December 13, 2025 • 40 mins
We all know how damaging loud or constant sounds can be to our hearing - but there are a lot of factors that can impact hearing that most of us would never consider.
Things like smoking - even secondhand smoke, cold wind, too much water - countless things, most of which we'd hardly consider to be dangerous.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yes, welcome back. So with the Weekend Collective. I'm Tim
Beverage and this is the Health Hope. We want your
calls on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and text
on nine two ninety two. And look, do I guess
the question is do we all know how damaging loud
and constant sounds can be to our hearing? But of
course there are a lot of factors that can impact
(00:52):
hearing that most of us would net, but that we
might not consider. Things like smoking, apparently even secondhand smoke.
You'd think that was, you know, bad just for your lungs,
and things cold, win too much water. I'm seeing a
list here. We'll run by our expert. We're going to
reduce in a moment. But there's a lot of things
you might not consider to be dangerous. To be honest,
I've always thought that the problem with hearing is that
(01:12):
you don't really I think people do damage their hearing
unwittingly without ever considering that they've put themselves in that situation.
But that's just my reckoning. But it may be because
I've had a career, you know, with music as well.
And there have been times where, in fact, I got
very very good advice in one of the shows that
I toured with when we had in the air monitors
and they said, the producers said, we're going to set
(01:35):
these now and we're not going to change the limits
for the whole tour. Don't ask for us to turn
it up because you want us to turn it up,
and we're not going to do it. And I think
that's a bit of a danger for your hearing. Anyway.
That's just digressing a bit. But what are the signs
to look out for for you or a loved one
that they might need to get their hearing checked? And
how do you go about having that conversation with them?
That's an interesting one. I've told you twice you need
(01:57):
your hearing checked. I'm not sure that's a serious way
to discuss the issue, but anyway, we're going to find
a serious way to discuss the issue. Because he's an
E and T specially and his name is doctor Michel
Neath and he's with us for the health up and Michelle,
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Thanks mating me.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Tim.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
How are you good?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Are you somewhere Sonny at the moment.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
No no, I was working in the garden yesterday. It
was sonny.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, oh that's good, that's good, I are there. We
would people be surprised at the things that actually can
cause damage to your hearing without realizing.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I think so, I mean, we all know about genetics.
I assume we all know about noise and ucedeering loss.
There's been a lot of work in that field, but
there are other things we don't talk about, and they
can affect the hearing as well. So a lot of
the lifestyle choices we make can affect hearing other than
(02:56):
noise exposure, as well as some uncontrollable things like the
genetics health problems that we've got.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
How many people would actually be aware of a genetic
connection to hearing loss? Mean, would they just go on
my grandma? You know she had hearing aids, So therefore
we're going to be you know.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, I think. I mean, in children, we know it's genetic.
A lot of the kids get born with a degree
of hearing loss or profound hearing loss that needs to
be managed. But I think the sort of hearing loss
of aging is also often related to genetics. You know,
you get people with perfect hearing up to very high age,
(03:33):
and then you get people who start losing their hearing
early on in life, you know. So that is all
sort of our programming and the under underlying genetics that
actually does that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Did you, as you were studying what you know, your
your specialty, did you become paranoid yourself about your own
hearing when the more you learn, you know? So I
always think it's like if you do a google on
any sort of health condition you turn, you go a
little bit crazy. But when you study it formally and
have you had a particular journey in that respect of
(04:06):
being more aware of things that you should be careful with.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I think noise, you know, I think my father had
a hearing loss, and I was aware of hearing loss
early on in life, and so I've been careful with noise,
wearing ear muffs and not being crazy about loud music,
but obviously growing up going to a bass and discotheques,
and you know, we used to listen to a loud
(04:33):
music without hearing protection. But certainly as I aged myself,
I've become more aware and more careful about about that,
you know. But you know, the other lifestyle things, you know,
like a lot of things we just do without sort
of causing any hearing loss. But some people have lifestyle
choices which definitely can affect the hearing as well, and then.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Might not be aware of that such as well.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I mean, you know, we all know that smoking is
not healthy, for example, but that's a big thing, and
that's smoking and cigarettes as well as vaping, and it's
simply related to the nicotine and it's basic or constrictive
effect on the blood vessels to the inner ear. It
can also you know, there's some of the toxins in
smoke can also affect the nerves as well as the
(05:23):
pathways and the brain, affecting hearing. And you know, everybody
worries about lunheads and everything, which is fair enough and important,
probably more important in many cases, but it does have
an effect on hearing as well.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So that's from that, not from smoke. That's from nicotine.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It's well in what's in smoke, you know, it's the
nicotine as well as the toxins in smoke, and some
of them are neurotoxins and the affect the neuropathways.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So does that mean because vapor, I mean, vaping does
seem to disappear from the conversation a lot and recently,
which I'm hoping is a good, good thing. But of
course a lot of people were drawn to vaping who
weren't you smokers. But the nicotine delivery in vaping can
be a lot higher than a cigarette. There's absolutely what
(06:11):
can you tell us about the vaping side.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I think it's you know, whether the you know what
the effect of the higher doors is. It's hard to say,
but essentially vaping in terms of just speaking by hearing
has got exactly the same effect as cigarettes on hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Wow, I must say, as I was reading the introduction,
I saw that I thought, really, I was wondering because
I've always I've always assumed that as we get older
we just lose our hearing because it's a cumulative effect
of the fact that we probably have all experienced too
much noise from time to time, and eventually it's going
to catch up with you. But is that not necessarily case?
(06:50):
Can I be optimistic that.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You can be? You can be you know, if you
haven't done any noise damage at this stage, you know
it's not going to happen. So the damage of noise,
the noise induced hearing loss, happens at the time of
the noise exposed YEA and so, and it produces a
particular pattern on a hearing test, And if you haven't
got that, then you know it's most slightly not due
(07:14):
to noise. The hearing loss of hearing typically has got
a high frequency hearing So the hearing loss of aging
has got a high frequency hearing loss. And that's sort
of typical for what's called presspi corses, and that's often
related to genetics, but then they're varieties of that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So just for a bit of context, a loud pub
so you know, everyone's just having a good time this
time of the year. I mean, everyone's having their end
of year functions. Okay, if you know, if you go
into the disco part and they've got the music pumping,
you're probably damaging your hearings since you walk in there.
But what of just what are the loud social settings?
What's the sort of tolerance on every I know, it's
(07:54):
difficult to sum it up, isn't it, But yeah, most
most places have got hard floors, hard ceilings, loud conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah yeah, I mean sort of terrible environment for hearing.
But I think in general, if you have to shout
to make yourself understood. The pub is probably too loud,
you know. And if you spend you know, sort of
in some time in a pub at eighty five ninety
ninety five decibels, which you know, with a loud music
(08:24):
and yelling and poor acoustics is possible, then you probably
do some damage at some stage. So if you sort
of spend a lot of time there sort of accumulatively,
you will end up with a noise induced hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Is that cumulatively either at the course of an evening
or cumulatively over the course of months years.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, I mean it's a sort of a little bit
the debate that there's something called temporary threshold shrift, and
that's and you may have experienced that after sort of
going to a pub or listening to music you walk
out of that room or that establishment and think you
can't hear, or you get tentatives or the ears field blocked,
and that's sort of the mechanism to protect the ear
(09:08):
and bring the hearing down, the sort of reduce the
noise that goes into the ear. But that might already
be a sign of early hearing damage. And so if
you do that often enough over years, then you probably
end up with some noise induced hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So that temporal adjustment is that a bodies your body's
way of maybe protecting you. But in doing so, is
this still damage anyway?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yes, it implied applies the damage. The sort of the
ways of us testing the hearing is fairly cruel to
we do a hearing test, but it doesn't go into
the you know, we cannot tell what the fine what
happened to the fine structures of the inner ear, And
so there's probably a degree of hair cell loss or
some effect onto the supply of energy to the hearing
(09:59):
cells sort of you know, ear damage and over time
is a cumul it's cumulative and the hearing will be affected.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
How effective do you think we are getting the message
out about looking for after a hearing because I've always
thought that the last thing that young people ever think about. So,
you know, they go for run, they spray in their ankle,
acc I've got to fix my ankle. You know, there's
all sorts of things they'll think about. If they get hungover,
they think maybe I need to not drink so much.
