Preventative Hearing Healthcare

Graph showing relative noise safety of differing items

Everyday Sound Can Affect Your Hearing!

Do you drive with your windows down or ride a motorcycle? Listen to your favourite music on the radio on your car ride up to the cottage? Do you take cycling or aerobic classes at your local gym? Maybe you use or are exposed to power tools or ammunition in the workplace or recreationally? If so, you may be unintentionally damaging your ears. Our focus at Salus Hearing Centre is on preventative hearing healthcare. Noise induced hearing loss is the most common cause of hearing loss today and leads to a permanent hearing loss as it damages our delicate hair cells in our inner ear. The good news is that noise induced hearing loss is 100% preventable. If you are not sure what level of noise is safe please check out the article below. Make sure your friends, family and colleagues are aware of the hazards of noise.

For more information and to have your hearing tested please contact us today at 905-303-HEAR (4327).

Graph showing relative noise safety of differing items

 

William Shatner speaking about Tinnitus

The “Sound” of Silence

What do William Shatner, Barbara Streisand, Steve Martin, Phil Collins and Ozzy Osbourne all have in common, besides the fact that they are all celebrities? They can no longer experience the solitude of silence. They are all suffering from a hearing related condition called tinnitus – a chronic sound in the ears or head. If you’ve ever experienced ringing in your ears after a rock concert or after a night of dancing at a club, you have experienced transient tinnitus. Imagine what life would be like if you heard that sound all the time? There are many known causes for this condition like high doses of aspirin and a brain tumor; however, the majority of cases of tinnitus are caused by noise damage. Many people think that a noise induced hearing loss will just make things quieter when in fact it often does the opposite … it can result in the perception of chronic noise in their ears or head. At Salus Hearing Centre our focus is on hearing loss prevention through education and the use of hearing protection. We are also a specialty centre for tinnitus sufferers and have a multidisciplinary approach to management. If you hear noises in your ears or head call us to book a hearing test and/or tinnitus consultation today at

905-303-4327.

 

The American Tinnitus Association (ATA) is a great resource for individuals with tinnitus. Enjoy this youtube video of how ATA helped William Shatner cope with his tinnitus.

The Truth About Ear Candling

On occasion a patient will ask me if ear candling really works. The short answer is – No.

Ear candling, also known as thermal-auricular candling or coning, is considered as an alternative medicine practice. Alternative medicine practice uses products that claim to have the healing effects of medicine and is not based on scientific evidence. During ear candling, a cone shaped device is inserted in the ear canal and supposedly extracts earwax and other impurities with the help of smoke or a burning wick. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and does not help remove earwax or alleged toxins. This is why importing or selling ear candles for medical reasons is illegal in Canada and the United States.

For more information check out the 2004 article from Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada:

http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/drugs-products-medicaments-produits/procedures/ear-oreille-eng.php?_ga=1.65660974.1889418670.1396370302

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Lady using a QTip to clean ears

Confessions of a Qtip User

Q-Tip

We recently received a referral regarding a patient who was experiencing distress over a ringing sound in his ears. We saw him on an urgent basis at our centre as he was scheduled to fly out the next morning on a business trip. The patient was in his early 40s and came into our office with his wife who took me aside to share her concern over how desperate he had become over the past week. I took the patient into my examination room and learned that the situation started after cleaning his ears with a Q-tip cotton swab one day. At first he noticed that he couldn’t hear well and shortly afterwards he began to hear a ringing sound in his ears. He was worried and had gone to see a doctor who informed him that his ears were plugged with earwax. The doctor attempted to flush the earwax out of his ear canals but was unsuccessful. He recommended that he use drops of oil to soften the earwax. The ringing became louder with each passing day and began affecting his ability to sleep. In desperation he decided to try ear candling, again to no avail. He told me that he was seriously considering flying out to Ottawa to meet a cousin who knew someone who may be able to help.

I looked in his ears with my otoscope and confirmed that his ears were still occluded with wax and explained that the ringing he was hearing was a common side effect in people with ears plugged up with earwax. I reassured him that it would stop once the earwax was removed. I informed him that the earwax looked soft and that I would attempt to remove it using curettes (loop instruments). As soon as I removed a piece of the wax he exclaimed “I can hear!” followed by “but everything sounds so loud”. I explained that the hearing sensitivity to sounds was only temporary and I continued to remove the wax from both ears.

