Northern Ireland’s First Ministers reveal how they work together so well !

PETER Robinson feared he might have to quit politics after becoming deaf in one ear, he has revealed.

The problem in the First Minister’s left ear, which is ongoing, happened overnight about two years ago but Mr Robinson spoke about it publicly for the first time yesterday.

His partner in government, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, has suffered from tinnitus in his right ear for a decade.

Mr Robinson said: “I just woke up one morning to find I had lost the hearing of my left ear.

“My first reaction was to doubt that I could carry on my job. I did at first assume it would interfere too much with the discharge of my duties.”

The DUP leader said: “You work around it. After some weeks of saying nothing about my hearing impairment to colleagues I realised that nobody had noticed.

“There are occasions when it is particularly difficult, if there is noise in the room that makes it difficult to pick up on what is said, but life can be dealt with in a normal way by working around whatever disability you have.

“My officials know to approach me from the right side if they are going to whisper something during a meeting; waiters often get ignored if they come to the left side.”

Mr Robinson joked about his relations with the Deputy First Minister.

“When I confided in Martin I discovered that he had a hearing deficit in his right ear so now you know the secret of how we work so well together,” he said.

“I can say whatever I like about him and direct it to his right ear and he smiles back and he can call me whatever he likes as long as he directs it to my left ear.”

 

If you have any questions about hearing loss or hearing aids contact Hidden Hearing

Source Belfast Newsletter: Read More: newsletter

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Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson pictured with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and US President Barack Obama

Government in hearing loss pledge

A London-based charity has welcomed the Government’s commitment to put hearing loss at the forefront of its ongoing strategy to improve health outcomes for people with long-term conditions.
Action on Hearing Loss said it is “delighted” that the Department of Health will consider how its Long Term Conditions Outcomes Strategy can bring benefits for people with hearing loss.
Health Minister Paul Burstow said he recognises the charity’s Hearing Matters report as an important step in raising the profile of hearing loss and confirmed that he has asked officials to consider how to take hearing loss on board as the Government’s strategy develops.
He said: “Hearing loss can have a huge impact at both personal and societal levels, and more needs to be done to improve outcomes for people with hearing loss. Hearing loss is not just a health issue, a cross-Government approach would bring benefits.
“The new Long Term Conditions Outcomes Strategy, due to be published later in the year, will consider how Government departments, local authorities and the voluntary sector can work together to help prevent or delay the onset of long-term conditions such as hearing loss, and provide support at the appropriate times and places in their lives.
“I have asked officials to work with Action on Hearing Loss to consider how to take hearing loss on board as the Long Term Conditions Outcomes Strategy develops.”
The Department of Health is also re-establishing an Audiology Advisory Group to be a forum for Action on Hearing Loss and other key stakeholders to discuss how to improve outcomes for patients with hearing loss.
Action on Hearing Loss’s managing director of external engagement Sherine Krause said: “We’re delighted to have persuaded the Government, through Hearing Matters, that the everyday impact of hearing loss – which can lead to social isolation, depression and mental health problems – needs to be addressed.
“We look forward to engaging with the Audiology Advisory Group to ensure that the Long Term Conditions Outcomes Strategy produces the best outcomes and support responsive to the individual needs of people with hearing loss.”

Listen up: It’s time to have your ears checked

Absolutely no pun intended, but here is a piece of information that tends to fall on deaf ears.

One-in-six people worldwide has a hearing loss greater than 25 decibels (dB), according to the World Health Organisation.

About half of them would have a mild hearing loss (25dB or more), while the rest would have what would be categorised as moderate, severe or profound losses.

What’s that you say? One in six of us has a hearing loss?

This may actually be a bit high. The most frequently quoted figure for developed countries is around 10pc of the population, which still suggests nearly 500,000 of us in Irelandhave a hearing loss.

But what is certain is that the numbers are likely to rise thanks to our rapidly ageing population, not to mention ear damage caused by constant exposure to high levels of noise at work, or music at rock concerts and nightclubs, and of course, personal audio devices.

The UK Medical Research Council, for instance, estimates that the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing people is set to increase by about 14pc every 10 years.

But right now, some experts estimate that about 6pc of the adult population could benefit from the fitting of hearing aids.

