In my last blog, I discussed the disturbing results of a new research study that found one in five American teenagers already has some degree of hearing loss----a startling 31 percent increase since the late 1980s. The study results were recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and showed that the number of teens with impaired hearing in at least one ear rose to 20 percent from 15 percent.

Your child needn’t be included in these statistics. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) sponsors an excellent website called It's a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing. This national public education campaign is designed to increase awareness among parents of children about the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). With this information, parents and other adults can encourage children to adopt healthy hearing habits before and during the time that they develop listening, leisure, and working habits. NIDCD is one our government’s National Institutes of Health.

This site includes a wealth of resources, including tips for protecting your child’s hearing, ways to talk to your child about hearing loss and hearing protection, podcasts featuring NIDCD personnel and much more. You can check out this valuable resource by logging on to www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov

An article in a recent issue of the Saturday Evening Post features a touching article on how the latest implantable hearing technology has changed the lives of a sister and her brother.

I performed the revision surgery on Mary Kay Windham with the Envoy Esteem implantable hearing aid in May 2005 as part of the clinical trials being conducted through my office. Shohet Ear Associates was one of only three sites in the US to be engaged in this unique clinical trial. As she relates in the article, her result was so good, she urged her brother, to undergo the same surgery. In May 2008, I implanted her brother with the same device. The change in both their lives has been extraordinary.

According to Mary Kay, “Two months after surgery, Bob and I spoke for half an hour—on ordinary cell phones. He heard every word I said, as I could with him. Those who are hearing-impaired understand exactly how precious is this gift of new technology.”

To read the full article, click here.

According to a study published in May 2010 in the journal Pediatrics, hearing loss in one ear is enough to cause language problems for kids. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri tested 74 pairs of school-age siblings. Half the children had hearing loss in one ear, while their siblings had normal hearing.

The study found that the impaired kids scored lower on both comprehension and speech tests and were more likely to be receiving speech therapy than their siblings; but up to one in 20 kids with such hearing loss often don't receive the help they need, such as a front seat in class, hearing aids or special education.

"Unlike children with hearing loss in both ears, who are routinely fitted with hearing aids and receive accommodations for disability, children with hearing loss in one ear may not be considered to have a 'significant hearing loss,'" the researchers wrote. “Our results suggest that children with hearing loss in one ear should be eligible for the same accommodations as children with hearing loss in both ears."

The key idea of study, according to its authors, is that we don't want to ignore children with hearing loss in one ear.
 
Click here to review the study.

A study of more than 3500 men over a nearly 20-year period has found that folic acid may reduce the risk of hearing loss in men by 20 percent. The results of the study were presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Men are more likely to experience hearing loss than women. The study’s researchers used data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohort from years 1986 to 2004, which included 51,529 male health professionals. In this population, the investigators identified 3,559 cases of hearing loss. When they evaluated the nutritional data, they discovered that men older than 60 who had maintained a high folic acid (folate) intake had a 20 percent reduced risk of developing hearing loss. Folate occurs naturally in food; folic acid is the synthetic form found in supplements and as a food additive. Other nutrients, including the antioxidants vitamins C and E and beta-carotene, did not demonstrate any benefit regarding hearing loss.

The daily Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for folate is 400 micrograms for both men and women ages 19 and older. Men who want to help reduce their risk of hearing loss can their recommended RDA of folate through supplementation or by eating food rich in the B vitamin, including green leafy vegetables, lentils, beans, and fortified cereals.
 

Children with cochlear implants rate their quality of life as highly as children with normal hearing, according to one of the first studies that looked at children as well as their parents.

A team of American researchers asked 84 children with cochlear implants how they felt about themselves, their family lives, their friends and school. The questionnaires were completed at various summer camps designed for children with CIs in Texas and Colorado. Parents were questioned separately, and the responses were compared with those of a control group of 1,501 children the same ages, 8 to 16, with normal hearing. The paper appears in the Feb. 1 issue of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.

The lead author, Betty A. Loy, is quoted as saying the information would be useful to parents making decisions about cochlear implants for their babies. “They want to know: ‘Is my kid going to be made fun of? Is my kid going to be bullied? How is my kid going to feel about themselves with this apparatus on their head?’ ” said Dr. Loy, of the Dallas Cochlear Implant Program.

To read the full story in the New York Times, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.

A gene associated with a rare form of progressive deafness in males has been identified by an international team of researchers funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The gene, PRPS1, appears to be crucial in inner ear development and maintenance. The findings are published in the December 17 early online issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

This discovery has therapeutic implications because it gives scientists a way to develop a targeted treatment for hearing loss in boys with this disorder. It may also open doors to the treatment of other types of deafness, including some forms of acquired hearing loss.

