Man with Tinnitus

Just What is Tinnitus?

Do you or someone you know hear ringing, whistling, hissing, buzzing, or pulsing sounds?

If so, you may be suffering from tinnitus, a medical condition characterized by persistent ringing in one or both ears which can only be heard by the affected person. While the sounds may come and go, many sufferers experience symptoms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the effect ranging from slight annoyance to severe disruption of everyday life.

According to the American Tinnitus Association (www.ata.org) this fairly common ailment affects over 50 million Americans; that’s 1 out of every 6 of us!

Before we look at the causes and treatment of this disease, let’s set the record straight on its pronunciation: both “tin-NIGHT-us” and “TIN-it-us” are correct.

Causes

Tinnitus can be caused by any number of things, including:

● Noise induced hearing loss and nerve damage ● A build-up of earwax …

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Untreated Hearing Loss

The Consequences of Untreated Hearing Loss: Why You Shouldn’t Wait To Seek Help For A Hearing Difficulty

After over 30 years as an audiologist, I have heard a lot of reasons from a lot of patients as to why they had not addressed their hearing difficulties sooner.

And of course, I always explain to them that ignoring a hearing difficulty won’t make it go away, and that there are consequences for not treating a hearing loss.

Now there is even more evidence – gleaned from scientific studies by some of the top researchers in the world – to support what audiologists like myself and many of my colleagues with AudigyGroup have been saying all along: don’t wait to get tested and – if the tests do indeed show a hearing loss – discuss treatment options with your hearing care professional.

These studies clearly show that hearing loss doesn’t just affect one’s ability to hear the TV or communicate with a spouse, friends, or co-workers. There can be …

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North State Audiological Services Staff

Why Choose an AudigyCertified™ Hearing Care Professional?

Did you know that the most exciting news in the field of hearing health care during the past three years isn’t a hearing technology breakthrough, nor is it a software programming revelation.

No, the most exciting thing to happen in the last three years – perhaps even during my nearly 30 years in audiology — is the formation of Audigy Group™, the largest member-owned association of independent hearing care professionals in the United States.

Purpose

AudigyGroup’s purpose is to strategically select and certify the most elite practitioners in each market who exemplify the core values of the group’s mission and vision in delivery of hearing and diagnostic services. Our shared mission is to deliver:

● Unsurpassed patient satisfaction

● Excellence through continued education

● Effective analysis and diagnosis of our patient’s hearing difficulties or balance condition

● Customized technology solutions that effectively integrate speech comprehension back into our patient’s …

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Lifestyle based hearing aids

Why Your Lifestyle — Regardless of Age — Needs to be Considered When Selecting Hearing Technology

Ah, high-technology consumer-oriented electronic devices. They’re everywhere we look in our daily lives. From the L.E.D. read-out timer-controlled automatic coffee maker to the hands-free cellular phone to digitally enhanced music and television systems, high-tech products are all the rage, enhancing our lives in ways that couldn’t have been imagined less than a generation ago.

And judging from some of the advertisements that are out there one might get the impression that high-tech hearing devices are the end-all answer to communication difficulties for someone with hearing difficulty. People are bombarded with ads on hearing devices telling them that by purchasing the “latest and greatest” from Brand ABC that they’ll immediately hear like they did when they were a teenager. Being good consumers, they research for hours on end, and then decide on a product with high expectations.

But for someone with hearing difficulties, taking that path is like trying to follow …

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Young Ag Workers Chico CA

Youngsters in Agriculture Need to Protect Their Hearing, Too!

With agriculture being such a huge economic base here in the North State, it’s no wonder that a number of farmers and ranchers are patients of mine. Hearing loss due to exposure to loud machines and vehicles is pretty commonplace amongst those in ag. In fact, it is estimated that 80% of all farmers in the United States have some hearing loss.

What is troubling is that many – too many — of those farmers and ranchers are not the fifty-something or sixty-something year olds that one might expect. They are young people; some as young as grade school age!

