May is better hearing and speech month

By Florida Gulf Coast Ear, Nose & Throat

THE CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS
Hearing loss can be caused by any number of factors. It may be something as simple as wax or a foreign body blocking the ear canal. Or it may be more complicated such as a hole in the eardrum, exposure to repeated noises, or the result of a viral infection. No matter the cause, the team at Florida Gulf Coast Hearing Center is able to diagnose and treat your hearing loss at our Naples and Estero, FL locations. Contact us today to make an appointment.

FIND RELIEF FROM TINNITUS IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Hearing issues can present themselves in a variety of manners. While some people may feel like they can’t hear as well as they used to, others may feel like they are hearing sounds not actually present. Often this perception accompanies hearing loss. Tinnitus, also known as ringing ears or head noise, is a problem closely associated with hearing loss. People suffering from tinnitus describe a constant ringing or other noise in their ear. However, this is just a perception. Florida Gulf Coast Hearing Center can provide a medical evaluation as well as an audiometric evaluation if you suffer from tinnitus in Naples and Estero, FL. We’ll help to rule out certain causes and find a treatment option that works for you. Call us today for an appointment.

TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR TINNITUS
Using our advanced hearing tests, our doctors and professionals will rule out serious causes of tinnitus, like tumors. The evaluations will also allow us to discover if the tinnitus is being caused by a treatable medical condition, which could mean we can effectively stop your head noise altogether. If the ringing is not caused by a medical condition, but instead by hearing loss, we’ll discover which tinnitus therapy option is best for you.

INNOVATIVE TREATMENT OPTIONS
MASKERS
These sound-generating devices are worn on the ears and used to “mask” the perceived head noise caused by tinnitus.

COMBINATION HEARING DEVICES
These devices combine hearing aids and maskers in one, amplifying sound and masking head noise at the same time.

HEARING AIDS
Using a hearing aid to treat tinnitus is a very successful option. The increased sound input from the hearing aid naturally masks tinnitus noise.

FRACTAL TECHNOLOGY & PROPRIETARY SOUND PROGRAMS
This is a relatively new solution incorporating chime-like tones to induce relaxation and reduce tinnitus awareness.

NEUROMONICS
A breakthrough tinnitus treatment, neuromonics helps to train the brain to filter out tinnitus disturbance. The device is paired with headphones and delivers spectrally modified music that is embedded with acoustic neural stimulus. The sounds are precisely designed and customized to match each user’s audiological and tinnitus profile. This new treatment can provide long-term relief from symptoms.

TINNITUS RETRAINING THERAPY (TRT)
Using a combination of counseling and sound therapy, TRT is a form of habituation therapy. The therapy is designed to end negative reactions to tinnitus perception, first reducing and eventually ending the conscious recognition of the head noise.

OTHER TREATMENT OPTIONS
While those treatments listed above are the most common used for tinnitus, there are some other treatment options professionals use for tinnitus therapy.

These include:
. Relaxation techniques
. Acupuncture
. Supplement therapy
. Antidepressants
. The Sound Pillow®
. And many more

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT AT OUR HEARING CENTER
If you believe you’re suffering from tinnitus, our Naples and Estero hearing centers are here to help. Make an appointment with us today. We’ll complete a thorough evaluation to determine what treatment option is best for you.

RING LOSS RESOURCES
WE’RE ALWAYS HERE TO HELP
Dealing with hearing loss can be confusing. It’s difficult to know where to turn for information, especially if you aren’t even sure how severe your hearing loss is. At Florida Gulf Coast Hearing Center, we want to help our patients by giving them access to useful information about hearing loss and devices like hearing aids. On this page, you’ll find a number of resources to inform you about your hearing loss. You can even take the quiz to help determine how your hearing range stacks up against what is considered normal. If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

QUICK HEARING QUIZ
How is your hearing range, really? This simple quiz can help get you started on your path to understanding your hearing health.

1. Do you have difficulty understanding the other person on the telephone? 
o     Yes
o     No

2. Does it seem like most people around you are mumbling? 
o     Yes
o     No

3. Is it difficult to understand one person’s speech while there is background noise? 
o     Yes
o     No

4. Do you find it difficult to understand the dialogue on TV unless you turn the volume up high? 
o     Yes
o     No

5. Do you often need to ask others to repeat
themselves?
o     Yes
o     No

TREATMENT OPTIONS
. Hearing Instrument – Hearing aids and other devices.
. Coccular Implant – a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.
. Surgery – repairing the eardrum (Myringoplasty or Tympanoplasty), Ossiculoplasty, or PE tubes.

HEARING LOSS IN NAPLES AND ESTERO, FL
TREATING HEARING LOSS IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
The ear is a complicated system made up of three parts, the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. All three parts work together to transmit important auditory information to the brain, resulting in the ability to hear. Damage to any one part of the ear can hinder this ability or cause permanent hearing loss. At Florida Gulf Coast Hearing Center, we have a team of professionals to treat issues in all parts of the ear. We can accurately diagnose the cause of your hearing loss and determine which hearing aid can help you recover some of your ability to hear. Contact us today and let us help you find a solution to your hearing loss at our Naples and Estero, FL locations.

