I Can’t Hear You!
A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency department complaining of ringing in his ears and difficulty understanding what people were saying. He was concerned that he was having a stroke. A full neurological exam was unremarkable aside from decreased hearing, but his hearing deficits appeared to be equal bilaterally. Otoscopic exam demonstrated a normal tympanic membrane, and the rest of his physical exam was unremarkable. The patient's past medical history was significant for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, for which he took lisinopril and atorvastatin. He was recently treated with a 10-day course of doxycycl...
Source: The Tox Cave - April 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Spotlight on Special Interest Group 8, Audiology and Public Health
Looking for a group that explores the relationship between audiological services and public health issues? Let Amy Boudin-George explain why this SIG is for you.
When did you join your SIG—and what made you want to join?
I joined after I began working in the Department of Defense (DoD), where hearing loss and prevention are seen as being in the public health domain, in addition to being a medical issue. SIG 8 hits that exact mark and goes beyond, showing how hearing loss and tinnitus are public health issues on a global scale.
How has your involvement with the SIG helped you in your career?
...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 15, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Amy Boudin-George Tags: Academia & Research Audiology Health Care Private Practice Slider audiologist educational audiologist Hearing Aids Hearing Assistive Technology hearing loss hearing protection public health Source Type: blogs
Implant Simultaneously Reads and Stimulates Brain to Control Parkinson ’s, Other Diseases
Electrical stimulation may serve to treat a variety of brain-related conditions, and there are already a number of products that help to control Parkinson’s, essential tremor, addiction, and depression. Though there’s a considerable ongoing progress, most of the currently available technologies are not very smart and certainly can’t measure brain activity and respond to it simultaneously.
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, have developed a wireless electrode array implant that can read and contemporaneously stimulate the brain. The technology, being commercialized by Cortera Neurotechnol...
Source: Medgadget - January 2, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Materials Neurology Neurosurgery Psychiatry Rehab Source Type: blogs
What I Learned at ASHA Convention to Put Into Practice Today
On the first day of last week’s highest-attended ASHA Convention in history, Leader editors asked attendees what challenges they wanted to overcome by being there. As the convention drew to a close, we asked: “What did you learn that you can put into practice when you get home?”
Based on answers we received, attendees greatly appreciated the hands-on labs running throughout the convention, as well as what they learned from exhibitors, session presenters and conversations with fellow attendees and ASHA staff.
Throughout convention, we also asked members what you want to hear on our new podcast launching n...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - November 19, 2018 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: ASHA Staff Tags: Academia & Research Audiology Events Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Professional Development Source Type: blogs
Punk-Rocker-Turned-Audiologist Protects Musicians ’ Hearing
Audiologist Anthony Kovacs understands the hearing dangers of being a musician. Before he began spending his days protecting peoples’ hearing, he put his own at risk. Kovacs sang with punk band Shot Baker—he still performs and records with them occasionally—and worked at live music venues when he wasn’t on stage.
Now he focuses his full-time practice on treating people with tinnitus. He still goes to music festivals and performances, but usually as more than an audience member. Last month he took a group of audiology students from his alma mater—University of Northern Colorado—to the Bohemian Nights festival. T...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - September 21, 2018 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Audiology Health Care News Slider tinnitus Source Type: blogs
A Bayer of a Case
A 30-year-old woman was brought in by EMS tearful and reluctant to answer questions initially. Her mother was with her and stated that the patient had been depressed and may have taken some pills in a suicide attempt. Her initial vitals on presentation were a temperature of 99.1°F, heart rate of 128 bpm, blood pressure of132/92 mm Hg, and a respiratory rate of 26 bpm. She had clear lungs and sinus tachycardia on cardiac monitoring. She admitted to having taken "a lot" of aspirin.Initial LabsCBC: WBC of 14, hemoglobin of 14 g/dL, hematocrit of 42%, platelet count of 250,000BMP: Sodium of 132 mEq/L, pot...
Source: The Tox Cave - August 31, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Hearing Health Dangers of Spin Class
An article published today on Vox investigates the possibility of noise-induced hearing loss from long exposure to loud music in spin classes.
Health reporter Julia Belluz interviewed five spin class instructors who revealed concerns about current or future hearing loss. One of them already received a diagnosis, while another blames the class for the chronic tinnitus she now experiences. The two ASHA-certified audiologists interviewed for the story—Ellen Pfeffer Lafargue and Leisa Lyles-DeLeon—discuss how exposure to sounds above the safe listening levels can harm hearing in the short or long term.
Seattle Seahawks fan...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - June 1, 2018 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Audiology Health Care News Private Practice Slider hearing loss hearing protection Source Type: blogs
Device Delivers Sound and Electric Stimulation to Reduce Tinnitus
At the University of Michigan, scientists have developed a non-invasive technology to treat tinnitus, in most sufferers, by training the brain to “desynchronize” and to begin responding properly to real sounds. Their approach involves stimulating touch sensitive nerves using electrodes attached to the skin, while producing sounds, heard through headphones, that coordinate with the electric skin stimulation. This produces so called long-term depression (LTD) in the cochlear nucleus, which led to a reduction in tinnitus symptoms in both guinea pigs and in humans. (Of note, those interested in learning more about ...