But why does all this information fall on deaf ears, exactly?

Research suggests people wait an average of 10 years or more before seeking help with a significant hearing loss.

I wish someone would tell that to my elderly dad, as I’m convinced he is going deaf, but he won’t listen. (But then again, maybe he can’t hear me.)

There is no doubting that hearing loss has a serious impact on quality of life. And not just for the individual concerned, but their family and friends too.

There is also no doubting that hearing aids still have a bit of a stigma attached to them, in the same way that glasses used to have before they became high-street fashion items.

Not that hearing aids are ever likely to become fashion items, but the stigma isn’t as strong as it was.

There does seem to be quite a few hearing-aid shops around the place now.

Yes, there has been a huge growth in the private hearing-aid market. Over the past five years, the number of private hearing-aid shops or clinics in Ireland has more than doubled, according to the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (ISHAA).

Even the large optician chain Specsavers has muscled into the market and now has ‘hearing centres’ in most of their opticians around the country. The biggest chain remains Hidden Hearing, which has over 50 clinics throughout Ireland.

The most famous of them all, Bonavox (the highly ironic inspiration behind the stage name of a certain member of U2), is now expanding too. But there also remains lots of reputable, smaller shops.

If I manage to persuade my dad to at least take a hearing test, should I tell him to go to the GP first?

You can go the GP, but unless you have a medical card, most of them will usually point you in the direction of a private hearing-aid shop anyway.

Most private clinics will happily give you a free, “no-obligation” hearing test. If the audiologist is properly qualified, they should refer you back to a GP if they find any suspected medical issues during a hearing examination.

So, how about regulation? There is now an EU standard for private hearing-aid dispensers in place, but this doesn’t mean the sector is now regulated. The ISHAA reckons that regulation is still a number of years away, but it intends to ensure its members all meet the EU standard and develop a comprehensive patient-complaints procedure with the health standards watchdog HIQA.

Source: Irish Independent – John Cradden Thursday February 09 2012

http://www.independent.ie/health/health-advice/listen-up-its-time-to-have-your-ears-checked-3014613.html

Researchers given the go ahead to test stem cells for hearing loss in infants

Researchers have been given the go-ahead to test stem cells from cord blood with the ultimate goal of reversing hearing loss in infants and toddlers whose inner ears have been damaged. U.S. regulators have approved the Phase I study, which has a primary objective of determining the safety of the experimental stem cell therapy.

The therapy involves transfusing a baby’s own stem cells from umbilical cord blood, banked by parents after their child’s birth. Ten children aged six weeks to 18 months old with sensorineural hearing loss will be recruited for the study by doctors at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

“We’re looking more at the ones that suffer an injury around birth or shortly after birth,” said Dr. Samer Fakhri, a specialist in head and neck surgery and principal investigator of the study.

Fakhri, a Montreal native who received his medical training at McGill University, said such injuries to the inner ear can be caused by viral infections and even some medications.

Sensorineural hearing impairment occurs when structures in the inner ear or the nerve pathways between the inner ear and the brain are damaged. The critical structure in the inner ear is the snail-shell-shaped cochlea, which contains “hair cells” that gather electrical signals, which are transferred to the brain and perceived as sound.

A child with this kind of hearing loss can suffer significant impairment, Fakhri said from Houston. “You may hear parts of sounds. You may not hear the sounds at all, or you may hear very faint sounds.

“If they lose hearing at four weeks or five weeks due to a viral infection” — meningitis is a common cause — “we know that there is a tremendous impact,” he said.

“There’s a lot of research that has been done in child development that has determined that there’s really a critical window for children to develop speech, language and social development, and it’s probably in the first 18 months.”

The idea for the trial was triggered by a 2008 study by European scientists, who infused human cord blood into laboratory mice with induced sensorineural hearing loss. An examination of the treated animals about two months later showed “inner ear organization and structure were basically restored,” said Fakhri.

“That was the study that was a proof of concept … That was such a dramatic result.”

Fakhri said the exact role of the stem cells in the repair of damaged tissue in the mice isn’t known, but there are a couple of theories.

