. Some people began to lose the ability to turn noises into syllables and into words. Hearing aids will work the best if you still have good nerve function and the auditory centers in the brain are in good shape.

We will work with you for about an hour and a half to look at lifestyle concerns, preferences, and style issues. Most any shape of hearing aid now can fit the technology that you need. Some hearing aids are more comfortable than others. He will work with you to find a solution that meets your needs, is comfortable, and is affordable.

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Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Noise induced hearing loss is prevalent in our society, affecting tens of millions of Americans. Exposure to loud noises either very loud all at once, or moderately loud over a long period of time, can cause a characteristic noise related hearing loss. Over long period of time we can actually have quite severe hearing loss at numerous frequencies. However, a sudden noise induced hearing drop will often present a decline at 4000 Hz and 6000 Hz.

These are fairly high frequencies, not directly used in person to person speech, however damage to this zone of the hearing organ, the cochlea, can cause a lot of problems with hearing In background noise.  Difficulty in hearing when in noisy background situations is in fact one of the first signs of a high and medium frequency hearing loss.
Other early signs of this type of nerve hearing loss may include difficulty in hearing women’s voices, children’s voices, or those with an accent other than your own.  Many people will also have difficulty using the telephone or listening to a television across the room.
Noise induced hearing loss may occur suddenly like after a gunshot or a loud concert. You may experience a ringing in the ears or sound of hollowness in your ears. Hopefully this will clear up, but often it does not fully resolve. Many times the hearing loss from the loud noise event is permanent nerve damage.
From a medical standpoint, corticosteroid medications can be given which may help to curb some of the damage.  Certain vitamins have also shown to be a little bit effective.
If you do experiences sudden change in hearing, or suspect you may have a gradual noise related here in damage, I recommend that we get in for a full hearing evaluation with either an audiologist for an ear nose and throat physician.