Children exposed to HIV may suffer hearing loss

Children exposed to HIV before birth may be at high risk for developing hearing loss by the age of 16.

A study by National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that the risk of hearing loss was 200 to 300 times higher compared to national averages of hearing loss among other children.According to researchers, an estimated 9 to 15 percent of HIV-infected children and 5 to 8 percent of children of mothers who had HIV infection suffered from hearing loss.

Medical Daily had reported another NIH led study earlier this year that said that children who are exposed to HIV are more likely to suffer from language impairments.

“Children exposed to HIV before birth are at higher risk for hearing difficulty, and it’s important for them—and the health providers who care for them—to be aware of this,” Dr. George K. Siberry of the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Maternal AIDS Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) said in a statement.

The age of children evaluated in the present study was between 7 and 16 years. They were evaluated on three parameters: physical structure of ear, middle ear function and the ability to hear tones on a microphone.

“If parents and teachers know the child has a hearing problem, then they may take measures to compensate in various communication settings, such as placement in the front of the classroom or avoiding noisy settings,” said Howard Hoffman, director of the Epidemiology and Statistics Program at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

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

How our children hear

A parent’s responsibility while raising children is a never-ending task. From their health to their education from their social skills to providing a nurturing and safe environment, there is so much to do!

One issue that is so often overlooked is how our children hear. Our hearing connects us to the world around us and it is only through the ears of a child that they learn how to speak and how to listen, develop social skills, and build relationships. At school, what they hear and what they listen to can propel them to a brilliant career or a life of manual labor.

The earlier hearing loss is diagnosed and treated the more chance the child has of successfully adapting to amplification and developing good speech and language skills as well as having healthy social relationships.

Some warning signs of hearing loss that parents can look out for are:

Birth – 2 years old

Chronic ear infections
Constant pulling or tugging at the ears
Not responding to loud noises around them
2 – 5 years old

Delayed speech development
Speech that is mushy and unclear
No response to being called by name
Excessively loud speech
5 – 12 years old

Slurring of speech
Excessive volume on TV or radio
Difficulty hearing in the car
Declining grades at school
Teens

Excessive volume levels in TV or speaking
Declining grades in school
Increased social isolation
Aggression
Any of the above red flags or a failed hearing test at school indicates the need for an in depth hearing exam. The hearing exam should include pure tone testing (hear the beep, hit the button) as well as speech testing. These tests can be performed by an audiologist or hearing aid specialist. Children under the age of 5 require specialized equipment and should be seen by a pediatric specialist.

Once a child has been diagnosed with hearing loss there are many questions that need to be answered. First, it is important to understand what type of hearing loss your child has. The two types are conductive and sensorineural.

Conductive hearing loss is a problem with the mechanics of the ear and may be temporary. For example, too much ear wax in the ear canal can block the sound from getting to the eardrum causing some hearing loss. Most conductive losses can be treated through an office procedure, medication or an operation.

Sensorineural hearing loss is permanent and happens in the inner ear in the cochlea. Each cochlea has thousands of hair cells that send the hearing signal to the brain. If these hair cells are damaged or never form, there is no way for the sound waves to be transmitted (in part or in whole) to the brain. A Sensorineural loss will most often be treated with hearing aids. Hearing aids should be worn all waking hours and it will only take a couple of weeks for your child to adapt to this improved hearing. They will need you to cheer them on in their new sense of hearing as it will be different and difficult in the beginning. Once they have adapted to hearing they will appreciate the ease of hearing they receive from their devices.

In the case of deafness (no measure of hearing), cochlear implants and lip reading classes will be top on the list of treatments.

If your child has good hearing, it is important to keep their hearing healthy and to help them develop good listening habits. Ear level devices like I-Pods or MP3 players when used with headphones can be very detrimental to your child’s long-term hearing health. Teach the 60/60 rule: all ear level devices should be used at no more than 60% of the available volume for no more than 60 minutes. Never allow your child to sleep with devices in their ears.