(10:29):
I'm not How how is the message getting through to
people about protecting their hearing because now we have increasing
use of EarPods and earphones and people wanted to turn
it up. Yeah, do we really take this seriously enough?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I think we're better, but I think there's still work
to be done. You know, a lot of the a
sc assessments are due for nice induced hearing loss of
elderly patients that had noise exposure early on in their
working life. They often report that they never used any
ear muffs, and looking around today, most people in noisy
(11:06):
work environs would wear earmuphs are but I think what
you're mentioning sort of the AirPods and listening to loud music,
that could be a problem in the future. There's been
a big push at schools through the university audiology department
to get the message out there, but it has to
(11:28):
be ongoing because you know, as you know, kids and teenagers,
they you know, they're not vulnerable. They're just sort of
ignore the message and expose themselves to loud sound and
music and will cause hearing loss. And that's potentially something
that we'll see once they hit the work you know,
(11:49):
the workforce, or later on in love, when they actually
become aware of their hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So something like this a lot of course these days,
if you're maying the lawn with an electric mar I'm
not sure how loud it gets. But the good old
fashioned petrol lawnmark you spend twenty minutes half an hour
bend the lawns and you're not wearing earmufs. What's what's
the take on that?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That's that's not good? You know, I think the noise
level is much much higher. I think you're looking at
ninety five one hundred decibel, and if the muffler is broken,
even higher, you know, so you know, every five decibels
it's sort of les's eighty five decibels. You can have
exploded for eight hours before damage, that's what accs say,
and then at ninety it's four hours, ninety five it's
(12:29):
two hours, so you can imagine then you know, if
you do that, plus chop a few trees with your
chainsaw that's a few years old, and other noisy things,
then you will cause some damage in your recreational life.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean, I know there's a lot of trivial questions
I'm getting onto here, but just before we take calls
from people as well, what about I mean, even the
electric devices I guess if you're doing anything that's like
even mon in the lawn and stuff, or you're an
electric chainsaw, you probably should be wearing a MUFS for
any sort of mechanical device.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah, and most most devices have got a warning on them,
you know, so if it sort of I think there's
I think they must put the noise level these devices now.
And you know, and even if a machine is not noisy,
and if you use a chainsaw, a circular saw and
start cutting wood, it actually adds to this sound as well.
(13:16):
You know, it's not just what it says on the device,
but also what you do with it, you know. And
I would just wear your muss anywhere it gets. You
used to make sure that you buy some and you
have them and you really need them. Ah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I've got a text here from someone and it ties
I'm guessing it ties into noise canceling technology. But Muzz
says it's ironic. I'm listening to this with my ear
pods in while I'm mowing the lawn. Ah, can we
can we help, Muzz. I'm guessing you must have canceling
(13:48):
ear pods. They make noise canceling today.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, I guess it depends on how much he hears
off his off his lawn mower. You know, I mean
an air pod or you know, anything like this is
not actually designed to muffle out hearing. It's not hearing protection.
If he does that, he should still wear something over
his had to protect us in a year from noise damage.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Okay, so what are we telling him? We should telling
him he needs to put the ear muffs on as well,
muzz Yeah, ear.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Muffs and it is in Auckland today. Should also put
sunscreen on?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, good point, Good point. We'll do metolog system for
that side of thing. So not just another text following
that up, but I think it's the same question a
noise canceling headphones. Can they be a substitute for ear
muffs with increasing technology?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Hm?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
No, not really. You know it makes makes hearing more comfortable,
but they're not devised to protect the hearing.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay do you think that, well we will get to
that technology or will still need the physical barrier no
matter what you've got. You might have fancy ear muffs
which can play your music as well, but effectively it's
always going to rely on the having that physical barrier
of something that's physically shielding.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Those Yeah, I think they're better than nothing, but they're
not designed to protect the hearing. But I'm sure that
somebody will come up with that, you know, get best
best of both worlds.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay, look, we'd like your calls on this as well.
By the way, so we're with doctor Michelle Nefh. He's
an E and T specialist. I think it's fair to
say E and T, which says ear, nose and throat.
It's really you're really the ear guy, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Do you do you have to cross out the tea
at some stage you go, well, no, I'll take a
look at it.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We still do the general nose and throat stuff, but
my subspecialty is ears and scullbes.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Actually, just while we're on it, I mean the old song.
This is going to be a dumb question the way
I phrase this, but anyway, I'm going to say, you know,
the old song and the hip bones connected to the
thigh bone, the thigh bones connected to such and such.
How often are problems you know, you've got ear nose
and throat? How often are they?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Is this?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Is there something that's you know, it's never just an
ear problem. It's always like, well, Okay, there's a there's
an issue here with you with your nasal passages or
this comes from a throat. I mean, how often do
those things tying together?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I mean I always do a general survey, and you know,
through the EU STATIONE tube, the ear is connected to
the NASA phernes to the back of the you know,
the area behind the nose, and therefore you know if
there's significant nasal disease, you know, allergies, infections, signers at
(16:37):
anoid's tumors in that area, it will affect the ears.
You know, often the middle ears. So definitely you can't
just sort of do ears and ignore all the rest
of it.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, okay, we go to tach your calls and look
here he is. He's he's available to take your course.
Of course, he's not gonna. I'm not sure we can
give any specific medical advice or anything, because it's one
thing to be on the radio, it's another thing to
be in in someone's surgery getting specific advice. But you've
got any questions about your hearing or something you'd like
to address, now is your time to give us a
(17:06):
call with doctor Michell and the anti specialist. He's with
us for the health hub eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
You can also text calls will take precedence, so.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
You know what to do.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Get on the blow. We'll be back in a moment.
It's twenty four past four news talk said b Right,
let's get him a bunch of calls with doctor Michell
and nef he's an E and T specialist of course,
with hearing on his side of the specialty. Right, Craig, Hello.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Get us.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Then how's it game?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Good? Thanks?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
A couple of things I've bought some. I bought it
some mus from my company in America a few years ago,
narctally Electronic one. We've got a microphone the outside and
speaker on the inside, and when the moist level gets
above a set in dB rating just cuts the sound off.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Noise can the.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Main mainly design for gun rangers and stuff like that
you can talk to people when you fire, and kind
of cuts it off to that quite any But my
question is I do quite a lot of diving and stuff,
and I find that sometimes it's very hard to equalize
my ears, and that sometimes sometimes it does and sometimes
it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Do it?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Is it something medical? Is it just sort of maybe
different conditions different times every year that can cause that.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Oh good question.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah, thanks for the question. The I mean, obviously we're
not made to dive or fly, you know, as humans,
So the use station tube that links to the back
of the nose is meant to work at sort of
normal pressure levels. But yes, it sort of. Your station
tube function can be affected by health conditions such as allergies,
(18:26):
calls or even recent calls. You know, two or three
weeks down the line, you might have trouble equalizing. There
are people who can't dive at all ever because they
cannot equalize. And some people always get problems when flying,
especially on descent, and you know, you get pilots other
airline staff who have real trouble and get gromets to
(18:48):
prevent that. That's obviously not a possibility for people who
are diving. But yeah, I don't think it's a huge
problem to worry about. It's unfortunate that it's your sort
of hobby, but you know, just make sure that you're well.
You can use a decongestin, for example, before you go diving.
(19:08):
That might tell, but just vince your nose with saline
and avoid diving if you sort of have had a
cold within the last two or three weeks before you dive.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, I know, I stay away from the got a
cold anything just SEMs to be random that I'm not
allergies or not cold, just rainy times you're in ear
does it and sometimes it doesn't. I'm just wondering maybe
it's humidity or different air conditions that can cause them.