How can that be? Simply that these young people get exposed to loud farm machinery at an early age. Couple that with the louder and louder environment that our society has become through use of devices like personal music systems and these youngsters in ag are getting the proverbial double …

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May is Better Hearing Month

3 Paths to Better Hearing … and a Happier, Healthier YOU!

With the Better Hearing Month nation-wide public awareness campaign set for the entire month of May, this is a great time to think and talk about better hearing health.

Since the start of the industrial revolution and the mechanization of our society, to the Herculean effort of U.S. industry during World war II when women – all those “Rosie-the-Riveters” – stepped in to take the place of men working in our factories, to the rock-n-roll concerts of the 60’s, to the personal music systems of today, Americans have a history of abusing their hearing.

Estimates are that 55 million Americans – 1 out of every 5 – have some form of hearing loss. Yet the hearing care industry records show that less than 25% of these people seek professional help for their hearing difficulties. Some of these people are under the false assumption that nothing can be done for their …

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Hearing Loss And Hearing Aid Myths Debunked – Fiction vs. Fact

A recently completed study by Johns Hopkins University – published on November 14, 2011 in the Archives of Internal Medicine – now confirms that 1 in 5 Americans have hearing loss in at least one ear.  This is well over 50 million people and far exceeds previous hearing care industry estimates of approximately 25 million.

The Johns Hopkins study is unique in that the data used statistically corresponded with the entire US population by including both men and women of all races, aged 12 and older, living in cities throughout the country.

Using the World Health Organization’s definition of hearing loss – not being able to hear sounds of 25 decibels or less in the speech frequencies – the Johns Hopkins researchers found that over 30 million Americans have hearing loss in both ears and that over 20% of the population – in excess of 50 million people – have …

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Consumer Protection Laws & Regulations for Hearing Aid Purchases

Here in California – as in many states – purchasers of hearing aids are afforded protections under state laws and regulations administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) through the Speech-Language and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispenser Board (SLPAHADB).

The SLPAHADB was formed on January 1, 2010 by combining the Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Board with the Hearing Aid Dispensers Board.  Previous laws and regulations remain virtually unchanged except that audiologists are no longer required to hold dual licensure for practicing audiology and dispensing hearing aids.

This board’s mission is ensuring the competency and fair practices of hearing aid dispensers.  It does so by providing licensure through testing, ethical guidelines, boundaries for advertising practices, and acts as a vehicle for consumer complaints, ultimately providing enforcement and disciplinary functions.

While political discussion in the media about government intrusion in our lives is a hotbed topic, consumer …

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Baby Boomers – The Next Generation to Have Hearing Difficulties

For many of you between the ages of 46 to 64, your time is coming.

Time, that is, to experience what so many of your parents and grandparents came to learn of fist hand: hearing difficulties caused by exposure to excess loud noise.

The “Baby Boomer” generation – those Americans born between 1946 and 1960 – accounts for some 76 million of us in the Untied States today and at least 15 percent of Boomers already have hearing loss.

This is a far cry from the previous 2 generations, who typically did not show symptoms of hearing loss until they were in their 70’s and 80’s.  Indeed, when I was an audiology student at Minot State University earning my Master’s of Science degree I was taught that only men in their 70’s and 80’s got hearing loss.

What has changed?  Our world is now much, much louder.

An Unprecedented Century

Prior to …

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Medicare and Hearing Health Care

Two questions my staff and I get on a regular basis are: #1.)“Does Medicare pay for hearing tests?  Also: #2.) “If the tests show that I need hearing aids, will Medicare pay for the devices?”

 

The answer to question #1 is that Medicare does not cover routine hearing exams.  When I say “routine” I am referring to regular hearing testing done at the request of the patient for the purpose of determining the extent of hearing difficulties, much the same as any other health care check up.

 

Diagnostic audiological services are paid for, by Medicare, when a physician orders testing to obtain information to determine the appropriate medical or surgical treatment of a hearing deficit or related medical problem.

However, services are excluded when the diagnostic information required to determine the appropriate medical or surgical treatment is already known to the physician or the diagnostic services are performed …

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