THE THREE PARTS OF THE EAR AND HOW THEY WORK
The ear is made up of three distinct parts. Sound is transmitted through each section as it makes its way to the brain. These parts also work together to help maintain balance. Sound travels through each section in the following manner:

THE OUTER EAR
The outer ear consists of the flexible, fleshy part, called the pinna, as well as the ear canal. The pinna collects sound from the surrounding environment and funnels it through the ear canal to the eardrum, which is located at the of the canal. The eardrum separates the outer ear from the middle ear.

THE MIDDLE EAR
The middle ear lies behind the eardrum, inside the skull. It contains three bones important to hearing called the malleus, the incus, and the stapes. As the sound waves reach the eardrum, they cause it to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted from the eardrum to the inner ear through the malleus, incus, and stapes.

THE INNER EAR
The stapes sits in the opening of the inner ear, and as it vibrates it produces waves in the fluid of the inner ear. The fluid of the inner ear is contained in a series of spaces located within the bone of the skull. These spaces are called the cochlea and the semicircular canals and contain sensitive neurosensory tissues and nerve endings. The waves created by the vibrating stapes fills the cochlea, pushing against the sensory membranes. The movement of the fluid causes sensory cells to transmit electrical impulses to nerve fibers. These electrical impulses are then sent to the brain where they are interpreted as sound.

TYPES OF HEARING LOSS
. Conductive Hearing Loss – happens when sounds cannot get through the outer and middle ear. It may be hard to hear soft sounds. Louder sounds may be muffled. Medicine or surgery can often fix this type of hearing loss.

. Sensorineural Hearing Loss – or SNHL, happens after inner ear damage. Problems with the nerve pathways from your inner ear to your brain can also cause SNHL. Soft sounds may be hard to hear. Even louder sounds may be unclear or may sound muffled. This is the most common type of permanent hearing loss. Most of the time, medicine or surgery cannot fix SNHL. Hearing aids may help you hear.

. Mixed Hearing Loss – Sometimes, a conductive hearing loss happens at the same time as a sensorineural hearing loss. This means that there may be damage in the outer or middle ear and in the inner ear or nerve pathway to the brain.

HEARING LOSS FACTS
. 48 million Americans have a significant hearing loss
. 1 out of 3 people over age 65 have some degree of hearing loss
. 2 out of 3 people over 75 have a hearing loss
. 15% of children between the ages of 6-19 have a measurable hearing loss in at least one ear
. A mild hearing loss can cause a child to miss as much as 50% of classroom discussion
. People with hearing loss wait an average of 7 years before seeking help
. 15 million people in the United States with hearing loss avoid seeking help
. Only 16% of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss

WHAT HAPPENS IF UNTREATED
BALANCE & FALLING
Uncorrected hearing loss puts you at 3 times the risk of falling when compared to people with normal hearing. Hearing loss affects our inner-ear and equilibrium causing more limited awareness of our surroundings, making tripping or falling more likely to occur.
This is believed to be caused by a cognitive overload. As your hearing loss worsens, your brain must work harder to hear and understand its surroundings thus taking your focus away from other tasks such as mobility.

FATIGUE & TIREDNESS
Straining to hear is exhausting. For people with hearing loss, daily weariness is increased from the added work that comes with deciphering conversation. Even moderate hearing loss can affect up to 50% of what a person hears. This leaves you to fill in the gaps through lip reading and guessing.

If simple conversation requires you to essentially solve a puzzle, you’ll be expending far more energy than those with normal hearing.

HEART HEALTH
The connection between hearing and your heart is due to the inner ear’s sensitivity to blood flow. If blood supplied to the inner ear is blocked or slowed, delicate structures of your auditory system are put at risk of being damaged by a lack of oxygen and nutrients.

This means that a healthy heart is directly tied to healthy ears. People with a history of heart disease are 50% more likely to be suffering from hearing loss, making hearing loss a predictor of developing heart problems.

DEMENTIA & MENTAL DECLINE
Recent studies by Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that older adults suffering from hearing loss were 30% to 40% more likely to experience a recession in cognitive function than those with normal hearing.

DEPRESSION & SOCIAL ISOLATION
It is well understood that people are social creatures. Hearing is a basic part of nearly all of our social interactions. The ability to confide in our loved ones or to carry out a cordial conversation with friends is vital to our general well-being.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Untreated hearing loss can put a high level of strain on our relationships. It is understood that hearing loss limits a person’s quality of life through isolation and a reduction in social activities, causing depression and anxiety. But it also harms our relationships with loved ones.

As communication gaps widen, family members experience feelings of frustration and sadness. When the conversation becomes a burden, our quality of life decreases, and relationship dissatisfaction increases.

Call today to Learn About HEARING AID OPTIONS IN NAPLES AND ESTERO, FLING AID OPTIONS IN NAPLES AND ESTERO, FL

CAN’T AFFORD LUMP SUM PRICING?
No worries we have plenty of options for everyone’s financial situation.

Florida Gulf Coast Ear, Nose and Throat
(239) 514-2225
www.floridagulfcoastent.com

Our Team
Samuel L. Hill, III, MD, FACS, FAAOA
Patrick M. Reidy, MD
Leela Lavasani, MD, FACS
Benjamin Lehmkuhl, DO
Liuba Soldatova, MD
Sue-Lay Plasencia, DNP, APRN, NP-C
Nicole Gergenti, APRN, FNP-C
Billy Crooks, HAS
Shanai Hill, AU.D., CCC-A
Cynthia Drobiazgiewicz, AU.D., CCC-A
Nicole Diehl, AU.D., CCC-A, FAAA
LaVertta Miller, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC