June 28, 2026 • 41 mins
Everyone's using headphones and blasting sounds at full-volume now; noise-cancelling ear-phones are as common and cheaper than ever; live shows and events with crowds are a must for most adults, and children are being left to their devices - listening to music and game-sounds without knowing what's too loud for their ears.
So how can we protect our hearing, and prevent hearing loss? When should we see a specialist or get tested?
What are we doing that's causing damage? and how can we judge what our hearing levels are like?
With Tim Beveridge to talk about it: ENT Surgeon and Hearing Specialist, Dr Michel Neef
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks Ed.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
B Hallo self canithon Cage.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hey sagean Theo and read the Spell of Aging Cleavers Dennis.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
This your gender?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Why away.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Birth one gon a call.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
And welcome and welcome back to the Weekend Collective. I'm
Tim Beverage and this hour it is the Health Hub
and we want your calls on eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty as as you know, you can text on
nine two nine two, but we'd love you to join
the conversation. And of course if your own sense of
hearing or someone around you is concerned about the hearing,
this is the hour for you because we're gonna chat
(01:01):
about a few themes. But then we'll take your calls
as well on any other questions you might have. But
to start it off, everyone's using headphones and blasting sounds.
I don't know what sort of volume. I can tell
you that I have a colleague here who will remain nameless,
who I think has fallen fallen prey to the as
(01:23):
you have headphones on for some reason, you just want
to sneak the volume up and then sneak the volume
up and this colleague. If I'm following this particular colleague
and I want to mention their gender, I might have
already let it slip. Already. I can hear the headphones
across the room when I walk in, and I know
exactly who's been on air before me, because they've gradually
let their headphone volume creep up. And I'm worried about
(01:43):
that with my kids as well. And of course live
shows events with crowds, you know, you just even being
with a crowd of people who are talking loudly can
be a problem. Children being left to their own devices
as well, and I mean literally their own devices is
something that worries me. So what actually can we do
to protect our hearing and prevent hearing loss? But the
other question is when we're you know, I mean, you'll
(02:06):
hear the adverts with more senior sounding voices on this
network advertising hearing checks or a particular type of hearing aid.
And of course maybe when you get older you start
thinking about this and you struggle to hear a conversation.
But are there signs that we should look for in
the earlier years. But doesn't matter if you doesn't matter
if you don't diagnose it straight away, because can you
(02:28):
actually protect your hearing, but by getting diagnosed, I guess
just being aware of it probably helps. Anyway, what are
we doing that's causing the damage, and how can we
sort of prevent hearing loss? How much of our hearing
loss is self inflicted? So anyway, a deep breath. After
all those descriptions of the problems we might have, joining me,
he is I wanted to say he's the top e
(02:51):
in t surgeon around, but that would be a little bit,
you know, me overstating it. But we have, through our family,
actually dealt with Michelle Neif before, and he joins me now.
We think he's fantastic. Michelle, how are you?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm very well, thanks for having me Tim.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
The way you're wearing earbuds now because we're talking down
the line with you on zoom, are you sort of
paranoid about your own hearing just because you know too much?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, not paranoid, but aware that noise is probably the
only preventable thing that we have. And so if you
turn the earbuds to lightly, or if we don't use
ear masks when we're using noisy machinery, then we cause damage.
I'm just aware of it and look after my hearing.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
How much better are we do you think these days
at protecting a hearing? Because there was a time when
I mean, obviously there are a lot of people who
get hearing aids paid for by acc because they would
have been on work sites with circular saws and all
that sort of stuff and never gave it a second thought.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I think there's definitely more awareness, and I see a
lot of patients who sort of older patients who sort
of report that when they were going sort of when
they started their apprenticeship of working in noisy factories, they
didn't know or didn't have any hearing protection. So it's
definitely definitely available, but it's still tricky. You know, if
(04:10):
you're built working on a building side and there's lots
of noise and somebody has a nail gun and shoots
it and you're just you're the electrician next to that
nail gun, then you wouldn't have anything on your head
to protect your hearing. So it's still a problem. And
then obviously knowledge as well. You know, as you grow
up sort of teenage years, you want to listen to
a loud music, turn your airport's right up, and that
(04:31):
causes a lot of noise induced hearing loss as well,
and teenagers often know better and that's a big problem.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Actually, just on the short sharp loud sounds, can single
loud events ruin your hearing or does your hearing have
a certain what's the word resilience that where it can
cope up to a certain point and then okay, that's
twenty nail guns going off at the same time you've
stucked yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, it depends on how loud is I think once
you I mean we say that it's if it's above
eighty five decibl for eight hours, then you're in the
region were causing some damage And that's sort of a
noise level we have to shout to be you have
to shout to be heard or to understand. But I mean,
if you're talking about impact noise, you know, sort of
(05:19):
metal on metal explosions, blasts, I mean, a single loud
noise can obviously damage hearing already.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Do you get people who I was actually thinking of
just the live venues where people you know, people who
are bartenders or in a loud, rowdy pub. What are
the sort of sound decibel levels so that we would
generate simply by having a packed pub with people having
a good time.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I mean there are lots of apps for your
for your phone, and in some of the pubs or
venues when you measure it's it's well above the recommended loudness.
But I guess you get away with eighty five ninety
decibels for an hour or two, but it's still it's
still not good. We talk about a temporary threshold shift,
(06:09):
and that's what sort of it's.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, it's a protective part of the ear.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So if you walk out of a noisy puppy, often
know that you seem a little bit deaf, and that
sort of settles down over twenty four hours, and that's
just sort of the you know, ear putting down a
little bit to protect the hearing to a degree. But yeah,
I mean, there are lots of venues and I've had
certainly I've had patients attending very noisy concerts coming with
(06:36):
tentatives suffering noise damage.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
What as tentatives because you know, the is it a
definitive sort of a definite ringing in the ears or
what are the sort of subtle levels? Are there subtle
levels of it where people actually won't even know that
they've got it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I mean it's different, but everyone they're different types
of tentatists. But when you talk about, you know, hearing loss,
sensor very neurally. Hearing loss. It is the sort of
sound produced by the nerve. And I usually explain it
in a way that you know, if you have normal hearing,
the hearing organ the cochlear suppresses the hearing nerve, and
(07:17):
therefore you can hear silence that's acquiet. Yet if you
have a hearing loss, then you lose some of that
suppression and that's expressed as ringing or you know, some
type of a cicada tout and noise, high frequency ringing,
low frequency ringing. But that's essentially what it is. So
we're losing some hearing and it's a byproduct of that
hearing loss.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Is hearing loss inevitable with age or can you? Actually?
I mean everyone probably got the mother in law who
hears everything no matter what, so superparas that I heard that. Sorry,
but there we go.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I think unfortunately it is.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You know, sort of by the age of sixty five,
maybe a third or seventy a third of people would
have a hearing loss. And then you know, after the
age of eighty, maybe eighty percent of people have a
degree of hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's not it's inevitable, and you know it's aging cells.
It's two degree genetics, but also the noise exposure. So
that's the only thing you can do to prevent it.