I don't know what it is. It's not, it's not
a major problem. Just does it occasionally? Just what, well,
there's something I should look into it, whether it's just
part of nature and just you just to deal with it.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Really yeah, yeah, if it's just if it's the diving,
I wouldn't sort of start any medications. If your nose
is blogged during winter or spring or summer, then there
are things you can do, medications you can try, even
over the counter from the chemist. But you know, if
you're well, most of the time it just affects your diving,
(19:59):
I think I wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay, thanks great, Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Actually, can can people get checked out to see if
they are vulnerable from the point of view of equalizing
from diving or flying or whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Not not really something you have to do. You know,
there's no good test to test your station tube function,
you know, obviously if there's already dysfunction there. So if
people have fluid behind the ear drum or always have
negative pressure in the ear because of your station tube
doesn't equalize, we know that. And then the advice is
be careful with flying and diving. But you know, we
(20:34):
get people with normal middle ears and then they develop
problems when they're flying or diving.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Is it actually okay when you descend on an aircraft?
Another dumb question to you know, puff three your nose
and just fill that air up. That is that okay
to do it? Or is that you prefer it that
doesn't naturally?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, I think if you if you do it carefully,
you know, I would not sit there and forcefully do it,
you know, because you can actually cause sort of sudden
pressure changes in the middle ear and that can be
transmitted to the inner ear and cause inner ear sort
of long term and permanent hearing damage. And so you know,
if you do it, or if you ask somebody who
(21:11):
knows that they're going to have problems with on descent
when flying, I think doing something early on, just doing
something swallowing to try and equalize the ford completely blocks office.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay, I might have to be careful that. That's one
of my sons. Right, let's carry on. By the way,
somebody said as hearing loss of hereditary. They kind of
joined at the start of the programming. Yes, it absolutely
can be as you get older. Yeah, yeah, but not
not just hereditary in other words, so if you think
it's not hereditary, don't going to abuse your hearing cruise?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Could I not hello?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Hello? Do you need to tell me radio off on
the background? Mate?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (21:56):
Yes, perfect doctor? How are you?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Very nice. I have a problem with deviated septum and
it is basically very very severe during the spring time
to summer time.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, I mean the sort of if
if you if you have symptoms as a result of that,
then there are things you can do medically and surgically.
And most people probably have a deviated nasal septum, which
is not a problem at also devate it's just a
sort of cooked mid partition of the nose. But if
(22:38):
if you're symptomatic, that means that the nose is blocked,
and especially spring summer, it's probably a combination of that
plus some of the structures in the nose which are
the turbinates and they're sort of The medical options are
to use a spray such as a nasal spray, stoide,
nasal spray even medium long term to try and prevent
(23:00):
the nasal blockage. And if that doesn't work, then there
are surgical options. You can straighten the septum through an
incision on inside the nose and reduce the size of
structures in the nose that are called turbine. It's to
just make more space. So it's a common procedure. It's
a simple procedure, but you should always try non surgical
(23:21):
options first, and that's all that might be required for you.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I have tried the non surgical and as I grow
all that it's getting worse.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, sorry, carry on, Michelle.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I think it's worth having it examined. It If especially
you think, well, you're at a stage where you desperate
and want something done, then surgical surgery could become an option.
So seeing an E and T surgeon for that would
be a good idea. You can see somebody in private
or get a referral from your GP to the public
system and get your nose assessed.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Okay, hey, thanks for your cool mate. Just a quick
text here, This one from Colin says, I'm seventy two
years old. I've spent a lifetime use very loud brick
cutting saws. I have two hearing aids, but I live
on busy State Highway one, and while at home I
don't put my aids in because of the constant loud
road noise. Is this okay?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, I think the it's it's. I mean, if it's
just simply for comfort that you're not putting the hearing
aids in, then I would advise you to put them
in and get used to the noise. You're not doing
any additional damage with the hearing aids, and you get
used to hearing aids by using them all the time,
(24:40):
and that means getting used to the noises, which Nordly
we can switch off when we don't want to hear it.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Question.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, I think I Actually you might be touching on
something that he's so you might be suggesting that by
not wearing them constantly, he's almost building an intolerance to
it because when he puts them and he notices the noise,
as opposed to let your brain start doing the job
for you.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, you get sort of used to not hearing it,
so you get hyperacusis sort of sensitivity to noise when
you put the hearing aids in. But you want to
retrain the brand and use the hearing aids all the time,
even when it's quiet at home or when it's sort
of noisy from the motorway. I think it's important to
wear them.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, and actually motorway noise in a house is not
going to be causing your hearing losses. No, that would
be a worry, wouldn't it. Okay, Kat, Hello.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
Oh, good afternoon, Thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
So my question is around hearing aids and the lack
of effectiveness that they seem to provide for my mother,
who is adpour and we've been to the audiologist several
times to have them I don't know, I guess you
could say tuned. And while we're there, fine, he gives
(25:59):
all the ticks and she's good to go, and then inevitably,
after a little bit of time, she goes back to
not being able to hear us. And so it makes
for family conversations extremely difficult because we virtually have to
yell at her at a very close range. So it's
(26:20):
you know, it's a big hindrance in a conversation. Stop
her because you're constantly repeating, there's no room for humor,
or you know, things just get lost all the time.
And TV's up at one hundred volume. And how is
this to do with the hearing aids or could this
(26:40):
be possibly like a cognition issue or liquid in the
ear or something like that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I mean, all of this is possible, you know. I
think one of the important things is for her to
wear the hearing aids all the time, obviously having them
adjusted an audiology center. It's a very artificial and perfect
environment and often the ads work quite well there, but
then when you go to the real world it's not
like that. And yeah, we concentrate on I mean, the
(27:10):
hearing aids are designed to make sounds louder, but the
processing and transmission of sound to the brain is quite complex,
and you know, if there is a degree of cognitative
line or even with aging, the processing of sound is
not so good anymore. One of the things that often
doesn't get discussed hearing assistive devices. And these are devices
(27:34):
you might have heard about them for TVs for example,
that stream straight to the hearing aid and they can
be very useful. And then certainly you can turn the
hearing the hearing sorry, the TV right down because it
goes straight to the hearing it and your mum will
hear much better. But also you can get microphones or
where a microphone for that transmits straight to the hearing aids.
(27:58):
So in a smaller gathering it might be easier for
your mom to follow conversation and here then, but hearing
aids are not perfect. They will not give you normal hearing.
And if you have a very noisy environment with you know,
larger groups or music in the background, then it's always
going to be troublesome for her. So controlling the environment
(28:18):
is also important. Maybe sort of sitting with smaller groups
might be useful for her.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Sure that is that is what we do. It is
just two or three people at home. In terms of
the microphone, who who would be wearing that?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Sorry, you can wear that. There's something called a Roger pan.
You can wear it around your neck. You could go
to the room next door and talk to her. It
goes straight to the hearing aid and or you can
get little microphones you just put on the table in
the middle of where the conversation is happening, and that
can be very useful as well. And I've been to
meetings where you know, I've got several microphones on the
(28:57):
on the table and they're all good to stream to
different hearing aids. And also I've been to meetings where
every speeda was wearing a microphone and it goes straight
to the person who's got the hearing aids. Do you
get those part phones?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Where do you get those much?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Just from the audiologists. They're called hearing assistive devices, and
the audiologists will be able to talk to you about.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Okay, well that might be something to look into. Cat, Hey,
thanks for your call. We do have to take a break. Actually,
just quickly intuitively is and I know I've asked this
before that it's just for new listeners and things with
a hearing aid if they are amplifying certain frequencies. There's
a little bit like a dog chasting its tail that
if you're you know, you're turning something up naturally, is
that causing more damage ultimately because you've got a loud
(29:41):
noise which is compensating for something you can't hear. So
you turn it up, you turn it up, you turn
it up.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
No, that's not the case. So the hearing ads are
not damaging, they're helping. And I think that misconception comes
from the fact that, you know, once people start wearing
hearing as, they take the hearing it out and suddenly think, oh,
I can't hear so well anymore, and they just forget
how good the hearing was. So they don't cause damage
and tool share hearing excellent.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Hey, we'll be back in just a moment with doctor Michelle.
Need lots of calls and lots of texts as well.