The gene is associated with DFN2, a progressive form of deafness that primarily affects males. Boys with DFN2 begin to lose their hearing in both ears roughly between the ages of 5 and 15, and over the course of several decades will experience hearing loss that can range from severe to profound. Their mothers, who carry the defective PRPS1 gene, may experience hearing loss as well, but much later in life and in a milder form. Families with DFN2 have been identified in the United States, Great Britain, and China.

To read the full story, click here.

There is great news for people suffering from hearing loss: On December 18th, an Advisory Panel of independent ENT experts unanimously recommended that the FDA approve the Esteem®, the first Fully Implantable Hearing Restoration System.

The Esteem device had been in the clinical trial stage for over five years. Shohet Ear Associates was one of three sites in the nation that finished the last clinical trial concluded in August. I had the privilege of testifying before the FDA on December 18th on the efficacy of this groundbreaking device.

Among the three sites participating in the clinical trial, patients averaged an 11 decibel improvement in Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) scores beyond their hearing aids.  At a quiet conversation level, average patient speech understanding improved by more than 45% over their hearing aids.

The Advisory Panel’s vote is a recommendation only, and the FDA will still have to formally approve the Esteem® before it can be marketed to the public. In most cases, the FDA does follow the Advisory Panel’s recommendation. Stay tuned for word on final approval by the FDA.

To read more on this development, click here.

Cochlear implants may be an option for some babies who have been born deaf. We are seeing good results in infants as young as 10 months old who have received cochlear implants. To see news footage compiled by Channels 2 and 9 on one such case, click here. It tells the story of the Wensleys and their daughter, who received bi-lateral cochlear implants earlier this year.

Studies presented at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology's annual conference earlier this year suggests that it may be possible for a combination of vitamins to protect against noise-induced and even age-related hearing loss in humans. Two separate studies, one using guinea pigs and the other, mice---showed that vitamin supplements containing the antioxidants beta carotene, vitamins C and E and the mineral magnesium prevented both temporary and permanent hearing loss during and after exposure to loud noises.

In the first study, test animals were exposed to sounds at 110 decibels for four hours, a noise level roughly equivalent to what people experience at rock concerts. The second study showed that supplements prevented permanent hearing loss in mice that would typically occur after a single, extremely loud sound exposure.

According to University of Florida scientist and senior author of the studies, Colleen Le Prell, Ph.D., "What is appealing about this vitamin 'cocktail' is that previous studies in humans, including those demonstrating successful use of these supplements in protecting eye health, have shown that supplements of these particular vitamins are safe for long-term use." Dr. LePrell's comments were distributed via a press release on the ear studies.

So how is it that nutritional supplements could actually protect hearing? Theories suggest these compounds "mop up" free radicals that can damage healthy cells in the ear. According to the researchers’ statement to the media, the antioxidants beta carotene, vitamins C and E prevent hearing damage by "scavenging" these free radicals. Magnesium helps maintain blood flow to the inner ear and aids in healing.

I occasionally see patients who have experienced a temporary hearing loss after loud noise exposures and have recommended use of these vitamins based on some previous studies reporting their efficacy in the use of acoustic trauma.  If you experience a hearing loss after being exposed to loud noise, these vitamins maybe indicated to treat.  Dr. Le Prell and her colleagues are currently engaged in clinical trials of the vitamin supplements. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the research studies the affects of these compounds in students who wear MP3 music players and military troops exposed to loud noises. To read more about vitamins and hearing loss prevention, click on one of the links below:

Read more about A Pill to Prevent Hearing Loss from US News.

source of Vitamins Protect Against Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Natural News

An interesting article in the Los Angeles Times reports that more children who are born deaf are receiving cochlear implants, with great success.

In a front-page article in the 8/3/09 edition of the Los Angeles Times, reporter Shari Roan writes that "studies published in the last two years have delivered what many experts say is ironclad evidence that" cochlear implants "are safe in babies and toddlers and allow most children to develop spoken language without extensive occupational therapy." The implant "consists of a headset that is removable and a piece that is surgically implanted. A microphone-speech processor the size of a hearing aid is hooked over the ear to process sounds, which are then sent to a transmitter the size of a quarter that adheres to the head." Inside the skull, "a receiver...picks up signals and sends messages to electrodes inserted inside the ear," and "the message moves on the brain." Data indicate that an estimated "40 percent of" children who are "born profoundly deaf" receive "a cochlear implant, up from about 25 percent five years ago," and that number "is projected to rise still further."

The article does a wonderful job of telling the story of one family's journey through a child's deafness and emergence into a world of hearing. It is a story I personally have witnessed on many occasion, but I never fail to marvel at this minor miracle. To read the entire story, click here:

Los Angeles Times