But obviously there's good treatment for hearing loss as well.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, we'll get onto that in the moment. So are
you saying that basically even if you if you lived
your life and no one does, of course, but if
you were able to live your life where all the
sounds were at a safe level for your entire existence,
you would say that you would still simply because bodies
break down and your hearings just it's another you know,
(08:52):
it's another organ, and you will lose some function anyway,
and that's life.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, that's that's that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And even if your parents had perfect hearing into their
nineties doesn't mean that you will have perfect hearing. Here
it's the mixing of the genes that determine the hearing
loss that you might have, plus the edging of the
cells and the noise exposures or yes, I think expected.
But you know, if you're you've got perfect hearing all
your life into the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Then, just as.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
An acoustics thing, this is a question on my own behalf, really,
and I'm slightly nervous asking it because you might say, oh,
you better come and see me. You sound like you're
going dead. But anyway, but do we hear sounds and
frequencies differently depending on whether we're facing towards them or
whether they're coming on from the side. And the reason
I ask is that if my if I'm calling someone
(09:42):
on my car phone and I hear the ring tone,
if I turn my head left or right, I can
hear higher frequencies because I'm at a different angle to
the sound. It's am I in trouble? Just we hear
things differently depending where they are they coming straight on
or from the side.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It's probably a combination of frequency and loud. You know
that sort of makes you hear certain things better when
you turn your ear towards it. But if it's if
you know you're here it with one you're not the other,
then you've got a potentially an asymmetrical hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And you need an audiogram and have that tested.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, And why would I haven't tested, though I probably
just go, well, I don't care. I mean, well, I
think it's when I turned both ways to be honest. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yeah, but if it's just if it's what was just
in one year, it's very important to have a tested
because you know, we would expect that the aging process
and the genetics affect both ears to the same degrees,
we would expect the same hearing loss. But there are
pathologies that affect just one side, and you need to
(10:47):
see somebody to determine whether that's the case, and some
patients might need further investigations to make sure there's nothing
sort of more significant underlying the hearing loss.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You avoided saying the word sinister there, did you?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Okay, okay, okay, let's see you on Monday. Anyway, Oh
there was one anyway, Let should tell you what. We've
got some calls lined up to have a chat with
you already, Michelle. So shall we get into it? Brian, Hello?
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Who? It's just so quite simple question, I think, is
I've got you answered? The phone conduction variety? Is it
any difference in how they would damage you hearing if
you listen loudly to those? If that's good English I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
So bone conduction here earphones rather than any traditional sort
of more acoustic ones you wear what the grand's referring
to the Michelle.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean you. I mean the only difference is
that you're stimulating the inner ear. Without going through that
you can ear drum and the little gearing bonds and
so you know you can cause damage with those as well.
But being said that, the the gain is different, so
if you turn them right up, you probably the hearing
quality is not as good as with the normal hearing device,
(12:14):
and therefore you probably wouldn't turn it up that loudly
unless you want to.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I don't damage your ear on purpose.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
What are the bone conduction ones like Brian? Are they?
I've never tried them, but I would just assume that
nothing beats actual them.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
For me, they are clearer than the then the ear ones,
and they don't pull out, Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
No, because you're hooking over your ear, don't they?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
How do they?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Okay? Actually, Michell, how do those what's the principle on
how those work?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So so they vibrate the skull, so the vibrations of
the skull gets transmitted straight to the cochlear, the inner
ear and stimulate the hearing waves inside the cochlear that
way rather than going through the middle ear. And I
was going to say to Brian, so you know, if
you think you hear better with them, it's possible, you know,
as some people just like the quality better. But also
(13:08):
have your hearing checked and make sure there's no middle
year course because some of the middle year courses. I
even talking about the ear canal or the ear drum
or the little osticles, some of those causes if there's
a problem with those could be addressed and repair.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So just double check who would who would.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Brand say, because I mean that's the that's a question
for people. Do you just go to some hearing clinical
do you go to an e n T? Or what
do you do?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Just an audiologist?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I mean there there are lots of I mean some
of the insurances of a free hearing test as part
of the policy, a lot of audiologists of a free trial,
a free hearing tests. And I mean you could just
run an app, you know, put airports in or ear
phones and get an app for your phone and you
can do your own hearing tests in a quiet environment.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Seriously, it's god, it's just a screening, really.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
God, yeah, I might have to there you go brand
you can even do a DIY that yeah, okay, that's fast.
Good on your Brian. Thanks for your call mate. It's
funny it's not often we get specialist saying you can
do a DIY because there's not too many there's not
too many things you can DIY test in a way
with your health. Are there that would be recommended.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
As doctor Google? Now he can do everything yourself.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh, he're not doing yourself, so don't okay, let's take
some more calls. Oh eight hundred By the way, look,
I'm going to say this is just a usual it's
not a disclaimer. It's a reminder to you that usually
what we've found when we're chatting with Michelle is that
will get a few callers at the start and they'll
be a bit slow, and then all of a sudden
you're parlor at ten to five and we can't get
(14:47):
you all in. So if you have got any questions
for Michelle neifh, he's here to answer the questions that
he can on your hearing and any questions you've got
about hearing loss, and you give us a call on
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and we'll look forward
to talking to you. But next up it's Wayne, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
I can hear a pin drop eight one hundred meters
away as farm and the bush or something like that.
But like if somebody's talking to me in a cafe
with other noises around, I have real trouble hearing. Is
there something to be worried about?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, good question, Not necessarily something to be worried about.
I mean, there's sort of different frequencies and depends on
the see that you hear in the bush whether you
can hear it well or not. And you may have
very good hearing in the low and mid frequencies and
a bit of a high frequency hearing loss. And in general,
the patients with a high frequency loss that you know,
(15:42):
sort of as sort of as a result of wear
and tear or genetics, and they have trouble hearing in
background noise, you know. So it gets gets harder with time.
So while when you were sort of in your teens
or twenties it was easy to sort of go to
the pub and talk to people, later on in love,
it just gets harder. But same response, I mean, have
your hearing checked or check it yourself.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And just see you.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
But not not every high frequency loss needs to be
addressed and infect a lot of people have high frequency.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
I'll probably always say to be honest and yeah, that's why.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
We've got Wayne is what he's describing? Can that be?
Because you know, I've noticed that that your brain is
amazing at if you if you've got a room of
people talking and suddenly you decide that the conversation across
the room is something you want to focus on. Your
brain does quite an amazing job at filtering out the
(16:37):
other stuff, so you can actually sort of get the
gist of what other people are saying. Is there what's
the neurological aspect to it? If somebody has described what
Wayne says, you know, you can never pin drop a
mile away, but someone in a cafe, no.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
It's it's probably practice.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
You know, if you if you, if you're used to
those environments, you'll be much better. And then somebody who
doesn't doesn't go to a lot of noisy places and
has has social events there. I think that's what it
comes down to a bit. You know, it's the hearing
loss as well. I think if you lose hearing then
it will be much harder to focus on any conversation
(17:14):
nine environments, let alone the one across the room.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So definitely I would have a checked out.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And you know, some people have had a hearing loss
all their life, so you know it would be good
to get a hearing test every now and then.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, look, we're going to take a quick break. I
did think that. Actually, when Wayne started his call, he
was about to tell a joke about I can hear
a pin drop at one hundred meters, but when my
wife's telling me off, I can't hear a thing. But
he didn't amazingly. So anyway, it's twenty three and a
half minutes past four. News Talk said b we'll be
back in just a moment. You can give us a call.