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

 

The search for the 2012 ‘heroes’ of the deaf and hard of hearing community will begin shortly as Hidden Hearing launches the call for nominations for the 2012 ‘Hidden Hearing Heroes Awards’ at the end of this month.

A joint initiative between Hidden Hearing and the Irish Deaf Society, the Heroes Awards honour those who are deaf or hard of hearing and have made a significant contribution to society, their community, workplace, family or through sporting excellence.

Members of the public will be able to nominate their ‘hero’ who they feel deserves to be recognised for an award and nominees will also be able to nominate themselves. Submissions made by email, post or sign language video will be accepted.

Our Customers are over 90% Satisfied with us and our service*

Why are our patients so satisfied? Because we give them the attention and professional service they want and deserve!

 

After 27 years of providing audiology and hearing aid services in Ireland, our mission remains the same: to enhance the quality of your life by improving communication between you and your family, friends and others in your community, and working with you to reduce the stress caused by hearing loss. We offer a friendly, comfortable environment for patients to learn about hearing loss and make informed decisions. Our audiologists have 100′s of combined years of experience in the hearing healthcare field and are highly regarded as honest, straightforward and knowledgeable professionals.

See our Customer Reviews and then come see us for your hearing needs!

In a recently completed survey of 500 customers a combined group of over 94% said that they were satisfied with our service with 83% of them saying they were Very Satisfied. 82% would recommend Hidden Hearing and over 90% strongly agreed that we have a friendly and professional service.

*Statistics from a recent survey of 500 customers.

If you have any questions about hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.

Pet Hearing News!

Deafness is the temporary or permanent loss– either partial or total –of hearing in one or both ears. Hearing loss is a natural part of a pet’s aging process, and it will take time getting used to for both the pet and for you. The condition isn’t the end of the world; it just takes a little adjustment getting used to.

Causes

There are many different causes of deafness, some that can be fixed and others that are irreversible. Hearing loss could be brought on by a build-up of wax in the ear canals – which is common with breeds that have naturally narrow ear canals, like Poodles. Or, if your pooch is especially hairy, that hair could be the culprit for blocking ear canals because it collects wax and acts as a plug of sorts. If you have a Cocker Spaniel, Terrier, or another breed with a mess of hair, be sure to watch that it’s not causing hearing problems. Foreign objects getting stuck in the ear canal can also cause hearing loss in your furry friend.

Old age, injury, or untreated ear infections are some of the permanent causes of hearing loss. Drugs such as antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, and heavy metals – like arsenic, lead, and mercury – all can cause hearing loss as well.

Though it’s generally perceived as a condition that afflicts senior pets, it’s also possible for a dog to be born without the ability to hear. Certain dog breeds are predisposed to inherited deafness, such as the Dalmatian. Persians, Ragdolls, and white Oriental Shorthairs are some of the cat breeds that are also at a higher risk for congenital deafness.

Hidden Hearing does not deal with pets and recommends you visit your vet if you are worried about your pet. If you are suffering for hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.

Antibiotics that don’t damage hearing could be on the way

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 Bottger, 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. Bottger’s lab, at the Institut fur 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.

If you have any questions about hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.

How Bad Are iPod players for Your Hearing?

Hearing loss is more common than ever before. Does listening to loud music through headphones lead to long-term hearing loss? Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children’s Hospital Boston, explains how much damage your headphone habit might cause — and how to mitigate your risk.

Q: How much hearing loss does an iPod cause?

A: It depends on the person, it depends on how long you’re listening, and it depends on the level at which you’re setting your iPod.

If you’re using the earbuds that come with an iPod and you turn the volume up to about 90% of maximum and you listen a total of two hours a day, five days a week, our best estimates are that the people who have more sensitive ears will develop a rather significant degree of hearing loss — on the order of 40 decibels (dB). That means the quietest sounds audible are 40 dB loud. Now, this is high-pitched hearing loss, so a person can still hear sounds and understand most speech. The impact is going to be most clearly noted when the background-noise level goes up, when you have to focus on what someone is saying. Then it can really start to impair your ability to communicate.