Stem cells can give rise to many different types of cells in the body, so it may be they effect the repair by regenerating lost hair cells. But a more recent theory suggests that stem cells may go to the site of injury and set off the body’s innate repair mechanisms.

“In that sense, they play more of a supporting role,” he said.

While regenerating tissues is the great hope of stem cells — and they do appear to hold a lot of promise — the idea that they could restore damaged hearing in humans is still speculative, doctors say.

“This study is really very, very preliminary,” said Dr. Robert Harrison, a professor of head and neck surgery at the University of Toronto.

“That’s the safety issue,” he said, stressing that the FDA-approved study must first ensure the stem cells do no harm to patients. Figuring out if they actually work to repair the organ of hearing would have to be proven in subsequent trials.

“We’re a long way from looking at the possible therapeutic value of this in terms of restoring some sort of hearing,” said Harrison, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children and a director of the Hearing Foundation of Canada.

“It’s a very theoretical concept, and in my opinion it’s not going to happen soon.”

Current treatment of sensorineural hearing loss in young children is pretty well restricted to hearing aids or cochlear implants, surgically implanted electronic devices, Fakhri said. Both are used to amplify any residual hearing.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20120210/stem-cells-cord-blood-hearing-loss-kids-120210/#ixzz1m5DV1LDC

British soldier out of the army because of a 6% loss in hearing!

A soldier today reveals how he was booted out of the Army after his hearing was damaged by mortar attacks… only to be REFUSED compen­sation because his injury wasn’t bad enough! Coldstream Guards drummer and machine gunner Jamie Geary says he feels ­betrayed.

And he fears he is the first in a new wave of soldiers with minor health problems who are being axed as the Forces try to save cash amid Government defence cuts.

But Jamie was still cleared to go on a seven-month tour in Basra, Iraq, where his base was ­subjected to several mortar attacks.

In 2007 another ear test ­confirmed his hearing had ­deteriorated and the specialist said it would get worse over time.

After that, Jamie’s 11-year Army career began to go downhill. In 2009 he was preparing for frontline duty in ­Afghanistan when he was told he wasn’t fit to go and given a desk job instead. He ­desperately tried to ­retrain as a dog ­handler and then a military guard… but his attempts proved fruitless.

Then last November he was called before a military board and told he was being medically discharged­ ­because new tests showed his hearing loss was ­between 6 and 14 per cent.

To add insult to injury, Jamie then discovered compensation was only given for 20 per cent loss of hearing and above.

He said: “To say I was upset is an ­understatement. I was damned good at my job and I couldn’t ­believe I’d been picked. I did try to argue it but it was like fighting a losing battle.

“I don’t even have to wear a hearing aid,” says Jamie, 27, who had lost only about six per cent of his hearing. “I was desperate to stay in the Army. I just think they are kicking out perfectly good men and women to save money. ”

The Iraq and Northern Ireland veteran, now scraping by on ­benefits with his wife and two children, said a routine ­test in 2005 showed his hearing had been slightly affected by exposure to noise from training ground ­explosions and his ­drumming.

Source : Sunday Mirror. Read More:

Research shows touch-sensing nerve cells may fuel ‘ringing in the ears’

U-M researcher Susan Shore and graduate student Seth Koehler discuss hearing data. Credit: University of Michigan Health System

A series of articles by various writers on medical topics this one is from medicalxpress.

We all know that it can take a little while for our hearing to bounce back after listening to our iPods too loud or attending a raucous concert. But new research at the University of Michigan Health System suggests over-exposure to noise can actually cause more lasting changes to our auditory circuitry – changes that may lead to tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ears.

U-M researchers previously demonstrated that after hearing damage, touch-sensing “somatosensory” nerves in the face and neck can become overactive, seeming to overcompensate for the loss of auditory input in a way the brain interprets – or “hears” – as noise that isn’t really there.

The new study, which appears in the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, found that somatosensory neurons maintain a high level of activity following exposure to loud noise, even after hearing itself returns to normal.

The findings were made in guinea pigs, but mark an important step toward potential relief for people plagued by tinnitus, says lead investigator Susan E. Shore, Ph.D., of U-M’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute and a professor of otolaryngology and molecular and integrative physiology at the U-M Medical School.