I wait, one hundred and eighty ten eighty, Yes, welcome back.
(17:48):
We're taking your calls with doctor Michel Neef. He's an
E and T surgeon and hearing specialist. I wait, one
hundred and eighty ten eighty. Quite a few text to
get on too, and I've got a few more questions
to follow up with myself as well. By the way,
but you can jump the queue if you just give
us a call.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Peter, Hello, there, you go.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Down for quite some time for a few years. But
one one day, for about four hours, it completely stopped
and then came back again.
Speaker 7 (18:21):
So there's the reviewer for that.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Mhmm.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, you can, you can, you can manage it. I
think that's sort of a good reminder that the term
just can be stopped or can stop, because it's the
brain essentially putting a clamp on the active neurons towards
the hearing cortex in the brain.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
That's not differ from you.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I have all that noise going on in the background.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I mean, it's just weight away.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
We talked about this in the past and that the
best thing to do is have some background noise or
music or white noise happening all the time, just you know,
at a level where you can still just hear the tenet,
but it's not so annoying, not so noise, and with
time it should get better and better. And yeah, it's
an active process in the brain and you can retrain
(19:14):
the brain.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh good, good stuff, thanks Peter. Actually, is that like
your brain acting as an EQ so it just it's
finding that particular sound and it's training you in the
same way. I can listen to a to a conversation
across the room and forget everyone else. Is it that
sort of it's literally, it's not your ear organ, not
the hammer in the anvil or whatever it is. Sounds
(19:35):
a bit wagner esque, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, No, it's it's the you know, it's it's a
it's it's a stimulation of the brain, and if you
occupy the brain, you can retrain it not to hear
it anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
By the way, I just mentioned hammer in the anvil,
But is that the actual mechanism? Is that the crude
description of the hearing mechanism. I can't remember one that
must go about decades.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's probably school, that's what we learned. But it's it's
melia's inkers and steepy's. That's the medical terms for the
little in the middle ear and they're really just there
to help enhance the sound that gets the transmitted to
the year the cochlear, which is the hearing organ itself,
and then from there it goes by the nerve up
to the brain.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
There's a certain irony in that, isn't it. The hammer
and the anvil probably the sort of noise that would
actually cause you hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, it would. I love.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I just had this idea of somebody calling out in
the first lectures, like which is the habit, which is
the anvil and the electro holding? Oh goodness. May anyway,
I've got to question here about the background noise side
of things. So there are some people who like to
go to sleep with the radio on, whether it be
you know, talk back or just quiet music. It's constant noise.
Is that actually something?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I mean?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Should should you? Actually? It's at various stages in your life,
be somewhere that's simply just quiet.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, everybody's different. You know. I don't love to operate
with music.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It just distracts me too much, for example, you know,
and some people like to have music on.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's really what relaxes you.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
And you know, as long as it's not lasting, it's
not going to cause any damage. And if it relaxes
and it helps you fall asleep or it manages you,
liutinatis absolutely no problem with that.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think that's based on the idea that, you know,
how when you exercise, you've got to give your body
your rest. You know, just about everything you do except
your heart. It always keeps beating. But it's the idea
that with your hearing. I think intuitively we sort of
think at some stage you should just go somewhere that's quiet.
But you're saying that if it's a safe level, it's
nothing ready to worry about from a physiological point of view.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, and people relax with music, you know, they sit
in the living room and listen to music and they're
perfectly fine.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But if it's a plexus just a trivial question, do
most surgeons actually like a bit of music to operate to?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I think, you know, if I sort of think of
the theaters next door to me, there's often a lot
of base coming through some I'm sure a lot of music.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I'm guessing that the noisy ones would be the orthopedic surgeons.
I don't know why, but anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
In the tears they had an exurgence.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Okay, it's quite a few texts. By the way, if
you want to jump the que on the text machine
eight hundred eighty ten eighty, give us a call. Tim My, Well,
I think this is for you, Michelle. My wife needs
me to raise my voice, but won't admit to a
lack of hearing. I believe, he says, seventy eight, which
I mean, I'm guessing is her age. How do I
what's the best approach to discuss some helps is Quentin?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, I think it's you know, he would suggest that.
I mean, I assume they've been married for a long
time and maybe they can go together and both have
a hearing test, because at seventy eight, I assume they're
both of a similar age, they are both likely to
have some sort of hearing loss, and it would be
good together hearing test.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
They can do it together.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
But it could also be that he's not speaking up,
you know, so one of the treatments to be understood
is to just speak. Love doesn't Maybe that's the problem,
or speaking through rooms that it's hard for his life
to hear.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I'm just guessing that they're in the same room and
he's talking to her and she says, speak up, I
can't hear you. But it's not about it's not a
bad idea if they're both of a certain age where
they should get the hearing check. Just it's a coming plan.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, yeah, do it together, do it together.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There you go, we'll try that, Quentin. I mean, I
think he was looking for you to say, well, if
he's having to raise the voice, and he's you know,
he was looking for something where you could he could say, look,
I heard this guy say on radio that if you
don't get your hearing checked, you're going to hell.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And you know, I should also say that there are
conditions where when you speak, you hear yourself really loudly,
and you might he might think he's speaking loudly, but
when in fact he's not, And so maybe it is
him and not her at all.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So they should go together and have a hearing test.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Maybe actually that I think you've given him the gateway,
because he could say, look, this could be my fault.
It might be that I'm not talking loud enough. So
I'm going to get that checked out, and you can
come with me and we'll kill two birds with the
one stone. Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I think they should.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I think we found a solution there, Quentin.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Sting for them.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Another one says, oh, well, I mean this is related
to the earlier call. It says, I have quite bad tenatus.
Why do you think that some days I can only
just notice it? In most days it's most days it's
screaming in my ears.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
It's most likely the distraction you know it can come
and go. But yeah, I think same answer. You try
and treat it actively using masking methods, and maybe on
the days when it's quiet, when the tentative is not
there is busy or distracted and it doesn't hear it
for that reason. And that's what a lot of people
(24:54):
say when they work that on here it when they
get home and it's quiet, then suddenly it becomes really noisy,
and then at night it keeps them up because it's
so quiet.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
If you are tired and lack of sleep, because I
thin think if ever I've sort of felt my I
don't know that your brain does a great job when
you're well rested, and so certain things that might bug
you otherwise might bug you if you don't have a sleep,
your brain can deal with that information processing a bit better.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, and it's I mean, it's stress and sort of
emotional overlay that make the A can make bit and
just worse, So that all needs to be addressed.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Okay, another question here, what about so this person basically says, well,
if I go and get my hearing tested, they're just
going to want to sell me a hearing aid. How
do I how can I be sure that I'm getting
independent advice. It's not just trying to sell me something.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Well, I mean you can, I mean there's a sort
of you know, we've talked about it before. We can
just do your own hearing test for status. But you
just have to be assertive, you know. I mean, sure
there are there will be people who might want to
sell you a hearing aid, but often they do that
for very good reason, because you need one, but just
because you you know, somebody says the need to hearing it.
(26:11):
And if you think you don't, maybe get a second opinion.