He and his wife were elated that the tinnitus was gone. I counselled them on proper earwax management. I have seen all kinds of objects being used to remove earwax from ear canals like cotton swabs, hair pins, pencils and ear candling. Not only were these methods potentially dangerous and ineffective, they were unnecessary. I explained that the ear canal was a self-cleaning system. The eardrum sheds and earwax naturally migrates out of the ear with it. Our body produces earwax for a reason. Earwax not only protects the ear drum from foreign objects, it also lubricates the ear canal. If you don’t have enough earwax your ears will itch and scratching the inside can lead to abrasions and potentially a very painful outer ear infection. There are some people who need to have their ear canals professionally cleaned due to their small size or bendy canals but the same no cotton swab rule applies. I followed up with the patient a month after the earwax removal and he stated that he was doing well and avoids using cotton swabs to clean his ear canals. He simply wipes what is visible on the outside of the ear canal with a towel. He said he’ll never forget my saying, “Nothing bigger than an elbow” to clean the ears.

Hearing Test Children

Hearing Loss Is Often Misdiagnosed in School Age Children

Hearing Test Children

Does your child have behavioural issues at school? Is your child being assessed for a learning disorder? Is your child seeing a Speech-Language Pathologist for articulation problems (speech difficulties)?

Countless school age children are misdiagnosed each year due to an undiagnosed hearing loss. Many parents believe they would know if their child could not hear well; unfortunately this is rarely the case. Speech sounds fall across a wide range of frequencies. A hearing loss across the entire speech frequency range may make sounds or speech appear softer to the child. However, if hearing loss is limited to the high frequency range a child will hear that a word or question is being asked but may not hear the word or entire sentence clearly.

It is important that you know the signs of a hearing loss in a child. Please read the common signs of hearing loss below. While these signs don’t necessarily mean that your child has a hearing problem, they could be indicators of one. If your child exhibits any of these signs it would be a good idea to book him or her a hearing assessment to rule out a hearing loss.

Signs of Hearing Loss in Children

  • Inappropriate responses to questions.
  • Watches other pupils to imitate what they are doing.
  • Speaks differently from other children his or her age.
  • Becomes tired, especially at the end of the day.
  • Problems academically.
  • Complains of earaches, ear pain or head noises.
  • Does not reply when you call him or her.
  • Turns up the volume of the TV excessively high.
  • Poor self-concept.
  • Daydreaming.
  • Apparent laziness.

Hearing is screened at birth today in hospitals across Ontario but hearing loss can occur at any age. Many toddler and preschoolers often experience middle ear infections. Children with Downs Syndrome are especially prone to middle ear infections. Sometimes these children will present with a fever or ear pain and sometimes there are no obvious signs at all. Therefore, good hearing healthcare practice states that every child should be screened for hearing loss every two years from the time they are born until the age 4, when they start Junior Kindergarten, and then every 5 years going forward.

A hearing assessment does not require a doctor’s referral. However, it is important to know who is assessing your child’s hearing. Make sure that your child is being assessed by an Audiologist as they are the hearing professionals. Audiologists are regulated professionals with a graduate degree or clinical doctorate in hearing sciences. Not all Audiologists have experience testing children or have the equipment to test them, so be sure to ask before booking an appointment. You can find a list of certified Audiologist that are close to you on the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists website. If you reside in or around the city of Vaughan we would be happy to book your child’s hearing assessment with our Doctor of Audiology at our clinic – Salus Hearing Centre. To book an appointment please call us at 905-303-HEAR (4327).

zika-virus-vaccine

Zika Virus and Hearing Loss

zika-virus-vaccine

Zika virus (ZIKV) has become increasingly present in the news since 2015 when it rapidly spread across the Americas. Symptoms of the virus can range from a fever and rash to more severe symptoms including Guillain-Barré syndrome, hearing loss, and meningoencephalitis.

In February 2016, the Zika virus was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Currently, there is no specific anti-viral treatment or vaccine available.  Public health efforts have focused instead on prevention, especially in pregnant women where the infection can be transmitted to the fetus.

Exposure to the Zika virus prenatally has been linked to hearing and vision deficits and microcephaly. The type of hearing loss typically diagnosed in individuals with congenital infection of the virus is sensorineural, where damage is present in the inner ear and is permanent. All children who are exposed to the virus prenatally and congenitally are urged to have hearing monitored regularly as the onset of hearing loss can be delayed or the hearing loss can progress.

Zika virus is becoming known to have an abundance of potential side effects to those infected, especially prenatally and at birth, and while more research is required on the subject, it is clear that the potential impact of the virus on hearing loss is not one to be overlooked. Monitoring hearing in individuals who have been infected with the virus, especially infants born from women infected while pregnant, is crucial for early identification and treatment of hearing loss.

 

Original Article