I'll see if I can pick the eyes out of
some of those texts as well, and we'll be back
in just a tick. It's twenty to five News Talks.
He'd be as welcome back with You're with Tim Beverage
and doctor Michell Neef, his knee and t specialist. Now
Lynn sent this message on at the start of the show,
so I'm going to give her a read this one
out there. It sounds complicated, but here we go. Hi, Michelle,
(30:28):
I've been diagnosed with low frequency sensor neural loss, hearing
loss bilaterally and consequential tenatus following a course of being
a fene or tib and a fine or something which
I'm sure you know is an out a tooxic drug
that canon rerecases damage hearing. Will the hearing loss and
tenators get worth worse over time? Particularly I find the
(30:50):
tenator is extremely distressing. Any advice you have to manage
this awful condition be appreciated. Would it be worth going
to AUKL the Medical School tenators clinic, although it's rather costly.
I've lodged a treatment claim with a SEC due to
the rareness of this waiting decision. But yes, and she's
just acknowledged that as we discuss the causes of hearing
lots of complex that's from London.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
I wouldn't expect it to get worse as long as
she starts treating the tinatus actively, you know, doing something
about it. And we've talked about tenatives before, and it's
you know, masking techniques where you sort of find a
sound that sort of reduces the discomfort or the irritation
(31:30):
from the tinat is, but you have to use the
sound to volume where you can still just hear the
tenatus and it's not overbearing. If you mask it out
completely and you turn the masking sound off, it will
appear louder. I wouldn't expect it to get worse, but
I would actively started start to treat the tineatus. There
(31:53):
is I think there's several attus clinics. There are, there's
online help for tinatus. I think the Auckland University Tennis
clinic is very good, but very busy. I think they
closed down around COVID for a long time and I've
got a huge backup, and I think the online solutions
might be easier because.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
She's worried about the cost of it, but I mean
the cost mind in the secondary thing, that's whether you
can get in and what you're saying, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
I should also say I think just assuming that it's
due to the medication, you know, the low frequency here
and loss can be related to a medical condition where
you get high pressure. In the years, if she develops
any other symptoms like more tentatives, im balance, spinning, vertigo,
then she needs to see somebody to discuss that for
(32:40):
further management.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Okay, thanks for that, Michelle, Right Dell.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
Hello, Oh hi John. It's a proved you to hear you,
and I really enjoy your calls up to twelve o'clock
at night.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You don't know, hey Dell, I love your friendliness, but
with short a time, so how can we help.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
It's about ems to do with neurotransmitters, electro magnetics, frequencies
and chain tools and weed eat and scrub cutters.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
Please, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Worried about it. There has been research into that with
mobile phones and other electronic devices, and it's you know,
it doesn't affect the you know you're hearing.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Okay, that's a simple answer for you there, Dell. Yeah, okay,
I think we'll move it on there because we do
have to. Hey Dell, I love that you love the
show though, but so thank you so much for that.
I'll be hello, We'll believing.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
Hi doctor, I've been serving since I was ten years old,
excuse me. And I went completely deaf when I was
forty because my cranium locked off my hearing. So I
had to go into the earnos and throat and they
(33:55):
cut my ear off and taped it to the side
of my face and a three and a half hour
operation drawing at the bone. And it's same thing when
I was forty four.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
But yeah, the.
Speaker 7 (34:14):
Surgeons said it was most important too. Where I don't
cover over your primeium, just stop the cold getting you know.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, I think what you're describing is surface ear, and
that's surface ears where you form a new bone off
the ear canal. And you know, every time you get
cold water exposure in some patients, that results in irritation
of the lining of bone, new bone formation. If you
imagine new bone formation keeping up more and more and more,
(34:48):
it ultimately leads to obstruction of the ear canal. You
get what's called the conductive hearing loss wuhare. You can
get recount infections, complete blockage, in which case you can
have an operation mostly through an incision or cut behind
the ear and essentially rebirth canal. It's a useful and
(35:09):
good operation. But yeah, you can avoid this operation if
you're a surfer by keeping your ears dry and warm.
Speaker 7 (35:17):
Yeah, and I understand their doctor. They can just put
the thing into your ear and it onbrates and shades
the bone.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Is that true, Yeah, it's yeah. It's it's called a
Feuser electric device. I don't use it. I think using
a normal drill is far safe and more effective. The
operation doesn't take me that long, so it really depends
on the person who does the procedure. But I would
(35:51):
advise to have done by somebody who does ears all
the time and use a proper drill.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Did they say he cut his whole ear off?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
No, they would have lifted the ear forwards, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, I mean as possibly it could have been about
thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
They wouldn't have They wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Have got butously one of my callers after midnight and
here is a surfer, so yeah, right right, hang on
a second, shall we go to Allison Allison, good day.
Speaker 8 (36:26):
Hello, we have a truth extracted. Can that cause a
lot of hearing at all?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Oh? Not really? If I've seen sort of major mixico
facial operations where the Eustachian tube got affected, but normally
it wouldn't affect it.
Speaker 8 (36:44):
Right, I had just one truth extracted, and it seemed
to be very busy in that ear for quite a
long time after for days after that. I think it's
a lot of hearing, just a buzzy sort of a feeling.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, it probably just because you know, from if there
was drilling involved, more lots of tracking and sounds, then
you know, transmits to that in a year. But I mean,
if you're worried about damage, then get a hearing test.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Okay, thanks Alison?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I've quit text before we go to the break. Somebody's
just observing that callers who don't wear their hearing aids
at home are like people who choose not to wear
their false teeth. Uh is there any useful analogy there, Michelle,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think it looks looks better wearing good teeth. I
don't think you'd notice if you don't wear your hearing age,
but I would still advise to wear the hearing aids.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, okay, right, we'll be back in just a second's
nine minutes to five news talks. It'd be it's news talks.
It'd be with doctor Michelle, Michelle Neath and we're very
short of time some mic Hello.
Speaker 4 (37:44):
Yeah, I'll keep it simple. I'm glad I can hear
you guys. I've got I think what the call age
related to generation, and as make sure that I get
a waxe build up on my ears rather quickly, which
is a real newsance, because when I'm using hearing aids,
the wage build up teems to clog that up and
make the hearing age ineffective. I know I can get
a regular ear clean, but those using a product like
(38:08):
wax fees on a regular basis, would that address the
wax build up any quicker or effectively?
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Unfortunately not, you know, it's it's a real problem with
sort of patients who were hearing aids and have significant
mix obstruction because obviously the hearing aids stops the WX
from being pushed out of the ear canal. I would
not advise any any drops or anything like that because
it just dilutes the wax and will probably contribute to
the blockage. And unfortunately, regular ear cleaning is or that's
(38:41):
that can be done for you.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Gosh, okay then ye there, yep, yeah.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
The other thing is tonight I have that people that
don't have it just don't understand what you hear when
you're talking about crickets in your ears. They just don't
get it. Yeah, anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So that's just some people just create a lot of wax.
They just produced a lot of wax, and that's the
way it is. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and it can get worse with time, and obviously
if you block it your canos off with a hearing aid,
then it can be a real problem.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Hey, how many people I mean, I don't mean this,
how many people do we need specialists like you?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Do?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
We need in New Zeland. How short are we?
Speaker 3 (39:23):
I can't give you the exact numbers, but.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I don't imagine you're imagine you're pretty busy all the time.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Yeah, I think we're busy, but I think there are areas.
I mean, Auckland's pretty well sort of, you know, has
got a good supply of n T surgeon. I think
if you go to to some of the smaller centers
it is quite dismal. If you go to New Plymbus,
Palmerson North, they're quite short off in T specialists.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
You're taking a break over Christmas, Yeah, a little bit,
a little bit, just a couple of days, a couple
of weeks. Hey, Michelle, thank you so much for joining
us this year on the show. We really appreciate the
time you've made for us, and I'm sure people have
got a lot out of it.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
No, it was good fun. Thanks for all the calls
and thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
We look forward. We'll be hitting you up again next year.