I'll ask somebody. I'll get a referral to the public system,
which might take a little bit longer, but you'll definitely
get an independent assessment there.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Okay, let's take some more calls. Greg.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Hello, Yes, Hello, Look, I've got quite bad tonightis I've
managed I can be offered, but I'm actually on the
waiting list for the surface the operation where I have
to get the bone drilled out of my ear, and
I'm just a bit worried that I've heard that that
can make my tonight is worse, which, like I said,
at the moment, I can manage it. But if it
(26:46):
was worse.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
I don't think I could m.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean with with any ear operator. So he's
the surface is new bond formation in the ear canal,
and if it's bad enough, it can block the ear
canal off. And if the if you're symptomatic from that,
So that means if you get the kind infection signific blockage,
then an operation is indicated. Just because you have exostosis
(27:10):
doesn't mean you need an operation. Any operation on that
carries a risk of additional inner ear hearing loss. It
is rare but possible, and with that you can make
the tints worse. So it's really a balance of risks.
You know. I think most of the time you will
not get additional inner ear hearing loss if you have
(27:31):
a surgeon who's done this a lot. But you know
that's the risk that you will be taking it something
to discuss with your curtain. So it really comes down
to how bad are the exostosis, Are you symptomatic and
if you're not symptomatic, you probably shouldn't do it.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
If you if you're worried, okay, well I don't have
ear in fictions. But the doctor just looked and they said,
you can't see the drama at all. It's nearly closed
up on my left hand side, So so do I
not need it? And there's only really if I am
getting infections on that.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, it really depends.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Iive it never had any problems, then it's probably not needed.
It comes down how critical to how critical the narrowing is.
You know, if you you know, if it only takes
one bad infection for it to close off completely, then
you know you might consider it. But if you haven't
had your infections in decades and it's just an observation,
(28:25):
then you know that's not enough reason to drill the
the that the exos tource is out. I think you
need to be symptomatic and that means blockage or infections
with pain that you do this operation.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Is this private that you're going or with public or
an em T person or who you're saying.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
Yeah, republic or just dur to see the em TS
in about two weeks m Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Might get different information from the E n T surgeon
compared to a general practitioner. It can be sort of
quite It can look quite scary looking in there and
everything's blocked. But with examining with the microscope by the
tea SERTU it might you might not need an operation.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
Ok, great, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Pleas wits with that. I guess it's been knowing how
to ask the right questions again. But I mean he
made it clear to you, I guess, Michelle, so he
should be right when he's talks to the stop. In
a couple of weeks. We need to take another break.
But just quickly. This was our text sees item. I
was having trouble. My hearing was muffled. I used a
cotton butter my ears one day, which irritated them. Misure
(29:31):
would say, don't stick anything bigger than you in your
ear than your thumb probably, I'd say, if I remember elbow, Yeah,
than your elbows.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Went to the doctor. He checked them, said I should
get my ear wax removed. Could see a big build up.
Got it done that day, a massive difference. I could
hear a lot better than that after that. Don't do
it yourself, correct.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, don't do it yourself.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
And this is a good example of way, because if
you stick something in there all the time, you make
the sort of alter part of the ear can now
look all right because you know that's what you might see.
But actually, in fact, you just sort of compress earbax
deeper and deeper and deeper onto the tympanic membrane ear drum,
and that can result in hearing loss. So you know,
they're sort of conductive females as a result of the earwax.
(30:15):
So yeah, it's a good example why you shouldn't use
cotton buds. And the other one is if you use
cotton buds, you can cost little cracks in the ear
canal's skin and that can lead to ear infections, and
that's another reason not to use it. So if it
gets a lot of wags, have it suctioned out by
one of the ears, send us ear nerves or in
(30:35):
the hospital. But I wouldn't put anything in the ear,
just so you don't need to clean the ear. It
comes up by itself.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Okay, right, we'll be back with more calls in just
a moment. We went to DoPT to Michelle Neif is
an E and T surgeon and hearing specialist. It's ten
two five, got a truckload of calls to get onto it.
I will squeeze one text and somebody says that they
for the relief of their tonightis Michelle that they use
noise canceling headphones and it actually helps. Is there any
science to that?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Not sure?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I mean when they say noise canceling had five, so
they produce a sound, maybe that's I mean that can help,
you know, absolutely, I mean that's it's essentially a masking
sound that they're listening to and it can be very useful.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Okay, okay, so it's not causing any harm though, no, no, okay,
because to be those people who sometimes use norse canceling
headphones when they go to sleep, yeah, actually I do it.
One other question, I see these things advertised. They're basically
little ear plugs called loop or something like that. You
pop them in your ear to sleep with they are
they okay? I mean that? Or do you have to
(31:36):
be careful about sticking those things in your ears? They're
basically blocking your ears.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, I mean they find most of the time and
they help you sleep figure that everything's a quieter. But
often when you block the years off with something actually
make the sounds inside your head louder. And so some
people actually as they have bad tinatus that would appear
louder when they've got earplugs in.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I did use them once when somebody was using a
circular saw after I've done a night shift, and that
was mildly helpful. Lesser of the two evils, right common Hi,
hey on, No, sorry to Ellie.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
Oh Hi guys. I have a low frequency hearing loss
and I've been working with the clinic for the last
couple of years. It's getting quite a bit worse. I
have tried a couple of hearing aids, but I understand
low hearing loss is life. Low frequency hearing loss is
quite difficult to manage. The hearing aids have been unsuccessful.
I'm just I guess two questions. Is it worth trying
(32:30):
a different clinics, different brands might be better. And I
guess are there any other technologies that are coming through
that might be useful for low frequency hearing loss?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Okay, and so you mean low frequency in both years?
Speaker 9 (32:44):
Yes, it's right, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I mean I when I see low frequency hearing loss,
I always you know, I would always work that up
with a scan because there can be an in a
year problem. We sort of develop high pressure and that
can ultimately result in vertig or spinning, which is a
syndrome which is well described. So that should be an
investigated independently. But yeah, I mean if it's if it's
(33:09):
high frequency alone or low frequency hearing loss alone, it
is quite difficult to treat. I think the mid and
high frequencies respond better to hearing aids. But yeah, everybody,
every hearing aid is slightly different. You know, you can
get similar strength hearing aid from different companies, but one
(33:29):
sounds good to me and the other one might sound
good to you. So I think trying different ones and
maybe changing audiologists and getting some sort of fresh ideas
is not a bad idea.
Speaker 9 (33:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Okay, thanks for call just quickly when you see it,
get independent. So you see audiologists. Are you suggesting maybe
you'd see an A and T person for that hearing specialist?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
No, not necessarily.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I think that you know, if it is the oh
I see, well for the loaf hearing loss, to investigate
it should be done by NT. But in terms of
getting a second opinion and another audiologist.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Okay, okay, thanks for that, let's go to Colin get out.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
Yeah good. I My wife's Scott badly deteriorating hearing and
she uses hearing aids with mold in them because it's
got that bad. The noise level. I can hear it
beside us, and is that damaging your ears?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, that's often the sort of what we think, but
it wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And so with with a hearing aid, it it sounds
like a pretty severe hearing loss. I think, you know,
if it's tricky for her to hear with hearing it,
that's that loud.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I think she.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Need to need to keep a close eye on it
and get the appropriate referrals to a cochlear implant program
if that, if that hearing head stops working well for her,
and in general terms, you know, if she can't use
the hearing aid to have a conversation anymore or here
on a speaker phone, then it might be an idea
to get a referral to a cochlear implant program to
(35:03):
make sure that there aren't other technologies that might be
better for her.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Right, we've actually considered the possibility of calcula, but the
audiologist said that it's not that bad yet, but it's
pretty bad. She misses complete sounds at times, half words
and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah, I think it's in general, if it's severe profound,
then the audiologists should refer But they know and it
comes down how many. It comes down to the percentage
of works that she hears on a hearing test, and
that's what they normally do.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Thanks Carolum. What's the funding situation with cochlear on plants
in terms of public versus private or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
It's much improved compared to say, twenty years ago. I
think the for children it's fully funded, so children get
bilateral cochlear implants and it goes up to the age
of nineteen and in adults the fund the funding has
improved significantly sort of over the last over the last
(36:05):
a few years. I think we do about must two
hundred implants throughout New Zealand for adults and about a
bit bit less than that for bilateral for children. But
I mean there's still lots of funding. We're missing out
a lot of patients. You know, about five percent of
(36:27):
patients who well, of patients who could benefit from a
cocklay implant, only get a cocklay implant, So we're missing
out a ninety five percent of patients who could have
one don't know or don't have one.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
How long has that technology been I remember when it
was just experimental sort of stuff, But it sounds like
if you could do it, you do it a lot
more frequently.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah. Yeah, it's been since the early eighties.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
And the big company, the big Australian company who is
the world leader in Cocklay implants. They are from Australia
and they obviously be with the vicinity to Australia. We
actually were on board with Cockla Implantation New Zealand early.
And yeah we've got maybe maybe fifteen hundreds or close
to eighteen hundred patients now with adult patients with cochlear implants,
(37:13):
and it's mainstream.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
There's nothing experimental about it anymore.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Amazing, it is ten to two five news. Talk to
me back and I took Yes, we're with doctor Mitchell
n for Ian t surgeon and hearing specialists. Just to
quick text before you try and squeeze on one more
call Michelle. It's cold and flu season. Blowing your nose
too hard? Is that a problem for hearing? You know
you need to pop your ears and stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I wouldn't do it all the time, and it can
sometimes help if you do it carefully, But I'm not
somebody who's keen on performing forceful maneuvers that sort of
pop the ear.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Drums I don't mean that.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
I mean people are advertently blowing the nose too hard,
and I mean, can you do can you hurt your
ear drums by doing that?
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Potentially you can, you know, you can potentially damage that.
You know you're hearing as well, you know, so you
don't need to blow too hard. You can just sort
of have a normal blow or use some sale runs
from the chemist to just wash your nose out if
it's still blocked.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Okay, right, Stephen Lucky last, Oh, hello, Michel.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
Look, I have a ongoing to Nator's problem which's been
working through for some time now. It's pretty debilitating at times,
and funny enough writers, I'm talking to you now, it
couldn't be worse. It's it'll be ten out of ten.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Now.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I had a bit of work done with audiologists and
they've been very good, and I've got hearing aids which
can help, particularly if we turn them up fairly loud
and there is a masking device on them. But coupled
with this, my ears are very often blocked, so it
(39:05):
feels like I'm underwater, and even talking to you right now,
it feels like my ears are underwater.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
I can't seem to clear that it comes and goes,
and it seems to have its own particular timing, often
worse in the evening.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Okay, we've only got at a minute and a half.
We'll hand it over to Michelle.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
On this point, it's I mean, it's a bit tricky
to say it just without seeing it, but you know
you're hearing a loss of the hearing loss itself can
cause a block sensation, and so maybe there's a fluctuation
in hearing, but it could also be the Eustachian tube
of the middle ear not working one hundred percent, and
for that your audiologist has to do pressure tests and
the and T sision can have a look at that.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Thanks for of course. Seven. I'm really sorry we were
running out of time there, but as I say, we've
all got to get an earlier on these course because
it's very popular. Just quickly, with about a minute to go, Michelle,
what is the journey for people who are concerned about
their hearing? Is it always does an audiologists refer to
an e and T it dos a GP. What's if
people are looking at treatment options?
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, I mean you can approach an audiologist yourself. You
don't necessarily have to go to your GP. I think
do it early. If you think you've got a giving
loss of a blocked you just approach an audiology clinic
and get an audiogram. And the audiologist actually knows best
whether the patient needs to be referred or not, and
they often recommended to the GP if they get a
GP referral whether NT decision should have a look, So
(40:33):
it's quite important.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Gosh, it's a busy hour as always. I hope Michelle. Really,
we really do appreciate you. You're making the time for
us this afternoon. Thanks so much, pleasure. Catch you again
sometime and bye bye, and we'll be back with Smart
Money and Mana Moralla's with us talking about loyalty schemes,
whether they actually end up costing your money or whether
you're one of those people who can't resist the sale.
(40:56):
That on Smart Money is coming up next News Talks.
It'd be for more from the weekend Collective. Listen live
to News Talks it'd be weekends from three or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks Ed.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
B Hallo self canithon Cage.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hey sagean Theo and read the Spell of Aging Cleavers Dennis.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
This your gender?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Why away.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Birth one gon a call.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
And welcome and welcome back to the Weekend Collective. I'm
Tim Beverage and this hour it is the Health Hub
and we want your calls on eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty as as you know, you can text on
nine two nine two, but we'd love you to join
the conversation. And of course if your own sense of
hearing or someone around you is concerned about the hearing,
this is the hour for you because we're gonna chat
(01:01):
about a few themes. But then we'll take your calls
as well on any other questions you might have. But
to start it off, everyone's using headphones and blasting sounds.
I don't know what sort of volume. I can tell
you that I have a colleague here who will remain nameless,
who I think has fallen fallen prey to the as
(01:23):
you have headphones on for some reason, you just want
to sneak the volume up and then sneak the volume
up and this colleague. If I'm following this particular colleague
and I want to mention their gender, I might have
already let it slip. Already. I can hear the headphones
across the room when I walk in, and I know
exactly who's been on air before me, because they've gradually
let their headphone volume creep up. And I'm worried about
(01:43):
that with my kids as well. And of course live
shows events with crowds, you know, you just even being
with a crowd of people who are talking loudly can
be a problem. Children being left to their own devices
as well, and I mean literally their own devices is
something that worries me. So what actually can we do
to protect our hearing and prevent hearing loss? But the
other question is when we're you know, I mean, you'll
(02:06):
hear the adverts with more senior sounding voices on this
network advertising hearing checks or a particular type of hearing aid.
And of course maybe when you get older you start
thinking about this and you struggle to hear a conversation.
But are there signs that we should look for in
the earlier years. But doesn't matter if you doesn't matter
if you don't diagnose it straight away, because can you
(02:28):
actually protect your hearing, but by getting diagnosed, I guess
just being aware of it probably helps. Anyway, what are
we doing that's causing the damage, and how can we
sort of prevent hearing loss? How much of our hearing
loss is self inflicted? So anyway, a deep breath. After
all those descriptions of the problems we might have, joining me,
he is I wanted to say he's the top e
(02:51):
in t surgeon around, but that would be a little bit,
you know, me overstating it. But we have, through our family,
actually dealt with Michelle Neif before, and he joins me now.
