Marty Layne Associates believes in the education of healthcare providers as well as the general public. Each month we send a Sound Bite^(TM) postcard educating your physician about hearing loss and its treatment. We thought you might like to see some of the information we've provided to assist your doctor's care of his/her patients.

• Hearing impairment currently affects 10% of the population and is the 3^rd most common chronic health condition in the U.S. One out of every three adults over age 60 has a hearing loss. Make a hearing test part of your “over 50” physical!

• Every adult should have a baseline hearing test by the age of 30. Adults over the age of 40 should have an annual hearing test.

• Hearing instruments are the beginning of successful treatment for hearing loss. Training in their use is needed and follow-up is essential, as the brain learns how to interpret new sounds over time.

• Hearing instruments must be worn constantly during waking hours to provide neural retraining for the recognition of sound. Using the hearing instruments daily helps them become a part of life, and results in highly successful users.

• Referrals for a hearing evaluation are recommended any time a patient or family member describes communication difficulty. Family members may complain that the patient “doesn’t pay attention” or “has selective hearing.” Patients may complain that “others mumble,” “can hear fine if looking at someone,” or “can’t hear in crowded or noisy situations.”

• Doctors of Audiology can provide testing and evaluation, counseling and rehabilitation, prescriptions for listening devices, and hearing loss education programs.

• Hearing properly with both ears can mean the difference between just hearing and hearing and understanding. Having balanced hearing with both ears will help a patient function more normally, localize sound, understand more in noisy situations, hear better with less volume, and hear equally well from both sides.

• When the human ear stops hearing sounds, as occurs with hearing loss, the ear declines further in its ability to recognize sound. In effect, if not exercised, the brain forgets its former ability to hear and understand. If untreated, this auditory deprivation becomes irreversible. The sooner the hearing loss is treated, the better the results!

• An unwanted side effect of platinum-based chemotherapy agents (cisplatin; carboplatin) is ototoxicity and/or vestibulotoxicity. Patients should receive a full hearing evaluation before starting chemotherapy, and should be monitored throughout the treatment and again a few months later as effects may be delayed.

• The National Institutes of Health report that patients with treated hearing impairment suffer less anxiety, depression and loneliness. Don’t overlook hearing impairment as a way to get your withdrawn patients involved with life again!

• Today’s hearing instruments do a wonderful job of fitting sensorineural hearing impairment, a type of loss once thought to be outside the realm of assistance with hearing aids. A full audiologic evaluation is always the best way to assess your patient’s prognosis.

• One of the most common early complaints of sensorineural hearing loss is “I hear but I can’t understand,” or (from a spouse) “He hears what he wants to hear.” Relationships are improved with better hearing!

• Dizziness is a common complaint in the elderly. Surprisingly, over 25% of these complaints are the results of medications, or interactions of medications, the patient is taking. Some of these may be over-the-counter drugs of which the physician is unaware.

• Loop diuretics can be ototoxic! This type of ototoxicity is often reversible when the patient no longer takes the drug. If combined with ototoxic drugs like gentamycin or tobramycin, hearing can be devastatingly and permanently affected.

• Tinnitus (unwanted sound in the ears) often accompanies early sensorineural hearing loss. A patient with tinnitus should be evaluated audiologically. While generally benign, in some cases tinnitus is a symptom of acoustic neuroma.

• We need two ears performing equally well to determine the direction of sound. Those patients with hearing loss in one ear may have difficulty determining where sounds (like traffic) are coming from, compromising their safety.

• A study of Alzheimer’s patients showed that 50% of them had untreated hearing impairment. When treated, their level of functioning increased. Frequently hearing loss is misdiagnosed as “confusion.” A hearing test will sort this out.

• Middle ear implants are an excellent alternative for people with unilateral moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss if it is determined that traditional hearing aids are not able to provide the desired benefit.

• 50 million Americans experience tinnitus to some degree. Of these, about 12 million have tinnitus which is severe enough to seek medical attention. About two million patients are so seriously debilitated by their tinnitus; they cannot function on a day-to-day basis.

• A hearing evaluation provides information about the degree and nature of the hearing loss, as well as the patient’s ability to process and discriminate the fine sounds of speech. Comfortable listening levels will be defined, and an assessment of how the ear handles loud sounds and intense speech will be performed.

• Cochlear implants are utilized in the patient who cannot benefit from hearing aids (severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment). The cochlear implant is a device used to bypass the nonfunctional inner ear. It converts sound into electrical impulses that directly stimulate the cochlear nerve.

• Certain communication needs cannot be solved by the use of hearing aids alone. These situations may involve the use of the telephone, radio, television, and the inability to hear the door chime, telephone bell, and alarm clock. Special devices have been developed to solve these problems.

• When we fit our patients with new hearing instruments, they receive an average of 3 hours and 3 visits during the first month for training, fine-tuning and counseling. Our intensive treatment program results in a successful hearing aid experience.

• If your patients with hearing aids are not hearing you well, they should see their audiologist for servicing or fine-tuning. Hearing aids require regular maintenance by hearing professionals for best performance. We recommend every 3 to 4 months.

• Some advanced hearing instruments offer Artificial Intelligence, a control system that automatically makes the right decisions about what a patient needs to hear, and how they need to hear it. Sound, especially speech, always stays clear and comfortable.

• The majority of seniors rely on their primary care doctors for many of their hearing health care decisions. If a recommendation to seek a hearing test isn’t given to seniors by their primary physicians, many simply don’t see the need to act on a potential problem.