Have a great break, Okay, see bye bye. We'll be
back next with Smart Money on News Talk. Sib A
mana morale is with us. It's yeah, it's just coming
up to three minutes to.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Five for more from the Weekend Collective.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Listen live to news talks It'd be weekends from three pm,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yes, welcome back. So with the Weekend Collective. I'm Tim
Beverage and this is the Health Hope. We want your
calls on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and text
on nine two ninety two. And look, do I guess
the question is do we all know how damaging loud
and constant sounds can be to our hearing? But of
course there are a lot of factors that can impact
(00:52):
hearing that most of us would net, but that we
might not consider. Things like smoking, apparently even secondhand smoke.
You'd think that was, you know, bad just for your lungs,
and things cold, win too much water. I'm seeing a
list here. We'll run by our expert. We're going to
reduce in a moment. But there's a lot of things
you might not consider to be dangerous. To be honest,
I've always thought that the problem with hearing is that
(01:12):
you don't really I think people do damage their hearing
unwittingly without ever considering that they've put themselves in that situation.
But that's just my reckoning. But it may be because
I've had a career, you know, with music as well.
And there have been times where, in fact, I got
very very good advice in one of the shows that
I toured with when we had in the air monitors
and they said, the producers said, we're going to set
(01:35):
these now and we're not going to change the limits
for the whole tour. Don't ask for us to turn
it up because you want us to turn it up,
and we're not going to do it. And I think
that's a bit of a danger for your hearing. Anyway.
That's just digressing a bit. But what are the signs
to look out for for you or a loved one
that they might need to get their hearing checked? And
how do you go about having that conversation with them?
That's an interesting one. I've told you twice you need
(01:57):
your hearing checked. I'm not sure that's a serious way
to discuss the issue, but anyway, we're going to find
a serious way to discuss the issue. Because he's an
E and T specially and his name is doctor Michel
Neath and he's with us for the health up and Michelle,
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Thanks mating me.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Tim.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
How are you good?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Are you somewhere Sonny at the moment.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
No no, I was working in the garden yesterday. It
was sonny.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, oh that's good, that's good, I are there. We
would people be surprised at the things that actually can
cause damage to your hearing without realizing.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I think so, I mean, we all know about genetics.
I assume we all know about noise and ucedeering loss.
There's been a lot of work in that field, but
there are other things we don't talk about, and they
can affect the hearing as well. So a lot of
the lifestyle choices we make can affect hearing other than
(02:56):
noise exposure, as well as some uncontrollable things like the
genetics health problems that we've got.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
How many people would actually be aware of a genetic
connection to hearing loss? Mean, would they just go on
my grandma? You know she had hearing aids, So therefore
we're going to be you know.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, I think. I mean, in children, we know it's genetic.
A lot of the kids get born with a degree
of hearing loss or profound hearing loss that needs to
be managed. But I think the sort of hearing loss
of aging is also often related to genetics. You know,
you get people with perfect hearing up to very high age,
(03:33):
and then you get people who start losing their hearing
early on in life, you know. So that is all
sort of our programming and the under underlying genetics that
actually does that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Did you, as you were studying what you know, your
your specialty, did you become paranoid yourself about your own
hearing when the more you learn, you know? So I
always think it's like if you do a google on
any sort of health condition you turn, you go a
little bit crazy. But when you study it formally and
have you had a particular journey in that respect of
(04:06):
being more aware of things that you should be careful with.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I think noise, you know, I think my father had
a hearing loss, and I was aware of hearing loss
early on in life, and so I've been careful with noise,
wearing ear muffs and not being crazy about loud music,
but obviously growing up going to a bass and discotheques,
and you know, we used to listen to a loud
(04:33):
music without hearing protection. But certainly as I aged myself,
I've become more aware and more careful about about that,
you know. But you know, the other lifestyle things, you know,
like a lot of things we just do without sort
of causing any hearing loss. But some people have lifestyle
choices which definitely can affect the hearing as well, and then.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Might not be aware of that such as well.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I mean, you know, we all know that smoking is
not healthy, for example, but that's a big thing, and
that's smoking and cigarettes as well as vaping, and it's
simply related to the nicotine and it's basic or constrictive
effect on the blood vessels to the inner ear. It
can also you know, there's some of the toxins in
smoke can also affect the nerves as well as the
(05:23):
pathways and the brain, affecting hearing. And you know, everybody
worries about lunheads and everything, which is fair enough and important,
probably more important in many cases, but it does have
an effect on hearing as well.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So that's from that, not from smoke. That's from nicotine.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It's well in what's in smoke, you know, it's the
nicotine as well as the toxins in smoke, and some
of them are neurotoxins and the affect the neuropathways.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So does that mean because vapor, I mean, vaping does
seem to disappear from the conversation a lot and recently,
which I'm hoping is a good, good thing. But of
course a lot of people were drawn to vaping who
weren't you smokers. But the nicotine delivery in vaping can
be a lot higher than a cigarette. There's absolutely what
(06:11):
can you tell us about the vaping side.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I think it's you know, whether the you know what
the effect of the higher doors is. It's hard to say,
but essentially vaping in terms of just speaking by hearing
has got exactly the same effect as cigarettes on hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Wow, I must say, as I was reading the introduction,
I saw that I thought, really, I was wondering because
I've always I've always assumed that as we get older
we just lose our hearing because it's a cumulative effect
of the fact that we probably have all experienced too
much noise from time to time, and eventually it's going
to catch up with you. But is that not necessarily case?
(06:50):
Can I be optimistic that.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You can be? You can be you know, if you
haven't done any noise damage at this stage, you know
it's not going to happen. So the damage of noise,
the noise induced hearing loss, happens at the time of
the noise exposed YEA and so, and it produces a
particular pattern on a hearing test, And if you haven't
got that, then you know it's most slightly not due
(07:14):
to noise. The hearing loss of hearing typically has got
a high frequency hearing So the hearing loss of aging
has got a high frequency hearing loss. And that's sort
of typical for what's called presspi corses, and that's often
related to genetics, but then they're varieties of that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So just for a bit of context, a loud pub
so you know, everyone's just having a good time this
time of the year. I mean, everyone's having their end
of year functions. Okay, if you know, if you go
into the disco part and they've got the music pumping,
you're probably damaging your hearings since you walk in there.
But what of just what are the loud social settings?
What's the sort of tolerance on every I know, it's
(07:54):
difficult to sum it up, isn't it, But yeah, most
most places have got hard floors, hard ceilings, loud conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah yeah, I mean sort of terrible environment for hearing.
But I think in general, if you have to shout
to make yourself understood. The pub is probably too loud,
you know. And if you spend you know, sort of
in some time in a pub at eighty five ninety
ninety five decibels, which you know, with a loud music
(08:24):
and yelling and poor acoustics is possible, then you probably
do some damage at some stage. So if you sort
of spend a lot of time there sort of accumulatively,
you will end up with a noise induced hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Is that cumulatively either at the course of an evening
or cumulatively over the course of months years.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, I mean it's a sort of a little bit
the debate that there's something called temporary threshold shrift, and
that's and you may have experienced that after sort of
going to a pub or listening to music you walk
out of that room or that establishment and think you
can't hear, or you get tentatives or the ears field blocked,
and that's sort of the mechanism to protect the ear
(09:08):
and bring the hearing down, the sort of reduce the
noise that goes into the ear. But that might already
be a sign of early hearing damage. And so if
you do that often enough over years, then you probably
end up with some noise induced hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So that temporal adjustment is that a bodies your body's
way of maybe protecting you. But in doing so, is
this still damage anyway?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yes, it implied applies the damage. The sort of the
ways of us testing the hearing is fairly cruel to
we do a hearing test, but it doesn't go into
the you know, we cannot tell what the fine what
happened to the fine structures of the inner ear, And
so there's probably a degree of hair cell loss or
some effect onto the supply of energy to the hearing
(09:59):
cells sort of you know, ear damage and over time
is a cumul it's cumulative and the hearing will be affected.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
How effective do you think we are getting the message
out about looking for after a hearing because I've always
thought that the last thing that young people ever think about. So,
you know, they go for run, they spray in their ankle,
acc I've got to fix my ankle. You know, there's
all sorts of things they'll think about. If they get hungover,
they think maybe I need to not drink so much.
