Follow up to Nov. 15th Group meeting

On Wednesday, the 8 people who joined our gathering found it very rewarding. We were treated to an intimate chat in a comfortable space.  Everyone had a chance to summarize their situation and get advice and feedback.  We had about an equal split between those with urgent needs, and those who merely wish to keep up with new information and be part of the solution if they can. 

Dr. Gail Linn was our host and speaker and she focused on her clinical experience.  She shared that the vast majority of her patients with hearing loss have Tinnitus to some degree.  For severe Tinnitus cases, she offers a range of hearing aids to amplify those pitches they are not hearing well.  Often this is enough to provide relief.  If not, a number of hearing aids can also provide “masking” – which refers to some kind of compensatory in-ear sound (usually white noise).  A “rich sound environment” has been found to lessen the patient’s awareness of Tinnitus. 

We were also very fortunate to have Dr. LaGuinn Sherlock join us.  She is Chairman of the ATA Board, Research Audiologist at Walter Reed, and she formerly took care of Tinnitus patients at U of Maryland in Baltimore.  She shared that there has been an explosion of basic research into Tinnitus lately, which we should find encouraging.  Of course there is much to be done to develop successful clinical applications, which is made more difficult by the wide variety of causes and distress levels found among Tinnitus patients.  She also let the group know that ATA is moving offices to Vienna, VA from Portland OR – which is advantageous for us. 

Dr. Linn and Dr. Sherlock offered helpful context and advice for the participants who needed it.  At the end of the meeting Dr. Linn showed the group the equipment she uses to measure patients and program their hearing aids accordingly.  Her method is called “real-ear measurement”, which was developed to make hearing aids and maskers more reliably effective.  She estimates that only 15-20% of audiologists use this method.  She can perform this measurement for new devices, as well as devices a patient may already have.   Go here for more information about real-ear measurement.