We think he's fantastic. Michelle, how are you?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm very well, thanks for having me Tim.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
The way you're wearing earbuds now because we're talking down
the line with you on zoom, are you sort of
paranoid about your own hearing just because you know too much?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, not paranoid, but aware that noise is probably the
only preventable thing that we have. And so if you
turn the earbuds to lightly, or if we don't use
ear masks when we're using noisy machinery, then we cause damage.
I'm just aware of it and look after my hearing.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
How much better are we do you think these days
at protecting a hearing? Because there was a time when
I mean, obviously there are a lot of people who
get hearing aids paid for by acc because they would
have been on work sites with circular saws and all
that sort of stuff and never gave it a second thought.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I think there's definitely more awareness, and I see a
lot of patients who sort of older patients who sort
of report that when they were going sort of when
they started their apprenticeship of working in noisy factories, they
didn't know or didn't have any hearing protection. So it's
definitely definitely available, but it's still tricky. You know, if
(04:10):
you're built working on a building side and there's lots
of noise and somebody has a nail gun and shoots
it and you're just you're the electrician next to that
nail gun, then you wouldn't have anything on your head
to protect your hearing. So it's still a problem. And
then obviously knowledge as well. You know, as you grow
up sort of teenage years, you want to listen to
a loud music, turn your airport's right up, and that
(04:31):
causes a lot of noise induced hearing loss as well,
and teenagers often know better and that's a big problem.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Actually, just on the short sharp loud sounds, can single
loud events ruin your hearing or does your hearing have
a certain what's the word resilience that where it can
cope up to a certain point and then okay, that's
twenty nail guns going off at the same time you've
stucked yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, it depends on how loud is I think once
you I mean we say that it's if it's above
eighty five decibl for eight hours, then you're in the
region were causing some damage And that's sort of a
noise level we have to shout to be you have
to shout to be heard or to understand. But I mean,
if you're talking about impact noise, you know, sort of
(05:19):
metal on metal explosions, blasts, I mean, a single loud
noise can obviously damage hearing already.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Do you get people who I was actually thinking of
just the live venues where people you know, people who
are bartenders or in a loud, rowdy pub. What are
the sort of sound decibel levels so that we would
generate simply by having a packed pub with people having
a good time.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I mean there are lots of apps for your
for your phone, and in some of the pubs or
venues when you measure it's it's well above the recommended loudness.
But I guess you get away with eighty five ninety
decibels for an hour or two, but it's still it's
still not good. We talk about a temporary threshold shift,
(06:09):
and that's what sort of it's.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, it's a protective part of the ear.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So if you walk out of a noisy puppy, often
know that you seem a little bit deaf, and that
sort of settles down over twenty four hours, and that's
just sort of the you know, ear putting down a
little bit to protect the hearing to a degree. But yeah,
I mean, there are lots of venues and I've had
certainly I've had patients attending very noisy concerts coming with
(06:36):
tentatives suffering noise damage.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
What as tentatives because you know, the is it a
definitive sort of a definite ringing in the ears or
what are the sort of subtle levels? Are there subtle
levels of it where people actually won't even know that
they've got it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I mean it's different, but everyone they're different types
of tentatists. But when you talk about, you know, hearing loss,
sensor very neurally. Hearing loss. It is the sort of
sound produced by the nerve. And I usually explain it
in a way that you know, if you have normal hearing,
the hearing organ the cochlear suppresses the hearing nerve, and
(07:17):
therefore you can hear silence that's acquiet. Yet if you
have a hearing loss, then you lose some of that
suppression and that's expressed as ringing or you know, some
type of a cicada tout and noise, high frequency ringing,
low frequency ringing. But that's essentially what it is. So
we're losing some hearing and it's a byproduct of that
hearing loss.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Is hearing loss inevitable with age or can you? Actually?
I mean everyone probably got the mother in law who
hears everything no matter what, so superparas that I heard that. Sorry,
but there we go.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I think unfortunately it is.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You know, sort of by the age of sixty five,
maybe a third or seventy a third of people would
have a hearing loss. And then you know, after the
age of eighty, maybe eighty percent of people have a
degree of hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's not it's inevitable, and you know it's aging cells.
It's two degree genetics, but also the noise exposure. So
that's the only thing you can do to prevent it.
But obviously there's good treatment for hearing loss as well.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, we'll get onto that in the moment. So are
you saying that basically even if you if you lived
your life and no one does, of course, but if
you were able to live your life where all the
sounds were at a safe level for your entire existence,
you would say that you would still simply because bodies
break down and your hearings just it's another you know,
(08:52):
it's another organ, and you will lose some function anyway,
and that's life.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, that's that's that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And even if your parents had perfect hearing into their
nineties doesn't mean that you will have perfect hearing. Here
it's the mixing of the genes that determine the hearing
loss that you might have, plus the edging of the
cells and the noise exposures or yes, I think expected.
But you know, if you're you've got perfect hearing all
your life into the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Then, just as.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
An acoustics thing, this is a question on my own behalf, really,
and I'm slightly nervous asking it because you might say, oh,
you better come and see me. You sound like you're
going dead. But anyway, but do we hear sounds and
frequencies differently depending on whether we're facing towards them or
whether they're coming on from the side. And the reason
I ask is that if my if I'm calling someone
(09:42):
on my car phone and I hear the ring tone,
if I turn my head left or right, I can
hear higher frequencies because I'm at a different angle to
the sound. It's am I in trouble? Just we hear
things differently depending where they are they coming straight on
or from the side.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It's probably a combination of frequency and loud. You know
that sort of makes you hear certain things better when
you turn your ear towards it. But if it's if
you know you're here it with one you're not the other,
then you've got a potentially an asymmetrical hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And you need an audiogram and have that tested.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, And why would I haven't tested, though I probably
just go, well, I don't care. I mean, well, I
think it's when I turned both ways to be honest. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yeah, but if it's just if it's what was just
in one year, it's very important to have a tested
because you know, we would expect that the aging process
and the genetics affect both ears to the same degrees,
we would expect the same hearing loss. But there are
pathologies that affect just one side, and you need to
(10:47):
see somebody to determine whether that's the case, and some
patients might need further investigations to make sure there's nothing
sort of more significant underlying the hearing loss.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You avoided saying the word sinister there, did you?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Okay, okay, okay, let's see you on Monday. Anyway, Oh
there was one anyway, Let should tell you what. We've
got some calls lined up to have a chat with
you already, Michelle. So shall we get into it? Brian, Hello?
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Who? It's just so quite simple question, I think, is
I've got you answered? The phone conduction variety? Is it
any difference in how they would damage you hearing if
you listen loudly to those? If that's good English I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
So bone conduction here earphones rather than any traditional sort
of more acoustic ones you wear what the grand's referring
to the Michelle.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean you. I mean the only difference is
that you're stimulating the inner ear. Without going through that
you can ear drum and the little gearing bonds and
so you know you can cause damage with those as well.