(10:29):
I'm not How how is the message getting through to
people about protecting their hearing because now we have increasing
use of EarPods and earphones and people wanted to turn
it up. Yeah, do we really take this seriously enough?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I think we're better, but I think there's still work
to be done. You know, a lot of the a
sc assessments are due for nice induced hearing loss of
elderly patients that had noise exposure early on in their
working life. They often report that they never used any
ear muffs, and looking around today, most people in noisy
(11:06):
work environs would wear earmuphs are but I think what
you're mentioning sort of the AirPods and listening to loud music,
that could be a problem in the future. There's been
a big push at schools through the university audiology department
to get the message out there, but it has to
(11:28):
be ongoing because you know, as you know, kids and teenagers,
they you know, they're not vulnerable. They're just sort of
ignore the message and expose themselves to loud sound and
music and will cause hearing loss. And that's potentially something
that we'll see once they hit the work you know,
(11:49):
the workforce, or later on in love, when they actually
become aware of their hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So something like this a lot of course these days,
if you're maying the lawn with an electric mar I'm
not sure how loud it gets. But the good old
fashioned petrol lawnmark you spend twenty minutes half an hour
bend the lawns and you're not wearing earmufs. What's what's
the take on that?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That's that's not good? You know, I think the noise
level is much much higher. I think you're looking at
ninety five one hundred decibel, and if the muffler is broken,
even higher, you know, so you know, every five decibels
it's sort of les's eighty five decibels. You can have
exploded for eight hours before damage, that's what accs say,
and then at ninety it's four hours, ninety five it's
(12:29):
two hours, so you can imagine then you know, if
you do that, plus chop a few trees with your
chainsaw that's a few years old, and other noisy things,
then you will cause some damage in your recreational life.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean, I know there's a lot of trivial questions
I'm getting onto here, but just before we take calls
from people as well, what about I mean, even the
electric devices I guess if you're doing anything that's like
even mon in the lawn and stuff, or you're an
electric chainsaw, you probably should be wearing a MUFS for
any sort of mechanical device.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah, and most most devices have got a warning on them,
you know, so if it sort of I think there's
I think they must put the noise level these devices now.
And you know, and even if a machine is not noisy,
and if you use a chainsaw, a circular saw and
start cutting wood, it actually adds to this sound as well.
(13:16):
You know, it's not just what it says on the device,
but also what you do with it, you know. And
I would just wear your muss anywhere it gets. You
used to make sure that you buy some and you
have them and you really need them. Ah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I've got a text here from someone and it ties
I'm guessing it ties into noise canceling technology. But Muzz
says it's ironic. I'm listening to this with my ear
pods in while I'm mowing the lawn. Ah, can we
can we help, Muzz. I'm guessing you must have canceling
(13:48):
ear pods. They make noise canceling today.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, I guess it depends on how much he hears
off his off his lawn mower. You know, I mean
an air pod or you know, anything like this is
not actually designed to muffle out hearing. It's not hearing protection.
If he does that, he should still wear something over
his had to protect us in a year from noise damage.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Okay, so what are we telling him? We should telling
him he needs to put the ear muffs on as well,
muzz Yeah, ear.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Muffs and it is in Auckland today. Should also put
sunscreen on?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, good point, Good point. We'll do metolog system for
that side of thing. So not just another text following
that up, but I think it's the same question a
noise canceling headphones. Can they be a substitute for ear
muffs with increasing technology?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Hm?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
No, not really. You know it makes makes hearing more comfortable,
but they're not devised to protect the hearing.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay do you think that, well we will get to
that technology or will still need the physical barrier no
matter what you've got. You might have fancy ear muffs
which can play your music as well, but effectively it's
always going to rely on the having that physical barrier
of something that's physically shielding.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Those Yeah, I think they're better than nothing, but they're
not designed to protect the hearing. But I'm sure that
somebody will come up with that, you know, get best
best of both worlds.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay, look, we'd like your calls on this as well.
By the way, so we're with doctor Michelle Nefh. He's
an E and T specialist. I think it's fair to
say E and T, which says ear, nose and throat.
It's really you're really the ear guy, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Do you do you have to cross out the tea
at some stage you go, well, no, I'll take a
look at it.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We still do the general nose and throat stuff, but
my subspecialty is ears and scullbes.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Actually, just while we're on it, I mean the old song.
This is going to be a dumb question the way
I phrase this, but anyway, I'm going to say, you know,
the old song and the hip bones connected to the
thigh bone, the thigh bones connected to such and such.
How often are problems you know, you've got ear nose
and throat? How often are they?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Is this?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Is there something that's you know, it's never just an
ear problem. It's always like, well, Okay, there's a there's
an issue here with you with your nasal passages or
this comes from a throat. I mean, how often do
those things tying together?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I mean I always do a general survey, and you know,
through the EU STATIONE tube, the ear is connected to
the NASA phernes to the back of the you know,
the area behind the nose, and therefore you know if
there's significant nasal disease, you know, allergies, infections, signers at
(16:37):
anoid's tumors in that area, it will affect the ears.
You know, often the middle ears. So definitely you can't
just sort of do ears and ignore all the rest
of it.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, okay, we go to tach your calls and look
here he is. He's he's available to take your course.
Of course, he's not gonna. I'm not sure we can
give any specific medical advice or anything, because it's one
thing to be on the radio, it's another thing to
be in in someone's surgery getting specific advice. But you've
got any questions about your hearing or something you'd like
to address, now is your time to give us a
(17:06):
call with doctor Michell and the anti specialist. He's with
us for the health hub eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
You can also text calls will take precedence, so.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
You know what to do.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Get on the blow. We'll be back in a moment.
It's twenty four past four news talk said b Right,
let's get him a bunch of calls with doctor Michell
and nef he's an E and T specialist of course,
with hearing on his side of the specialty. Right, Craig, Hello.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Get us.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Then how's it game?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Good? Thanks?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
A couple of things I've bought some. I bought it
some mus from my company in America a few years ago,
narctally Electronic one. We've got a microphone the outside and
speaker on the inside, and when the moist level gets
above a set in dB rating just cuts the sound off.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Noise can the.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Main mainly design for gun rangers and stuff like that
you can talk to people when you fire, and kind
of cuts it off to that quite any But my
question is I do quite a lot of diving and stuff,
and I find that sometimes it's very hard to equalize
my ears, and that sometimes sometimes it does and sometimes
it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Do it?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Is it something medical? Is it just sort of maybe
different conditions different times every year that can cause that.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Oh good question.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah, thanks for the question. The I mean, obviously we're
not made to dive or fly, you know, as humans,
So the use station tube that links to the back
of the nose is meant to work at sort of
normal pressure levels. But yes, it sort of. Your station
tube function can be affected by health conditions such as allergies,
(18:26):
calls or even recent calls. You know, two or three
weeks down the line, you might have trouble equalizing. There
are people who can't dive at all ever because they
cannot equalize. And some people always get problems when flying,
especially on descent, and you know, you get pilots other
airline staff who have real trouble and get gromets to
(18:48):
prevent that. That's obviously not a possibility for people who
are diving. But yeah, I don't think it's a huge
problem to worry about. It's unfortunate that it's your sort
of hobby, but you know, just make sure that you're well.
You can use a decongestin, for example, before you go diving.
(19:08):
That might tell, but just vince your nose with saline
and avoid diving if you sort of have had a
cold within the last two or three weeks before you dive.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, I know, I stay away from the got a
cold anything just SEMs to be random that I'm not
allergies or not cold, just rainy times you're in ear
does it and sometimes it doesn't. I'm just wondering maybe
it's humidity or different air conditions that can cause them.
