Do You Realize That Someone Else Could Be Deciding Your Future?
November 24, 2015Pulsatile Tinnitus – What Causes This Tinnitus Type?
November 24, 2015I hear fine. Then why do they change the way our minds and psyche work?
In the last issue you became acquainted with an article written by professor Frank Lin, who is one of the foremost experts in the study of the human mind ( while also working everyday with patients ) particularly specializing in problems related to aging of the brain as well as the side effects from lack of proper stimulation for cognitive function. This subject is very dear to us, because of our rare, even in the scale of the entire country, specialization in the field of brain stimulation of auditory stimuli. Assembling a team of specialists (not only hearing aid specialists but also tinnitus specialists and a psychotherapist ) offers a great advantage in regards to not only the health of your hearing but to also aid in the proper stimulation of the mind and psyche since the two are very closely related.
People who use our services have a unique opportunity to benefit from a very broad range of diagnoses, based on the assessment of the state of mind and the degree of response to stimuli. At the same time, using specialized equipment and specialists we can offer those facing real problems the proper therapy and treatment programs to aid in resolving their issues. The methods and practices used by us have a large impact on increasing the level of brain activity, they help to improve short term memory and overcome general weakness that prevents brain activity – for example the types of distress caused by senile dementia, which some people can start to get in their 60’s.
The typical, old school hearing aid clinics that most of us have come to know are getting left behind by the changing times and technology – due partly to the fact that people nowadays have a different type of hearing loss then previously encountered. The hearing loss these days is not the simple hearing loss that we had encountered in the past, now that there are better tests, computers and diagnoses available we are seeing deeper into the hearing loss picture and we are realizing that a large part of it is associated with disorders of the brain and the way the mind processes sound, to illustrate our point we would like to share a story with you.
A few months ago we received a visit from a man that had moved back to Ontario after moving to Nova Scotia. Using his WSIB benefits, he regularly upgraded and changed his hearing instruments, but during one visit he told the nice audiologist lady about his problem with ringing in his ears (tinnitus) and that it had been progressively getting worse and worse. He said he was starting to feel it not only in his ears but also in his head, the audiologist deemed that this was not a serious problem and did not even think to report it to the man’s family doctor or suggest a visit to an ENT. Knowing that a good portion of the world’s hearing instrument manufacturers offer instruments with a built in noise generator – and some, for instance Starkey encourage their use, the audiologist lady picked a pair of instruments for the gentleman from a company called Phonak. At this point we would like to point out that Phonak is one of the largest hearing instrument companies on the international market and have a lot of experience in the production of hearing instruments. The problem being is these devices only provide a temporary relief for people suffering from tinnitus, unfortunately in this situation the symptoms of other hearing problems such as hyperacusis were not recognized, this in fact resulted in an intense amount of discomfort and pain when the noise generator was turned on for the first time (during the initial fitting). The patient (currently one of our patients) went through a great ordeal when the audiologist failed to diagnose the conditions he was suffering from, he suffered from an intensification of buzzing and ringing in his head as well as psychological strain and stress, which led to feelings of depression and despair, that all could have been avoided if the audiologist had had a better understanding of what to look for. The man’s wife became ill herself shortly after, and had wanted to return to Toronto so that they could both be closer to better healthcare, they had decided to sell their home in Halifax and move back to Toronto. The husband had been a client of ours before they made the move out to Nova Scotia, as soon as they had moved back to Toronto he decided to come visit us and get help with his tinnitus and hyperacusis so that he could return to a somewhat normal life. His treatments work on a multi tiered system, in cooperation with his family doctor we are slowly helping him regain balance in his life without the unwanted side effects of hyperacusis and tinnitus.
Such people, with a serious dysfunction may unfortunately never make it to our clinic in time to receive the proper care and therapy necessary, generally when they do they are referred by their family doctor or an Ear Nose and Throat specialist. So once again, we call for common sense, check carefully whether the location to which you want to go has appropriate specialists with the required level of knowledge, experience and training, and above all if the therapies and treatments they use are recommended by medical specialists organizations in the field that you are interested in.