But being said that, the the gain is different, so
if you turn them right up, you probably the hearing
quality is not as good as with the normal hearing device,
(12:14):
and therefore you probably wouldn't turn it up that loudly
unless you want to.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I don't damage your ear on purpose.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
What are the bone conduction ones like Brian? Are they?
I've never tried them, but I would just assume that
nothing beats actual them.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
For me, they are clearer than the then the ear ones,
and they don't pull out, Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
No, because you're hooking over your ear, don't they?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
How do they?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Okay? Actually, Michell, how do those what's the principle on
how those work?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So so they vibrate the skull, so the vibrations of
the skull gets transmitted straight to the cochlear, the inner
ear and stimulate the hearing waves inside the cochlear that
way rather than going through the middle ear. And I
was going to say to Brian, so you know, if
you think you hear better with them, it's possible, you know,
as some people just like the quality better. But also
(13:08):
have your hearing checked and make sure there's no middle
year course because some of the middle year courses. I
even talking about the ear canal or the ear drum
or the little osticles, some of those causes if there's
a problem with those could be addressed and repair.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So just double check who would who would.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Brand say, because I mean that's the that's a question
for people. Do you just go to some hearing clinical
do you go to an e n T? Or what
do you do?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Just an audiologist?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I mean there there are lots of I mean some
of the insurances of a free hearing test as part
of the policy, a lot of audiologists of a free trial,
a free hearing tests. And I mean you could just
run an app, you know, put airports in or ear
phones and get an app for your phone and you
can do your own hearing tests in a quiet environment.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Seriously, it's god, it's just a screening, really.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
God, yeah, I might have to there you go brand
you can even do a DIY that yeah, okay, that's fast.
Good on your Brian. Thanks for your call mate. It's
funny it's not often we get specialist saying you can
do a DIY because there's not too many there's not
too many things you can DIY test in a way
with your health. Are there that would be recommended.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
As doctor Google? Now he can do everything yourself.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh, he're not doing yourself, so don't okay, let's take
some more calls. Oh eight hundred By the way, look,
I'm going to say this is just a usual it's
not a disclaimer. It's a reminder to you that usually
what we've found when we're chatting with Michelle is that
will get a few callers at the start and they'll
be a bit slow, and then all of a sudden
you're parlor at ten to five and we can't get
(14:47):
you all in. So if you have got any questions
for Michelle neifh, he's here to answer the questions that
he can on your hearing and any questions you've got
about hearing loss, and you give us a call on
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and we'll look forward
to talking to you. But next up it's Wayne, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
I can hear a pin drop eight one hundred meters
away as farm and the bush or something like that.
But like if somebody's talking to me in a cafe
with other noises around, I have real trouble hearing. Is
there something to be worried about?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, good question, Not necessarily something to be worried about.
I mean, there's sort of different frequencies and depends on
the see that you hear in the bush whether you
can hear it well or not. And you may have
very good hearing in the low and mid frequencies and
a bit of a high frequency hearing loss. And in general,
the patients with a high frequency loss that you know,
(15:42):
sort of as sort of as a result of wear
and tear or genetics, and they have trouble hearing in
background noise, you know. So it gets gets harder with time.
So while when you were sort of in your teens
or twenties it was easy to sort of go to
the pub and talk to people, later on in love,
it just gets harder. But same response, I mean, have
your hearing checked or check it yourself.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And just see you.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
But not not every high frequency loss needs to be
addressed and infect a lot of people have high frequency.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
I'll probably always say to be honest and yeah, that's why.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
We've got Wayne is what he's describing? Can that be?
Because you know, I've noticed that that your brain is
amazing at if you if you've got a room of
people talking and suddenly you decide that the conversation across
the room is something you want to focus on. Your
brain does quite an amazing job at filtering out the
(16:37):
other stuff, so you can actually sort of get the
gist of what other people are saying. Is there what's
the neurological aspect to it? If somebody has described what
Wayne says, you know, you can never pin drop a
mile away, but someone in a cafe, no.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
It's it's probably practice.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
You know, if you if you, if you're used to
those environments, you'll be much better. And then somebody who
doesn't doesn't go to a lot of noisy places and
has has social events there. I think that's what it
comes down to a bit. You know, it's the hearing
loss as well. I think if you lose hearing then
it will be much harder to focus on any conversation
(17:14):
nine environments, let alone the one across the room.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So definitely I would have a checked out.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And you know, some people have had a hearing loss
all their life, so you know it would be good
to get a hearing test every now and then.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, look, we're going to take a quick break. I
did think that. Actually, when Wayne started his call, he
was about to tell a joke about I can hear
a pin drop at one hundred meters, but when my
wife's telling me off, I can't hear a thing. But
he didn't amazingly. So anyway, it's twenty three and a
half minutes past four. News Talk said b we'll be
back in just a moment. You can give us a call.
I wait, one hundred and eighty ten eighty, Yes, welcome back.
(17:48):
We're taking your calls with doctor Michel Neef. He's an
E and T surgeon and hearing specialist. I wait, one
hundred and eighty ten eighty. Quite a few text to
get on too, and I've got a few more questions
to follow up with myself as well. By the way,
but you can jump the queue if you just give
us a call.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Peter, Hello, there, you go.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Down for quite some time for a few years. But
one one day, for about four hours, it completely stopped
and then came back again.
Speaker 7 (18:21):
So there's the reviewer for that.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Mhmm.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, you can, you can, you can manage it. I
think that's sort of a good reminder that the term
just can be stopped or can stop, because it's the
brain essentially putting a clamp on the active neurons towards
the hearing cortex in the brain.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
That's not differ from you.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I have all that noise going on in the background.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I mean, it's just weight away.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
We talked about this in the past and that the
best thing to do is have some background noise or
music or white noise happening all the time, just you know,
at a level where you can still just hear the tenet,
but it's not so annoying, not so noise, and with
time it should get better and better. And yeah, it's
an active process in the brain and you can retrain
(19:14):
the brain.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh good, good stuff, thanks Peter. Actually, is that like
your brain acting as an EQ so it just it's
finding that particular sound and it's training you in the
same way. I can listen to a to a conversation
across the room and forget everyone else. Is it that
sort of it's literally, it's not your ear organ, not
the hammer in the anvil or whatever it is. Sounds
(19:35):
a bit wagner esque, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, No, it's it's the you know, it's it's a
it's it's a stimulation of the brain, and if you
occupy the brain, you can retrain it not to hear
it anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
By the way, I just mentioned hammer in the anvil,
But is that the actual mechanism? Is that the crude
description of the hearing mechanism. I can't remember one that
must go about decades.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's probably school, that's what we learned. But it's it's
melia's inkers and steepy's. That's the medical terms for the
little in the middle ear and they're really just there
to help enhance the sound that gets the transmitted to
the year the cochlear, which is the hearing organ itself,
and then from there it goes by the nerve up
to the brain.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
There's a certain irony in that, isn't it. The hammer
and the anvil probably the sort of noise that would
actually cause you hearing loss.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, it would. I love.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I just had this idea of somebody calling out in
the first lectures, like which is the habit, which is
the anvil and the electro holding? Oh goodness. May anyway,
I've got to question here about the background noise side
of things. So there are some people who like to
go to sleep with the radio on, whether it be
you know, talk back or just quiet music. It's constant noise.