I don't know what it is. It's not, it's not
a major problem. Just does it occasionally? Just what, well,
there's something I should look into it, whether it's just
part of nature and just you just to deal with it.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Really yeah, yeah, if it's just if it's the diving,
I wouldn't sort of start any medications. If your nose
is blogged during winter or spring or summer, then there
are things you can do, medications you can try, even
over the counter from the chemist. But you know, if
you're well, most of the time it just affects your diving,
(19:59):
I think I wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay, thanks great, Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Actually, can can people get checked out to see if
they are vulnerable from the point of view of equalizing
from diving or flying or whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Not not really something you have to do. You know,
there's no good test to test your station tube function,
you know, obviously if there's already dysfunction there. So if
people have fluid behind the ear drum or always have
negative pressure in the ear because of your station tube
doesn't equalize, we know that. And then the advice is
be careful with flying and diving. But you know, we
(20:34):
get people with normal middle ears and then they develop
problems when they're flying or diving.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Is it actually okay when you descend on an aircraft?
Another dumb question to you know, puff three your nose
and just fill that air up. That is that okay
to do it? Or is that you prefer it that
doesn't naturally?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, I think if you if you do it carefully,
you know, I would not sit there and forcefully do it,
you know, because you can actually cause sort of sudden
pressure changes in the middle ear and that can be
transmitted to the inner ear and cause inner ear sort
of long term and permanent hearing damage. And so you know,
if you do it, or if you ask somebody who
(21:11):
knows that they're going to have problems with on descent
when flying, I think doing something early on, just doing
something swallowing to try and equalize the ford completely blocks office.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay, I might have to be careful that. That's one
of my sons. Right, let's carry on. By the way,
somebody said as hearing loss of hereditary. They kind of
joined at the start of the programming. Yes, it absolutely
can be as you get older. Yeah, yeah, but not
not just hereditary in other words, so if you think
it's not hereditary, don't going to abuse your hearing cruise?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Could I not hello?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Hello? Do you need to tell me radio off on
the background? Mate?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (21:56):
Yes, perfect doctor? How are you?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Very nice. I have a problem with deviated septum and
it is basically very very severe during the spring time
to summer time.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, I mean the sort of if
if you if you have symptoms as a result of that,
then there are things you can do medically and surgically.
And most people probably have a deviated nasal septum, which
is not a problem at also devate it's just a
sort of cooked mid partition of the nose. But if
(22:38):
if you're symptomatic, that means that the nose is blocked,
and especially spring summer, it's probably a combination of that
plus some of the structures in the nose which are
the turbinates and they're sort of The medical options are
to use a spray such as a nasal spray, stoide,
nasal spray even medium long term to try and prevent
(23:00):
the nasal blockage. And if that doesn't work, then there
are surgical options. You can straighten the septum through an
incision on inside the nose and reduce the size of
structures in the nose that are called turbine. It's to
just make more space. So it's a common procedure. It's
a simple procedure, but you should always try non surgical
(23:21):
options first, and that's all that might be required for you.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I have tried the non surgical and as I grow
all that it's getting worse.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, sorry, carry on, Michelle.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I think it's worth having it examined. It If especially
you think, well, you're at a stage where you desperate
and want something done, then surgical surgery could become an option.
So seeing an E and T surgeon for that would
be a good idea. You can see somebody in private
or get a referral from your GP to the public
system and get your nose assessed.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Okay, hey, thanks for your cool mate. Just a quick
text here, This one from Colin says, I'm seventy two
years old. I've spent a lifetime use very loud brick
cutting saws. I have two hearing aids, but I live
on busy State Highway one, and while at home I
don't put my aids in because of the constant loud
road noise. Is this okay?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, I think the it's it's. I mean, if it's
just simply for comfort that you're not putting the hearing
aids in, then I would advise you to put them
in and get used to the noise. You're not doing
any additional damage with the hearing aids, and you get
used to hearing aids by using them all the time,
(24:40):
and that means getting used to the noises, which Nordly
we can switch off when we don't want to hear it.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Question.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, I think I Actually you might be touching on
something that he's so you might be suggesting that by
not wearing them constantly, he's almost building an intolerance to
it because when he puts them and he notices the noise,
as opposed to let your brain start doing the job
for you.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, you get sort of used to not hearing it,
so you get hyperacusis sort of sensitivity to noise when
you put the hearing aids in. But you want to
retrain the brand and use the hearing aids all the time,
even when it's quiet at home or when it's sort
of noisy from the motorway. I think it's important to
wear them.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, and actually motorway noise in a house is not
going to be causing your hearing losses. No, that would
be a worry, wouldn't it. Okay, Kat, Hello.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
Oh, good afternoon, Thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
So my question is around hearing aids and the lack
of effectiveness that they seem to provide for my mother,
who is adpour and we've been to the audiologist several
times to have them I don't know, I guess you
could say tuned. And while we're there, fine, he gives
(25:59):
all the ticks and she's good to go, and then inevitably,
after a little bit of time, she goes back to
not being able to hear us. And so it makes
for family conversations extremely difficult because we virtually have to
yell at her at a very close range. So it's
(26:20):
you know, it's a big hindrance in a conversation. Stop
her because you're constantly repeating, there's no room for humor,
or you know, things just get lost all the time.
And TV's up at one hundred volume. And how is
this to do with the hearing aids or could this
(26:40):
be possibly like a cognition issue or liquid in the
ear or something like that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I mean, all of this is possible, you know. I
think one of the important things is for her to
wear the hearing aids all the time, obviously having them
adjusted an audiology center. It's a very artificial and perfect
environment and often the ads work quite well there, but
then when you go to the real world it's not
like that. And yeah, we concentrate on I mean, the
(27:10):
hearing aids are designed to make sounds louder, but the
processing and transmission of sound to the brain is quite complex,
and you know, if there is a degree of cognitative
line or even with aging, the processing of sound is
not so good anymore. One of the things that often
doesn't get discussed hearing assistive devices. And these are devices
(27:34):
you might have heard about them for TVs for example,
that stream straight to the hearing aid and they can
be very useful. And then certainly you can turn the
hearing the hearing sorry, the TV right down because it
goes straight to the hearing it and your mum will
hear much better. But also you can get microphones or
where a microphone for that transmits straight to the hearing aids.
(27:58):
So in a smaller gathering it might be easier for
your mom to follow conversation and here then, but hearing
aids are not perfect. They will not give you normal hearing.
And if you have a very noisy environment with you know,
larger groups or music in the background, then it's always
going to be troublesome for her. So controlling the environment
(28:18):
is also important. Maybe sort of sitting with smaller groups
might be useful for her.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Sure that is that is what we do. It is
just two or three people at home. In terms of
the microphone, who who would be wearing that?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Sorry, you can wear that. There's something called a Roger pan.
You can wear it around your neck. You could go
to the room next door and talk to her. It
goes straight to the hearing aid and or you can
get little microphones you just put on the table in
the middle of where the conversation is happening, and that
can be very useful as well. And I've been to
meetings where you know, I've got several microphones on the
(28:57):
on the table and they're all good to stream to
different hearing aids. And also I've been to meetings where
every speeda was wearing a microphone and it goes straight
to the person who's got the hearing aids. Do you
get those part phones?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Where do you get those much?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Just from the audiologists. They're called hearing assistive devices, and
the audiologists will be able to talk to you about.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Okay, well that might be something to look into. Cat, Hey,
thanks for your call. We do have to take a break. Actually,
just quickly intuitively is and I know I've asked this
before that it's just for new listeners and things with
a hearing aid if they are amplifying certain frequencies. There's
a little bit like a dog chasting its tail that
if you're you know, you're turning something up naturally, is
that causing more damage ultimately because you've got a loud
(29:41):
noise which is compensating for something you can't hear. So
you turn it up, you turn it up, you turn
it up.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
No, that's not the case. So the hearing ads are
not damaging, they're helping. And I think that misconception comes
from the fact that, you know, once people start wearing
hearing as, they take the hearing it out and suddenly think, oh,
I can't hear so well anymore, and they just forget
how good the hearing was. So they don't cause damage
and tool share hearing excellent.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Hey, we'll be back in just a moment with doctor Michelle.
Need lots of calls and lots of texts as well.
I'll see if I can pick the eyes out of
some of those texts as well, and we'll be back
in just a tick. It's twenty to five News Talks.
