Tinnitus

Have you ever experienced a “ringing in your ears” or “noise in your head”? This sound is referred to as tinnitus. Most people have tinnitus at some point in their lives – for some individuals it occurs very infrequently and for others it may be constant; it can also be in both ears or in only one ear. Approximately 40 million people in the U.S. have tinnitus at the present time. The sound of the tinnitus can also vary among people and has been described as ringing, hissing, buzzing, roaring, pulsing, whoosing, chirping, whistling, or clicking.

What causes tinnitus? Tinnitus is a symptom of a problem so it is important to determine the underlying issue in order to determine how to treat it. It may be a sign of hearing loss or may be caused by excessive exposure to noise, which may be occupational, military, or recreational (hunting, target-shooting, concerts). Certain ear diseases, injury involving damage to the ear, wax in the ear, barometric pressure changes (scuba diving), or circulation changes in the inner ear are other auditory causes of tinnitus. It can also be due to medical problems such as allergies, high or low blood pressure, tumors, diabetes, and thyroid issues. In addition, there are several medications that can cause or worsen tinnitus. Caffeine, nicotine, and stress also tend to aggravate tinnitus.

What should you do if you have tinnitus? You should see your physician to determine the cause of the tinnitus. If it is not caused by a medical problem or a medication, it may have an auditory etiology. An audiological evaluation would therefore be necessary to determine if you have a hearing loss or if there is another auditory cause. Unfortunately, there is no cure for tinnitus at this time but there are options available to help reduce the tinnitus. Hearing aids are an option for individuals who have both hearing loss and tinnitus. Masking devices can be used to make the tinnitus less noticeable. Tinnitus retraining therapy is available to help reduce the brain’s focus on the phantom sound and therefore, provide relief. Certain medications can be used if the cause is related to stress or depression. There are also tinnitus support groups in communities to help people cope with the tinnitus.

Tinnitus can be very distracting and cause difficulty concentrating. It is important to determine the cause of the tinnitus and what options you have to help alleviate it. For more information, please visit the American Speech Language Hearing Association website at www.asha.org or contact a hearing health specialist at Coastal Hearing and Balance Center 732-280-7855; www.coastalhearing.com.
Kristen Olsen is a Doctor of Audiology at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat in Neptune, NJ, and can be contacted at 732-280-7855; kmolsen@coastalhearing.com; http://www.coastalhearing.com

Movie Captioning Access Update

Deaf and hard-of-hearing people who have a hard time understanding dialogue at the movies benefit from closed captioning in a movie theater. Closed captioning technology for movie theaters allows hearing impaired patrons to read the movie dialogue as captions. The entire audience does not see the captions; only the patrons with the captioning device see the words. The reflectors are available at the theater's customer service desk. It can be very frustrating to miss that critical plot twist because you didn’t hear all of the words. How does the technology work? A captioning device displays reversed captions on an LED text display which is mounted in the rear of a theater. Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons use transparent acrylic panels attached to their seats to reflect the captions so that they appear superimposed on the movie screen. The reflective panels are portable and adjustable, enabling the caption user to sit anywhere in the theater. Recently, there have been two major court rulings in movie captioning access. On April 30, 2010, a unanimous, three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires closed-captioning access in movie theaters. This is the second time a federal court has ruled that the ADA requires some captioning access (a federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled this way in 2004), and the first time that a federal court of appeals has ruled this way, overturning a lower court decision. Many theaters across the country already offer closed-captioning systems. In New Jersey in September 2004, the Attorney General’s Office and the Division on Civil Rights reached voluntary settlement agreements with four major multiplex theater chains operating in New Jersey regarding the installation of new deaf captioning technology. Under terms of the settlement agreements, American Multi Cinema (AMC), Loews Cineplex Theaters, Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements agreed to either equip their theaters with new captioning technology or, in multiplexes where the technology was already installed, to expand the number of screens offering such captioning. Please visit our website at http://www.coastalhearing.com/under helpful links to take the Better Hearing Institute hearing test. # # # Dr. Suzanne McCorry is Director of Audiology at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat in Neptune, NJ and can be contacted at 732-280-7855; sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com; http://www.coastalhearing.com/

Dr. Fuchs Joins Coastal

Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat is proud to announce Tara L. Fuchs has joined the staff of Coastal Hearing and Balance Center Dr. Fuchs is a hearing-health professional with an audiologic career that spans over a decade. Dr. Fuchs earned her Master of Arts in Audiology from The College of New Jersey in 1997 followed by her Doctorate in Audiology from the University of Florida in 2003. During Dr. Fuch’s audiology tenure, she also became a member of both the American Academy of Audiology and the NJ Association of Hearing Health Professionals. She has spent time working as an Adjunct Professor at The College of New Jersey to help educate the next generation of hearing-health professionals. As both an industrial and clinical audiologist, Dr. Fuch’s professional experience spans from pediatric through geriatric patients.

Please visit our website at http://www.coastalhearing.com/for more information on healthy hearing.

Dr. McCorry is Director of Audiology at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat in Neptune, NJ and can be contacted at 732-280-7855; sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com; http://www.coastalhearing.com/

www.coastalhearing.com

sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com

Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat Urges Area Residents to Listen Up in a Down Economy
and Address Hearing Loss During Better Hearing and Speech Month

Neptune, May 1, 2009—May 1 marks the start of Better Hearing and Speech Month, a month dedicated to educating consumers about the need to assure that their hearing is healthy. This year, Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat is joining with the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) to educate Americans on how hearing health affects job security, performance, and employment opportunities. Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat is encouraging people of all ages who are either seeking employment or who want to protect their jobs to make sure that unaddressed hearing loss doesn’t pose a barrier to employment success. BHI is offering an online hearing test where people can quickly and confidentially assess if they need a comprehensive hearing check by Coastal’s hearing professionals. Please visit our website at http://www.coastalhearing.com/ under helpful links to take the Better Hearing Institute hearing test.
“Never before has good hearing been so important,” says Suzanne McCorry, an audiologist in Neptune. “Hearing your best can be a smart job security strategy in a tough job market. How an employee is perceived by employers is effected by how he or she hears. Job candidates need to sound sharp during an interview. And employees who aren’t sure what an employer is asking can’t answer their best.”
According to the International Listening Association (ILA), listening is one of the top skills employers seek in entry-level employees and in those being promoted. Individual performance in an organization is found to be directly related to listening ability or perceived listening effectiveness.
When people with even mild hearing loss use hearing aids, they improve their job performance, increase their earning potential, enhance their communication skills, improve their professional and interpersonal relationships, stave off depression, and better their quality of life.
According to a BHI national study—“Impact of Hearing Loss on Household Income"—Americans with unaddressed hearing loss make less money than people with normal hearing. The study found that wearing a hearing aid reduces the amount of income lost. Specifically, untreated hearing loss negatively affects household income, on average, up to $23,000 per year depending on the degree of hearing loss. The use of hearing aids mitigates those negative effects by about 50 percent.

“Treating hearing loss early is no longer an option,” says Sergei Kochkin, PhD, Executive Director of BHI. “It is a career imperative. Great workplace communication is critical to both job performance and to getting a job. Great communication starts with great listening. And great listening starts with the ability to hear. We urge everyone to take that first, most critical step to ensuring career success by visiting http://www.hearingcheck.org/. Do it today.“
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Suzanne McCorry is Director of Audiology at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat in Neptune, NJ, and can be contacted at 732-280-7855; sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com; http://www.coastalhearing.com/