This would happen only after about 10 years or so or even more of listening to a personal audio device. One patient I had used his headphones instead of earplugs when he was on his construction job. He thought as long as he could hear his music over the sound of his saws, he was protecting his ears — because he liked the sound of his music but didn’t like the sound of the construction noise. He had a good 50 dB to 55 dB of noise-induced hearing loss at 28 years old. We asked a few pointed questions about when he was having difficulty understanding people, and his response was classic. “When I’m sitting at home with the TV off, I can understand just fine,” he said, “but when I go out for dinner, I have trouble.”

There is huge variation in how people are affected by loud sound, however, and this is an area where a number of researchers are conducting studies. Certainly a huge part of this is underlying genetics. We know how much sound causes how much hearing loss based on studies that were conducted in the late ’60s and early ’70s, before employers were required to protect workers’ hearing in noisy work environments. What was found is that when people are exposed to a certain level of noise every day for a certain duration, they’re going to have a certain degree of hearing loss on average. But the amount of hearing loss might differ by as much as 30 dB between people who had the toughest ears and those with the most tender ones — a huge variation. Unfortunately, we don’t know who has the tougher ears and who has the tender ones until after they’ve lost their hearing. So, as a clinician, I have to treat everyone as if they had tender ears.

Particularly with noise-induced hearing loss, the primary area where the ear is damaged is not the eardrum, not the part of the ear that you can see and not the bones that are inside the middle ear — it is actually deeper inside. It’s where the nerve that brings the sound message up to the brain connects with the inner ear, and it involves some very specialized cells. These are hair cells, and specifically we’re looking at the outer hair cells. When they’re overexposed or stimulated at too high a level for too long a duration, they end up being metabolically exhausted. They are overworked. They temporarily lose their function, so sound has to be made louder in order for you to hear it. These cells can recover after a single exposure, but if you overexpose them often enough, they end up dying, and you lose that functional ability inside your inner ear. The cells that die are not replaceable.

As far as a rule of thumb goes, the figures we got in our studies were that people using that standard earbud could listen at about 80% of maximum volume for 90 minutes per day or less without increasing their risk for noise-induced hearing loss. But the louder the volume, the shorter your duration should be. At maximum volume, you should listen for only about 5 minutes a day.

I don’t want to single out iPods. Any personal listening device out there has the potential to be used in a way that will cause hearing loss. We’ve conducted studies of a few MP3 players and found very similar results across the MP3 manufacturers. Some in-the-ear earphones are capable of providing higher sound levels than some over-the-ear earphones. That said, studies we’ve done on behavior show that the type of earphones has almost nothing to do with the level at which people set their headphones. It’s all dictated by the level of background noise in their listening environment. When we put people in different listening environments, like flying in an airplane — we used noise we’d recorded while flying on a Boeing 757 commercial flight, and we simulated that environment in our lab — 80% of people listened at levels that would eventually put their hearing at risk. On the subway system here in Boston, the ambient noise levels are very comparable to the level on an airplane, although it sounds very different. The noise is sufficiently high that it induces people to listen to their headphones at excessively loud volume.

I’m a self-professed loud-music listener. I use my iPod at the gym, and I love it. I think it’s one of the greatest inventions ever. I even advocate that people listen to music as loud as they want. But in order to listen as loud as you want, you need to be careful about how long you’re listening. I would also strongly recommend that people invest in better earphones that block out background noise. Some of the research we did studied earphones that completely seal up the ear canal. These are passive sound-isolating earphones, as opposed to the ones that are active noise cancelers that block out some of the noise. As far as I can tell, both would allow people to listen to their headphones at their chosen level — and more likely at a lower volume than if they were using the stock earbuds.

If you have any questions about hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.
Source – Time: Read more:

Touch and Hearing May Be Genetically Linked

Touch and hearing are usually thought of as separate senses. A recent study of identical twins suggests that they have more in common than is generally thought and may share a genetic basis.

Hearing is so crucial to daily life that people usually notice when hearing loss is occurring. This is one reason that hearing impairments have been so extensively studied. There are 60 known mutations that impair hearing and another 60 that are suspected of doing so.

