Hearing Loss Archive

I have a plugged left ear problem. It usually starts about 4 p.m. and lasts about three to four hours. I cough, clear my throat, yawn, close my nostrils and blow - nothing seems to help.

Millions of Americans get sinusitis each year. The key to a quick recovery is proper drainage, which is best achieved by staying hydrated, inhaling steam several times daily, taking decongestants, and sleeping with the head elevated.

People who take non-prescription decongestants often do not heed the warning label: "Do not use this product if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, thyroid disease, diabetes, or difficulty in urination due to enlargement of the prostate gland unless directed by a doctor."

Pseudoephedrine Decongestants

Pseudoephedrine, the old standby found in Sudafed and other cold and allergy products, can raise blood pressure. In most people the increase is small, and millions of people use it each year with no trouble.

Acoustic Neuroma

Questions to Discuss with Your Doctor:

• Do you have trouble hearing out of one ear or both?
• Do sounds seem distorted in one ear?
• Are sounds different between your two ears?
• Is the hearing loss getting progressively worse?
• Do you have difficulty understanding others when they are talking? For example, do you have trouble hearing people on the other end of the telephone?
• Do you have ear pain?
• Have you been dizzy or lightheaded? If so, does it seem as if the room is spinning?
• Do you feel unsteady when you walk?
• Have you heard ringing or unusual noises in one or both of your ears?
• Do the muscles on one side of your face feel weaker compared to the other side?
• Is there any weakness of your face?
• Have you lost your ability to taste certain foods?
• Have you had headaches? Nausea? Vomiting?
• Have you had double vision or unusual eye movements?

Your Doctor Might Examine the Following Body Structures or Functions:

• Ear, nose, and throat exam, including a screening test of your hearing in each ear
• Neurological exam

Your Doctor Might Order the Following Lab Tests or Studies:

• Audiometry (formal hearing test) by a certified audiologist
• Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials
• MRI or CT scan of the head

Hearing Loss

Questions to Discuss with Your Doctor:

• Is your hearing loss on one side or both?
• For how long have you noticed the problem?
• Has your hearing loss been getting worse over time?
• Do you have difficulty understanding other people when they speak?
• Do you say "what?" a lot?
• When you turn on the television, do others say that it is too loud?
• Have you had any kind of ear surgery?
• Have you flown in an airplane recently?
• Do other people in your family have trouble hearing?
• Do you hear ringing in your ears?
• Do you suffer from dizziness or loss of coordination?
• Have you had multiple ear infections in the past?
• Do you currently have an upper respiratory infection (for example, a cold) or other infection?
• Have you had any head injuries or strokes in the past?
• Are you taking any medications?

Your Doctor Might Examine the Following Body Structures or Functions:

• Examine your ears, nose, and throat.
• Test your balance, coordination, and walking.

Your Doctor Might Order the Following Lab Tests or Studies:

• Test your ability to hear.
• Formal hearing testing by an audiologist (hearing specialist)

With summer's approach come plans for travel, including flying long distances. But the prospect of a long flight often raises health concerns. Especially in passengers who are older or have certain conditions, air travel and the related stress can have an impact on health. Here are a few trouble areas and some precautions you can take.

Deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). Not all experts agree on an association between DVT (blood clots in the legs) and air travel. Symptoms may not occur for several days, so it's difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. If there is one, it's likely due to prolonged inactivity. Limited airline space can discourage moving about. Dry cabin air may also increase the risk of DVT.

If your child is rubbing his ear, should you run to the doctor's office to demand antibiotics? Probably not. Your child may simply have fluid in the ear and not the classic ear infection that parents and children dread.

Middle Ear Fluid (Otitis Media with Effusion)

Over 2 million American children experience fluid in the middle ear each year, often following a cold or an acute ear infection. The condition is also called a silent ear infection because many children have no symptoms. Some children, though, may rub their ear or experience mild pain, sleep disturbances, unexplained clumsiness, muffled hearing, or delays in language and speech development. The condition may be diagnosed during a routine well-child visit with the use of a pneumatic otoscope, which allows the doctor to see how easily the eardrum moves.

Image: AndreyPopov/Thinkstock

In the Journals

Here is another reason to get your hearing checked: it could strengthen your brain. A study to be published in the June 2016 American Journal of Audiology found that hearing aids improve brain function in people with hearing loss. Hearing loss can interfere with cognitive abilities because so much brain effort is put toward understanding speech, according to lead researcher Dr. Jamie Desjardins, assistant professor of speech language pathology at the University of Texas at El Paso. "Therefore, hearing aids can not only improve one's ability to hear, but also restore lost brain function," she says.

The study examined subjects in their 50s and 60s with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss—the most common type of permanent hearing loss—who had never used hearing aids or sought any evaluation. They were tested to measure their working memory, selective attention, and processing speed. The subjects wore hearing aids for an average of eight hours a day for six months. By the end of that time, the group had improved working memory by 14% and selective attention by 20%. Processing speed increased by 0.2 seconds from 1.4 seconds to 1.2.