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Audiology Performance Review – Time to Lighten Up!

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

This blog took off for the holidays, after posting on chronic, insidious diseases and hearing loss for most of 2014.  

Readers probably needed the break as much as I did, after slogging through a 10-part series on Hansen’s disease (leprosy).  a post on Lyme disease, and a 6-part series on malaria.  Topics were relevant for the global world in…

Neural Auditory Effects of Hansen’s Disease

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

The leprosy series comes to an end today with a look at what is known of leprosy’s effects on the vestibulocochlear nerve (VIIIn) and into the brain.  Sensorineural hearing loss without vestibular symptoms is associated with leprosy, independent of antibiotic treatment.  Hearing loss is likely under-reported; likewise, leprosy itself likely goes…

Hansen’s Disease and Auditory Vestibular Disorders

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

This longer-than-expected series on leprosy nears an end today.  It’s a complicated disease, hard to identify, easy to treat, hard to pin down auditory effects prior to diagnosis and treatment.  Even after the disease itself is diagnosed and hearing loss is reported, the audiologic diagnostic process is fraught.

Past postsreviewed limited…

Hansen’s Disease as a Causal Factor in Sensorineural Hearing Loss

 Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Today’s post almost completes the Hansen’s disease/Leprosy series, adding one more notch to TAI’s infectious diseases series.  Last post tabulated data from all available studies, concluding that:

vestibular disorders are uncommon or not related to Hansen’s disease

hearing loss is related and under-reported, possibility to a large degree

the…

Hansen’s Disease and Auditory Vestibular Disorders

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

In the penultimate post on leprosy,  the series finally begins addressing how the auditory/vestibular system fits into the spectrum of symptoms comprising this 20+ million year old disease.  The bacterial parasitethat haunts the human body and causes leprosy had evaded scientific and medical understanding, even in the modern world.    Audiology…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss, Modern Treatment and Cure

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Today’s post continues the discussion of Hansen’s disease, leprosy, as part of TAI’s infectious diseases series.  Last post described the difficulties of differential diagnosis and early philosophies of care and treatment of this little-understood but stigmatizing disease.

Leprosariums in the 19th and 20th century isolated and…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss, Differential Diagnosis and Treatment

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Leprosy’s history, prevalence, clinical manifestations, mechanism of destruction, and means of diagnosis have been described so far in this series.  Today’s post touches on differential diagnosis and early, barbaric, ineffective treatment methods that  left those suspected of harboring the disease with ruined lives.

 Delayed Differential Diagnosis

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss, Identification

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Hansen’s disease, (leprosy) is one of the “neglected” infectious diseases under review in this multi-year series.  Hansen’s is caused by a parasitic bacteria which makes a comfortable home in human bodies, sometimes for decades before manifesting as a variety of symptoms that depend on the person’s autoimmune response.  

The bacteria is likely…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss, part 4

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Today’s post continues the discussion of Hansen’s disease, commonly known as leprosy, as part of TAI’s infectious diseases series.  Leprosy is caused by a secretive bacteria that strips itself down after plunging into the human body, where it takes up long-term residence as a parasite.  It’s sneaky, disguising itself from the body’s autoimmune…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss, part 3

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Hansen’s disease, aka leprosy, is the subject of a multi-post chapter in TAI’s series on transmittable but mysterious diseases that affect the body in different, often chronic ways, including the hearing and balance systems.  

Today’s post continues the primer on Hansen’s, compiling basic information that Audiologists and other health…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss part 2

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Today’s post continues the discussion of Hansen’s disease, commonly known as leprosy, as part of TAI’s series on insidious, successful diseases of long-standing that may have effects on hearing and balance.  

Gaining information on such diseases is the first step that Audiologists and other health professionals need to take in order to recognize…

Hansen’s Disease and Hearing Loss

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

The Ebola virus is all over the news recently, as the epidemic in western Africa was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization last Friday after claiming 800 lives since February.   It’s characterized by a 2-21 day incubation period followed by  sudden onset flu-like symptoms (fever, headache, muscle…

New Year’s Resolution #2: Don’t Get Malaria

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Last week was given over to flu vaccination as a responsible health measure.  Flu is a virus which doesn’t cause hearing loss and and can be caught at home.  Today continues the topic of infectious diseases but this one requires travel. 

Those of us who travel by armchair may find the hardest part of “travel” is adjusting our TV volumes.  But…

Ted TALKS More About Hearing Aid Remotes and Cardiac Pacemakers

Ted Glattke, PhD

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues,

Today’s post is the second in a series by guest contributor Ted Glattke (see bio at the end of the post) who posed this interesting question last time: 

Do hearing aid accessories affect performance of implanted pacemakers?

That question took off on a surprising detour into the potential for fatal interactions between “chest…

Ted Glattke, PhD

Dear Tucson Audiologists’ Patients and Colleagues, Today’s post is by a guest contributor who is also an old friend, colleague, and mentor.  Ted Glattke, PhD (see bio at the end of the post) taught in the Stanford Hearing Sciences program from which I earned my PhD.  I was fortunate to have him for several classes before he left for the University of Arizona.  

Ted always asked…