In the current study, researchers at the Max Delbruck Center of Molecular Medicine in Berlin and colleagues at medical schools in Germany and Spain sought to determine whether touch sensitivity has a genetic component–can be inherited. They tested the touch and hearing abilities of identical twins, who have identical sets of genes. And they also tested these abilities in a wider group of people including fraternal twins, other family members and unrelated individuals.

Because identical twins have identical genes while fraternal twins share only about 50 percent of the same genes on average, any trait governed by genes should vary less among the identical twins than among the fraternal twins. That’s exactly what the study found for touch sensitivity, indicating that it is inherited to some degree–under genetic control. The genetic component (heritability) appeared to be half as strong for touch (0.28) as it was for hearing (0.52).

The researchers also found a connection between the subjects’ hearing and touch abilities–the better an individual’s hearing, the better was their sense of touch, while poor hearing often was accompanied by a poor sense of touch. This suggests that both hearing and touch might be governed by the same genes, though it doesn’t prove it.

Blind subjects, on the other hand, tended to have enhanced touch sensitivity.

Hearing was measured by the ability to detect high frequency vibrations. Touch was measured by having the subjects press their fingers onto fine gratings with ridges spaced at intervals rangers from less than a millimeter to about a centimeter and seeing how fine an interval the subjects’ fingers were able to sense.

The touch test is similar to touching two pins to the fingers. If they’re far apart, you’ll feel two separate pricks. But bring them close enough together and you’ll only feel a single prick. How close the pins can be before you only feel a single prick is a measure of your touch sensitivity.

The best evidence that genes that govern hearing also govern touch came from a group of subjects with Usher’s syndrome, a hereditary condition that causes both deafness and blindness. These subjects also showed a highly impaired sense of touch. This suggests that the gene USH2A, which is mutated in people with Usher’s syndrome, plays a role in both the detection of sound and in the sense of touch.

The researchers plan future studies to see if other known genetic defects that cause hearing impairment also impair touch sensitivity.

If you have any questions about hearing loss contact hidden hearing.

An article on the study appears was published by PLoS Biology on May 1, 2012 and is freely available.

Ringing Ears Not Just for Old Folks

Can you speak louder please?  Hearing loss has been long considered as a feature common among the elderly, yet according to a recent medical report, hearing loss can also occur in the younger, general population.  According to the report published in the British Medical Journal, hearing loss may also be caused by specific occupations that are strongly associated with loud noises.  It is thus important to understand and identify specific factors that trigger early symptoms of hearing loss in order to adopt preventative measures to decrease the risk of deafness.  Knowing possible causes of progressive hearing loss may also help in the design of treatment schemes for hearing loss.

Ringing in the Ears and Hearing Loss

One general complaint that is strongly associated with hearing loss is ringing in the ears, also known as tinnitus.  This condition involves the hearing a sound even in the absence of an acoustic source.  Tinnitus may thus be annoying to some individuals and can also become distracting, thus prompting these individuals to seek medical treatment to decrease this uncomfortable sensation and to learn of preventative measures against deafness.  For others, ringing in the ears may disturb sleep patterns, resulting in physical and emotional imbalances due to the lack to rest that may be caused by these noises.  It is thus important that the appropriate treatment for ringing in the ears be given as soon as possible, as a preventative measure against more serious complications.

It has been suggested that tinnitus may represent the existence of physical damage in the inner region of the ear, namely the cochlea, which is responsible in the transmission of sound waves to the brain.  The continuous stimulation of the cochlea by the nerves in the ear may thus result in the perception of sound, even in the absence of a source.  For certain individuals, the treatment for damaged cochlea involves the use of hearing aids, which amplifies the sound and thus augments hearing loss.  The use of hearing aids may also serve as preventative scheme against accidents that may be caused by a decrease in hearing due to ringing in the ears.