Source: Medgadget - January 5, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: ENT Neurology Source Type: blogs
Top 5 Audiology Posts for 2017
Here are the most popular audiology posts from the past year—we’ll bring you the top five speech-language pathology posts next week!
Does Auditory Processing Disorder Meet the Criteria for a Legitimate Clinical Entity?
You wanted to know more about both side of the auditory processing disorder controversy. We ran a series of articles, and this installment from audiologist Andrew Vermiglio, director of the Speech Perception Lab at East Carolina University, garnered the most views.
In the post, he states that the “concept of the clinical entity is important when addressing controversial conditions such as auditory ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - December 21, 2017 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Advocacy Audiology Health Care Hearing Aids Hearing Assistive Technology hearing loss Language Disorders Source Type: blogs
Incidentally detected Carotid Body Tumour : Case Report
Female, 60 years old, with headache and recurrent left tinnitus. Has been to several ENT clinics. Stayed unexplained for 5 Yrs. MRI brain incidentally detected the finding described below.Case submitted by Dr. A. Altamimi, MD, DMRD, FRCR, Consultant RadiologistMRI Brain revealed : special note is the presence of an incidentaloma in the form of a lobulated oval mass (about 2.5 x 3 x 4.5 cm) embedded in the left upper neck at the level of the carotid bifurcation (splaying the ICA and ECA carotid arteries) with some localized mass effect. It is generally iso-to-hypointense to muscle on T1, ...
Source: Sumer's Radiology Site - November 19, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Sumer Sethi Source Type: blogs
Ucem osce scenario 2017.2
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
After years of preparation, extensive reading, sleepless nights, marriage breakdowns and caffeine – your week of being show ponies has arrived as the F.UCEM examinations are upon us. Giving hope to those who pray to the Utopian FSM we have managed to locate and leak one of the OSCE examination questions for this weeks exam – hope it helps.
UCEM OSCE SCENARIO
You are the ED Consultant in charge of a tertiary hospital ED
You take handover from the night team.
Iss...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - October 30, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Utopian Medicine Exam F.UCEM Fellowship OSCE Source Type: blogs
Health 2.0 Fall Conference: SleepTech Summit Exhibit Hall Companies
A unique track at this year’s Health 2.0 Fall Conference is a SleepTech Summit focusing on innovations that enhance or improve a person’s ability to achieve a quicker, longer, and more refreshing sleep. As part of the main exhibit hall, six sleep-related companies were demoing their devices and technologies, and Medgadget had a chance to hold short interviews with each one.
In addition to these six technology companies, Sleep-Geek was also in attendance. Sleep-Geek is a website and online community founded in 2010 with a mission to serve the mattress industry by connecting members with ideas that serve their profes...
Source: Medgadget - October 5, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Michael Batista Tags: Exclusive Medicine Neurology OTC Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Tinnitus on the Big Screen
The just-released film Baby Driver, starring Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Ansel Elgort and Jon Hamm, features a lead character (Elgort) with tinnitus. As Baby, Elgort plays a skilled getaway driver who constantly wears earbuds, using music to drown out the ringing in his ears.
Although there is no cure for tinnitus, other options can help manage the symptoms more effectively than continually blaring a soundtrack into the ears. Some management strategies include counseling, white or pink noise, habituation therapy (a sound therapy that helps the brain reclassify tinnitus and ignore it), hearing aids and more (see tinnitus-man...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - July 5, 2017 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Jillian Kornak Tags: Audiology hearing loss tinnitus Source Type: blogs
Nightingale System Offers a Smart and Geeky Sleep Experience: Medgadget Review
A few weeks ago we had an opportunity to review the new Nightingale smart home sleep system from Cambridge Sound Management, a Massachusetts firm. At its core it’s a sound and noise generator that works to distract your brain from the environmental sounds coming from all around you. Similar devices have existed in the past, but the Nightingale brings the technology into the age of digital wellness, home automation, and personalization, plus the proprietary “sound blankets” developed by Cambridge Sound Management are backed up by some serious research.
The research the company points to was conducted...
Source: Medgadget - June 28, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
Eight research teams working with DARPA to discover best ways to activate neuroplasticity and accelerate learning
DARPA Funds Brain-Stimulation Research to Speed Learning (DoD news):
“The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with seven U.S. universities and elements of the Air Force and Army on research that seeks to stimulate the brain in a non-invasive way to speed up learning.
DARPA announced the Targeted Neuroplasticity Training, or TNT, program last March, and work now has begun on the effort to discover the safest and most effective ways to activate a natural process called “synaptic plasticity.”
Plasticity is the brain’s ability to strengthen or weaken its neural connections to adapt to changes in the en...
Source: SharpBrains - May 12, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Technology Brain-Plasticity cognitive skills training cognitive-skills Cognitive-Training DARPA neuromodulation neuroplasticity neurostimulation synaptic-plasticity Targeted Neur Source Type: blogs
