This is the time of year that a lot of family reunions take place. Given our tumultuous times, it's more important than ever to stay in touch with family, near or far. While this year makes it harder to have the reunion you want, that doesn't mean that you can't have a blast! Don't let the constraints of travel and social distance deter you from making memories as a family. Consider a virtual family reunion.
The American Association for Speech and Hearing (ASHA) recognizes that. For over 75 years, they have marked the month of May as Better Hearing and Speech Month, a time to raise awareness about communication disorders, minimize stigma, and promote understanding and support. This year, they are focusing on the theme Communication at Work.
Keeping your balance is a partnership between the inner ear and the brain. This collaboration is part of the system called the “vestibular.” If this connection becomes harmed, you will experience dizziness, hearing problems, vision problems, nausea, and the inability to keep your balance.
Quite often, simply trying to make it through the day is nearly impossible. A vestibular disorder can cause other health issues, like short-term memory loss, confusion, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, panic attacks, depression, and anxiety. There is help for people who suffer from this ear disorder.
A vestibular disorder is not immediately diagnosed. Patients may visit a balance specialist due to their inability to stand properly and their feeling dizzy. It is estimated that 40% of Americans will seek medical attention for these symptoms. Senior citizens are among the leading patient group with dizziness, ringing in the ear, and balance issues.
Typical causes of a vestibular disorder include:
Brain injuries like a traumatic brain injury
Infections
Inner ear problems
Medications that affect the inner ear canal
Semicircular canal problems
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
Vertigo is a common balance disorder. A benign positional vertigo is a short-term disorder that lasts just a few minutes but its onset can be categorized as acute or chronic. Calcium crystals form within the inner ear where they can migrate to the inner ear canal. The ear misinterprets these calcium debris particles and tells the brain to protect itself with dizziness, nausea, and more.
Labyrinthine and Vestibular Neuritis
Labyrinthine infarction balance disorder occurs more commonly in the elderly. Inner ear nerve system and a neurological issue with labyrinthine infarction includes a combined loss of auditory and vestibular function. Does not cause hearing loss but it can last for years.
Vestibular Neuronitis
Vestibular neuronitis comes on suddenly with a bad case of vertigo and sickness. It is associated with respiratory tract infections. It can last for several days until it goes away on its own.
Cholesteatoma
A cholesteatoma is an inner ear growth that appears behind the eardrum. It is generally caused by infections that occur on the skin of the eardrum. If not treated quickly, it will grow in size and damage the surrounding bones of the middle ear. Symptoms include severe hearing loss, dizziness, and paralysis of facial muscles.
Labyrinthitis
Labyrinthitis is an inflammatory process caused by a bacterial or viral infection. It is most commonly present with infections like measles and rubella. You become dizzy, nauseas, or a consistent headache.
Meniere’s Disease
Meniere’s disease is an inner ear vertigo disorder that is accompanied with hearing loss that can worsen in time. Patients further experience nausea and vomiting that can last for several hours
Migraine
Migraine headaches are commonly associated with 30% hearing loss, dizziness, tinnitus, and nausea. Blurred vision can also be a symptom.
Mal de Debarquement
Mal de Debarquement sickness makes patients feel like they are moving and rocking back and forth when actually they are standing still. If you like boating or water skiing, Mal de Debarquement or “disembarkment” symptoms may occur after you return to land. Dizziness symptoms appear quickly but only last for a few hours or in severe cases it may last for days. You may or may not feel nauseous, just a rocking movement.
Pediatric Vestibular Disorders
A small number of children can be affected with this disorder. Symptoms include problems with an intent gaze or seeing clearly with head movement, balance issues, and dizziness.
Vestibular disorders can include a combination of minor and severe symptoms:
Anxiety
Blurred vision
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Fear
Feeling unsteady or that things are spinning and disoriented
Nausea
Rapid heart beat
Treating Vestibular Disorders
Unsteady balance that can cause you to fall or stumble
Vomiting
If you suspect you may be suffering from a vestibular disorder, please contact us at Hart Hearing and Balance Centers today. With vestibular disorders, we can determine the cause and work with you to customize a treatment plan. Treatments include medications, lifestyle changes, and rehabilitation or balance retraining therapy. Contact us today to learn more!
If you have noticed that the words of every one you meet seem to blend together, or you can't understand what is being said if there are other sounds in the background, it may be time to get your hearing checked by an audiologist. Having trouble keeping your balance would be another reason to visit. Untreated hearing loss can result in one feeling separated from friends and family and it can eventually lead to depression.
At Hart Hearing and Balance Centers, we provide both audiological and vestibular services. Vestibular disorders are those relating to dizziness, or balance disorders. What’s the connection between vestibular disorders and audiology? Here, we take a look at how hearing aids can help improve your sense of balance.
One reason is that the inner ear contains three main sections, the cochlea, the semicircular canals and the vestibule. The cochlea changes sound waves into nerve signals, but the other two sections affect our balance.
The three semicircular canals in each ear are filled with fluid and lined with fine hairs that pick up body movement as the fluid shifts with head movement. Electrical signals are then sent to the brain which tells the body how to stay balanced. If the body moves too quickly, though, the fluid takes a while to settle causing dizziness.
As stated, the sound we hear is due to the cochlea inside the ear. It looks something like a snail shell which is how it got its name since it means snail in Greek. What basically happens is that when a sound is made or someone speaks, the air gets pushed in a wave-like pattern into the ear making the eardrum vibrate. This in turn moves the three bones commonly referred to as the hammer, anvil and stirrup causing the fluid inside the cochlea to move. As the fluid moves so do the tiny hairs inside resulting in the changing electrical signals being sent to the brain and interpreted as sounds.
What is described here is still a simplification of a complex system, so you can see that there really is quite a bit that could go wrong and result in hearing loss as well as a loss of balance.
Unfortunately, hearing loss is one of those things that isn't always detected as early as possible. For one thing, sometimes it occurs gradually, and for another it's not something that's visible externally. What is more, many consider hearing loss and balance disorders as a sign of aging and don't want to admit it to themselves – much less to someone else. All of these things could keep one from seeking treatment for hearing loss.
It's not only the elderly that suffer from untreated hearing loss. Loud music and earphones are just a couple of things that have lessened younger one’s ability to hear. But the news isn't all bad. Lives are improved all the time by the use of hearing aids and they've gotten smaller and practically invisible.
For those that are younger, a hearing aid can make the difference between failing and passing grades. It can also make communication with parents and friends more peaceful with less misunderstandings.
For older people, treating hearing loss with the use of hearing aids brings significant benefits to their lives as well. Not having to ask the love of your life to repeat his or her self an infinite number of times could make for a happier marriage. And, being connected to the world around them helps to improve their spatial reasoning.
There are many more benefits in seeking treatment for hearing loss, but one that is rarely thought of is an improvement in balance. This is partly because of the way the mechanism for hearing and balance are both set up in the ear, and partly because we use all the visual and auditory information, we get from every direction in our surroundings to determine where we are and where we will go. If this information is disrupted, for instance, by hearing that better in one ear than in the other or perhaps having hearing cues that are different than our visual cues the result could be confusion, dizziness and perhaps a fall.
Have you been struggling with untreated hearing loss or with unresolved balance issues? There’s no reason to put off treatment. Live life with all of your senses as sharp as they can be! Contact us today to learn more about how our hearing and vestibular specialists can help you.