According to the medical report, ringing in the ears may also occur in the general population, especially when exposed to environments that are characterized by loud noises.  Construction workers, who are often operating machines that emit loud noises, are thus more likely to experience tinnitus and are thus in need of preventative schemes against noise exposure.  The absence of treatment of and preventative measures against continuous exposure to loud noises may eventually result in the development of hearing loss.  Ringing in the ears may also be caused by exposure to toxins, infections, and diseases and thus it is important that proper and effective treatment be given to patients as a preventative measure against the development of deafness.

What is Causing Ringing Ears?

The medical report lists a number of conditions that are strongly associated with experiencing ringing in the ears and possibly hearing loss if preventative measures against the causative factors are not controlled.  It is also possible to design treatment schemes for ringing in the ears, which may usually focus in decreasing the loud noises that continuously surround these individuals at work or at home.  Using a study population consisting of approximately 49,948 adults, the investigators conducted a survey on the type and nature of occupation of these study participants, taking note of noise exposure and other factors that may play a role in the development of ringing in the ears and ultimately, hearing loss.

The results of the study showed that the type of occupation plays a role in the development of tinnitus.  This information may be used in the design of treatment plans for tinnitus patients, decreasing the discomfort associated with this auditory condition.  More importantly, the report showed that a major preventative measure against ringing in the ears involved self-reporting of the existence of loud noise, thus allowing the workplace’s management to control the amount of noise exposure for these individuals.  Among the male study participants, those working at construction sites were identified to be at high risk for ringing in the ears.

Interestingly, female study participants who led a generally inactive lifestyle were shown to be more likely to experience ringing in the ears.  Although the discrepancies between genders may be quite stunning, the results of the study may provide information in the design of treatment schemes for ringing in the ears.  For example, the use of ear protectors may serve as preventative equipment against damage to the ears.  On the other hand, physical exercise may be suggested as another possible treatment for inactive women suffering from ringing in the ears.  It is thus important to be aware of continuous noise exposure and to control its occurrence, if possible, in order to decrease the risk of tinnitus and deafness.

If you have questions about tinnitus or hearing loss contact hidden hearing.

Diabetics urged to have their hearing tested

Research shows that hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with Diabetes compared to those who do not have the disease. Yet, hearing checks are often not part of the regular management plan for diabetics. Diabetes is known to damage small blood vessels found in organs such as the heart, kidneys and eyes. It is also a medical cause of hearing loss.

 ”Hearing loss is not usually recognised as a complication of diabetes,”  ”However, we regularly work with patients who notice deterioration in hearing sensitivity after being diagnosed with diabetes. Just like the eyes, the organ of hearing is dependent on small blood vessels and nerves to function effectively.”

 The inner ear is responsible for hearing and balance.  It is filled with blood vessels and comprises of approximately 15,500 hair cells or nerve endings arranged by frequency.  When sound waves stimulate the cells, vibrations are converted into electrical currents which our hearing nerves carry to the brain. The inner ear relies on a rich blood supply for effective functioning of the hair cells.  Over time, high blood sugar levels that characterize diabetes may damage the small blood vessels and nerve endings that assist with hearing, resulting in permanent hearing loss. Managing diabetes effectively can help prevent diabetes related hearing loss.  If already experiencing hearing loss, controlling blood sugar can prevent it from getting worse. 

“In addition to monitoring blood sugar we urge people to have their hearing tested regularly,”  ”An unaddressed hearing loss can impact significantly on a person’s quality of life and cognitive function adding to the challenge of coping with everyday life as a diabetic. The onset of hearing loss can be very gradual. In many cases, patients with mild to moderate hearing loss may not be aware of the hearing loss. If you suspect you or a loved one has hearing loss, speak to a qualified Audiologist.”

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK says, “Right now, over 3.7 million people are living with diabetes, and there are a further 7 million people at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. We’re here to support each and every one of them. During Diabetes Week we’re urging people to reach out and make a connection with others so as many people as possible can learn about diabetes – for example how you can reduce your risk of developing it, what the symptoms are and just how serious a condition it is.

If you have any questions about hearing loss contact Hidden Hearing.