He'd be as welcome back with You're with Tim Beverage
and doctor Michell Neef, his knee and t specialist. Now
Lynn sent this message on at the start of the show,
so I'm going to give her a read this one
out there. It sounds complicated, but here we go. Hi, Michelle,
(30:28):
I've been diagnosed with low frequency sensor neural loss, hearing
loss bilaterally and consequential tenatus following a course of being
a fene or tib and a fine or something which
I'm sure you know is an out a tooxic drug
that canon rerecases damage hearing. Will the hearing loss and
tenators get worth worse over time? Particularly I find the
(30:50):
tenator is extremely distressing. Any advice you have to manage
this awful condition be appreciated. Would it be worth going
to AUKL the Medical School tenators clinic, although it's rather costly.
I've lodged a treatment claim with a SEC due to
the rareness of this waiting decision. But yes, and she's
just acknowledged that as we discuss the causes of hearing
lots of complex that's from London.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
I wouldn't expect it to get worse as long as
she starts treating the tinatus actively, you know, doing something
about it. And we've talked about tenatives before, and it's
you know, masking techniques where you sort of find a
sound that sort of reduces the discomfort or the irritation
(31:30):
from the tinat is, but you have to use the
sound to volume where you can still just hear the
tenatus and it's not overbearing. If you mask it out
completely and you turn the masking sound off, it will
appear louder. I wouldn't expect it to get worse, but
I would actively started start to treat the tineatus. There
(31:53):
is I think there's several attus clinics. There are, there's
online help for tinatus. I think the Auckland University Tennis
clinic is very good, but very busy. I think they
closed down around COVID for a long time and I've
got a huge backup, and I think the online solutions
might be easier because.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
She's worried about the cost of it, but I mean
the cost mind in the secondary thing, that's whether you
can get in and what you're saying, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
I should also say I think just assuming that it's
due to the medication, you know, the low frequency here
and loss can be related to a medical condition where
you get high pressure. In the years, if she develops
any other symptoms like more tentatives, im balance, spinning, vertigo,
then she needs to see somebody to discuss that for
(32:40):
further management.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Okay, thanks for that, Michelle, Right Dell.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
Hello, Oh hi John. It's a proved you to hear you,
and I really enjoy your calls up to twelve o'clock
at night.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You don't know, hey Dell, I love your friendliness, but
with short a time, so how can we help.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
It's about ems to do with neurotransmitters, electro magnetics, frequencies
and chain tools and weed eat and scrub cutters.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
Please, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Worried about it. There has been research into that with
mobile phones and other electronic devices, and it's you know,
it doesn't affect the you know you're hearing.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Okay, that's a simple answer for you there, Dell. Yeah, okay,
I think we'll move it on there because we do
have to. Hey Dell, I love that you love the
show though, but so thank you so much for that.
I'll be hello, We'll believing.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
Hi doctor, I've been serving since I was ten years old,
excuse me. And I went completely deaf when I was
forty because my cranium locked off my hearing. So I
had to go into the earnos and throat and they
(33:55):
cut my ear off and taped it to the side
of my face and a three and a half hour
operation drawing at the bone. And it's same thing when
I was forty four.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
But yeah, the.
Speaker 7 (34:14):
Surgeons said it was most important too. Where I don't
cover over your primeium, just stop the cold getting you know.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, I think what you're describing is surface ear, and
that's surface ears where you form a new bone off
the ear canal. And you know, every time you get
cold water exposure in some patients, that results in irritation
of the lining of bone, new bone formation. If you
imagine new bone formation keeping up more and more and more,
(34:48):
it ultimately leads to obstruction of the ear canal. You
get what's called the conductive hearing loss wuhare. You can
get recount infections, complete blockage, in which case you can
have an operation mostly through an incision or cut behind
the ear and essentially rebirth canal. It's a useful and
(35:09):
good operation. But yeah, you can avoid this operation if
you're a surfer by keeping your ears dry and warm.
Speaker 7 (35:17):
Yeah, and I understand their doctor. They can just put
the thing into your ear and it onbrates and shades
the bone.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Is that true, Yeah, it's yeah. It's it's called a
Feuser electric device. I don't use it. I think using
a normal drill is far safe and more effective. The
operation doesn't take me that long, so it really depends
on the person who does the procedure. But I would
(35:51):
advise to have done by somebody who does ears all
the time and use a proper drill.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Did they say he cut his whole ear off?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
No, they would have lifted the ear forwards, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, I mean as possibly it could have been about
thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
They wouldn't have They wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Have got butously one of my callers after midnight and
here is a surfer, so yeah, right right, hang on
a second, shall we go to Allison Allison, good day.
Speaker 8 (36:26):
Hello, we have a truth extracted. Can that cause a
lot of hearing at all?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Oh? Not really? If I've seen sort of major mixico
facial operations where the Eustachian tube got affected, but normally
it wouldn't affect it.
Speaker 8 (36:44):
Right, I had just one truth extracted, and it seemed
to be very busy in that ear for quite a
long time after for days after that. I think it's
a lot of hearing, just a buzzy sort of a feeling.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, it probably just because you know, from if there
was drilling involved, more lots of tracking and sounds, then
you know, transmits to that in a year. But I mean,
if you're worried about damage, then get a hearing test.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Okay, thanks Alison?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I've quit text before we go to the break. Somebody's
just observing that callers who don't wear their hearing aids
at home are like people who choose not to wear
their false teeth. Uh is there any useful analogy there, Michelle,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think it looks looks better wearing good teeth. I
don't think you'd notice if you don't wear your hearing age,
but I would still advise to wear the hearing aids.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, okay, right, we'll be back in just a second's
nine minutes to five news talks. It'd be it's news talks.
It'd be with doctor Michelle, Michelle Neath and we're very
short of time some mic Hello.
Speaker 4 (37:44):
Yeah, I'll keep it simple. I'm glad I can hear
you guys. I've got I think what the call age
related to generation, and as make sure that I get
a waxe build up on my ears rather quickly, which
is a real newsance, because when I'm using hearing aids,
the wage build up teems to clog that up and
make the hearing age ineffective. I know I can get
a regular ear clean, but those using a product like
(38:08):
wax fees on a regular basis, would that address the
wax build up any quicker or effectively?
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Unfortunately not, you know, it's it's a real problem with
sort of patients who were hearing aids and have significant
mix obstruction because obviously the hearing aids stops the WX
from being pushed out of the ear canal. I would
not advise any any drops or anything like that because
it just dilutes the wax and will probably contribute to
the blockage. And unfortunately, regular ear cleaning is or that's
(38:41):
that can be done for you.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Gosh, okay then ye there, yep, yeah.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
The other thing is tonight I have that people that
don't have it just don't understand what you hear when
you're talking about crickets in your ears. They just don't
get it. Yeah, anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So that's just some people just create a lot of wax.
They just produced a lot of wax, and that's the
way it is. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and it can get worse with time, and obviously
if you block it your canos off with a hearing aid,
then it can be a real problem.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Hey, how many people I mean, I don't mean this,
how many people do we need specialists like you?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Do?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
We need in New Zeland. How short are we?
Speaker 3 (39:23):
I can't give you the exact numbers, but.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I don't imagine you're imagine you're pretty busy all the time.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Yeah, I think we're busy, but I think there are areas.
I mean, Auckland's pretty well sort of, you know, has
got a good supply of n T surgeon. I think
if you go to to some of the smaller centers
it is quite dismal. If you go to New Plymbus,
Palmerson North, they're quite short off in T specialists.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
You're taking a break over Christmas, Yeah, a little bit,
a little bit, just a couple of days, a couple
of weeks. Hey, Michelle, thank you so much for joining
us this year on the show. We really appreciate the
time you've made for us, and I'm sure people have
got a lot out of it.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
No, it was good fun. Thanks for all the calls
and thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
We look forward. We'll be hitting you up again next year.
Have a great break, Okay, see bye bye. We'll be
back next with Smart Money on News Talk. Sib A
mana morale is with us. It's yeah, it's just coming
up to three minutes to.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Five for more from the Weekend Collective.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Listen live to news talks It'd be weekends from three pm,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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