“The animals that developed tinnitus after a temporary loss in their hearing after loud noise exposure were the ones who had sustained increases in activity in these neural pathways,” Shore says. “In the future it may be possible to treat tinnitus patients by dampening the hyperactivity by reprogramming these auditory-touch circuits in the brain.”

In normal hearing, a part of the brain called the dorsal cochlear nucleus is the first stop for signals arriving from the ear via the auditory nerve. But it’s also a hub where “multitasking” neurons process other sensory signals, such as touch, together with hearing information.

During hearing loss, the other sensory signals entering the dorsal cochlear nucleus are amplified, Shore’s earlier research found. This overcompensation by the somatosensory neurons, which carry information about touch, vibration, skin temperature and pain, is believed to fuel tinnitus in many cases.

Tinnitus affects up to 50 million people in the United States and millions more worldwide, according to the American Tinnitus Association. It can range from intermittent and mildly annoying to chronic, severe and debilitating. There is no cure.

It especially affects baby boomers, who, as they reach an age at which hearing tends to diminish, increasingly find that tinnitus moves in. The condition most commonly occurs with hearing loss, but can also follow head and neck trauma, such as after an auto accident, or dental work. Tinnitus is the number one disability afflicting members of the armed forces.

The involvement of touch sensing (or “somatosensory”) nerves in the head and neck explains why many tinnitus sufferers can change the volume and pitch of the sound by clenching their jaw, or moving their head and neck, Shore explains.

While the new study builds on previous discoveries by Shore and her team, many aspects are new.

“This is the first research to show that, in the animals that developed tinnitus after hearing returned to normal, increased excitation from the somatosensory nerves in the head and neck continued. This dovetails with our previous research, which suggests this somatosensory excitation is a major component of tinnitus,” says Shore, who serves on the scientific advisory committee of the American Tinnitus Association.

“The better we understand the underlying causes of tinnitus, the better we’ll be able to develop new treatments,” she adds. If you have any questions about any aspect of hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.

Don’t let Hearing Loss hold you back

Sky Diver Laura Muller

Laura Muller was born with 50 per cent hearing loss but she has never let it hold her back. BEING a professional sky-diver is a challenge for anyone but when you only have 50 per cent hearing the challenge is all the greater. Laura Muller’s lack of hearing wasn’t diagnosed until she was 15. Up until then they thought she had selective hearing which meant she only heard what she wanted to. “Because you don’t know anything else you don’t realise that something is wrong,” says Laura. Once she was diagnosed she was fitted with an NHS hearing aid. “It was a strange feeling being suddenly able to hear things you haven’t heard before, but I found the hearing aids very dificult to get on with. I was never happy as I had to take them off in loud places and didn’t really end up wearing the devices very often.”

This caused problems during lessons as Laura couldn’t wear the aids as all they picked up was the background noise from the other people in the class.

“I got teased for not being able to hear very well.”

When she started at Lancaster University Laura, from Yeadon, began to wear the hearing aids permanently. “I wasn’t very confident talking amongst large groups of people as I wouldn’t be able to hear individuals very well with all the background noise.”

It was during her first year at university that Laura took up skydiving, although she decided to keep it a secret from her family.

“I’d always wanted to try skydiving but my mum really wasn’t keen on the idea. But when I went to university and got the chance I gave it a go and was hooked. I’ve always been into adrenalin sports and skydiving seemed like the ultimate adrenalin sport.”

But it wasn’t until she left university that Laura thought about making it her career.

“My hearing problems hadn’t been too much of an issue while I was at university, but when I left to try and get a job in the ‘real’ world you needed to be able to hear properly. I didn’t plan to go into skydiving as a career I just went to help out at a training centre over the summer and then offered me a job. I absolutely love it.”

In the last year Laura estimates she has done around 200 jumps, many from as high as 15,000 feet.She competes competatively in a four-way team, but at one point she feared her hearing problem could jeopardise her future.

One thing is for certain, this adrenalin junkie is showing that a disability need never stand in your way when it comes to realising your dreams.

If you have any questions about Hearing Loss or Hearing Aids please contact Hidden Hearing.

Catherine Scott . Source: Yorkshire Post