Is that actually something?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I mean?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Should should you? Actually? It's at various stages in your life,
be somewhere that's simply just quiet.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, everybody's different. You know. I don't love to operate
with music.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It just distracts me too much, for example, you know,
and some people like to have music on.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's really what relaxes you.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
And you know, as long as it's not lasting, it's
not going to cause any damage. And if it relaxes
and it helps you fall asleep or it manages you,
liutinatis absolutely no problem with that.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think that's based on the idea that, you know,
how when you exercise, you've got to give your body
your rest. You know, just about everything you do except
your heart. It always keeps beating. But it's the idea
that with your hearing. I think intuitively we sort of
think at some stage you should just go somewhere that's quiet.
But you're saying that if it's a safe level, it's
nothing ready to worry about from a physiological point of view.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, and people relax with music, you know, they sit
in the living room and listen to music and they're
perfectly fine.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But if it's a plexus just a trivial question, do
most surgeons actually like a bit of music to operate to?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I think, you know, if I sort of think of
the theaters next door to me, there's often a lot
of base coming through some I'm sure a lot of music.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I'm guessing that the noisy ones would be the orthopedic surgeons.
I don't know why, but anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
In the tears they had an exurgence.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Okay, it's quite a few texts. By the way, if
you want to jump the que on the text machine
eight hundred eighty ten eighty, give us a call. Tim My, Well,
I think this is for you, Michelle. My wife needs
me to raise my voice, but won't admit to a
lack of hearing. I believe, he says, seventy eight, which
I mean, I'm guessing is her age. How do I
what's the best approach to discuss some helps is Quentin?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, I think it's you know, he would suggest that.
I mean, I assume they've been married for a long
time and maybe they can go together and both have
a hearing test, because at seventy eight, I assume they're
both of a similar age, they are both likely to
have some sort of hearing loss, and it would be
good together hearing test.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
They can do it together.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
But it could also be that he's not speaking up,
you know, so one of the treatments to be understood
is to just speak. Love doesn't Maybe that's the problem,
or speaking through rooms that it's hard for his life
to hear.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I'm just guessing that they're in the same room and
he's talking to her and she says, speak up, I
can't hear you. But it's not about it's not a
bad idea if they're both of a certain age where
they should get the hearing check. Just it's a coming plan.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, yeah, do it together, do it together.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There you go, we'll try that, Quentin. I mean, I
think he was looking for you to say, well, if
he's having to raise the voice, and he's you know,
he was looking for something where you could he could say, look,
I heard this guy say on radio that if you
don't get your hearing checked, you're going to hell.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And you know, I should also say that there are
conditions where when you speak, you hear yourself really loudly,
and you might he might think he's speaking loudly, but
when in fact he's not, And so maybe it is
him and not her at all.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So they should go together and have a hearing test.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Maybe actually that I think you've given him the gateway,
because he could say, look, this could be my fault.
It might be that I'm not talking loud enough. So
I'm going to get that checked out, and you can
come with me and we'll kill two birds with the
one stone. Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I think they should.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I think we found a solution there, Quentin.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Sting for them.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Another one says, oh, well, I mean this is related
to the earlier call. It says, I have quite bad tenatus.
Why do you think that some days I can only
just notice it? In most days it's most days it's
screaming in my ears.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
It's most likely the distraction you know it can come
and go. But yeah, I think same answer. You try
and treat it actively using masking methods, and maybe on
the days when it's quiet, when the tentative is not
there is busy or distracted and it doesn't hear it
for that reason. And that's what a lot of people
(24:54):
say when they work that on here it when they
get home and it's quiet, then suddenly it becomes really noisy,
and then at night it keeps them up because it's
so quiet.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
If you are tired and lack of sleep, because I
thin think if ever I've sort of felt my I
don't know that your brain does a great job when
you're well rested, and so certain things that might bug
you otherwise might bug you if you don't have a sleep,
your brain can deal with that information processing a bit better.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, and it's I mean, it's stress and sort of
emotional overlay that make the A can make bit and
just worse, So that all needs to be addressed.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Okay, another question here, what about so this person basically says, well,
if I go and get my hearing tested, they're just
going to want to sell me a hearing aid. How
do I how can I be sure that I'm getting
independent advice. It's not just trying to sell me something.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Well, I mean you can, I mean there's a sort
of you know, we've talked about it before. We can
just do your own hearing test for status. But you
just have to be assertive, you know. I mean, sure
there are there will be people who might want to
sell you a hearing aid, but often they do that
for very good reason, because you need one, but just
because you you know, somebody says the need to hearing it.
(26:11):
And if you think you don't, maybe get a second opinion.
I'll ask somebody. I'll get a referral to the public system,
which might take a little bit longer, but you'll definitely
get an independent assessment there.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Okay, let's take some more calls. Greg.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Hello, Yes, Hello, Look, I've got quite bad tonightis I've
managed I can be offered, but I'm actually on the
waiting list for the surface the operation where I have
to get the bone drilled out of my ear, and
I'm just a bit worried that I've heard that that
can make my tonight is worse, which, like I said,
at the moment, I can manage it. But if it
(26:46):
was worse.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
I don't think I could m.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean with with any ear operator. So he's
the surface is new bond formation in the ear canal,
and if it's bad enough, it can block the ear
canal off. And if the if you're symptomatic from that,
So that means if you get the kind infection signific blockage,
then an operation is indicated. Just because you have exostosis
(27:10):
doesn't mean you need an operation. Any operation on that
carries a risk of additional inner ear hearing loss. It
is rare but possible, and with that you can make
the tints worse. So it's really a balance of risks.
You know. I think most of the time you will
not get additional inner ear hearing loss if you have
(27:31):
a surgeon who's done this a lot. But you know
that's the risk that you will be taking it something
to discuss with your curtain. So it really comes down
to how bad are the exostosis, Are you symptomatic and
if you're not symptomatic, you probably shouldn't do it.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
If you if you're worried, okay, well I don't have
ear in fictions. But the doctor just looked and they said,
you can't see the drama at all. It's nearly closed
up on my left hand side, So so do I
not need it? And there's only really if I am
getting infections on that.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, it really depends.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Iive it never had any problems, then it's probably not needed.
It comes down how critical to how critical the narrowing is.
You know, if you you know, if it only takes
one bad infection for it to close off completely, then
you know you might consider it. But if you haven't
had your infections in decades and it's just an observation,
(28:25):
then you know that's not enough reason to drill the
the that the exos tource is out. I think you
need to be symptomatic and that means blockage or infections
with pain that you do this operation.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Is this private that you're going or with public or
an em T person or who you're saying.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
Yeah, republic or just dur to see the em TS
in about two weeks m Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Might get different information from the E n T surgeon
compared to a general practitioner. It can be sort of
quite It can look quite scary looking in there and
everything's blocked. But with examining with the microscope by the
tea SERTU it might you might not need an operation.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
Ok, great, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Pleas wits with that. I guess it's been knowing how
to ask the right questions again. But I mean he
made it clear to you, I guess, Michelle, so he
should be right when he's talks to the stop. In
a couple of weeks. We need to take another break.
But just quickly. This was our text sees item. I
was having trouble. My hearing was muffled. I used a
cotton butter my ears one day, which irritated them. Misure
(29:31):
would say, don't stick anything bigger than you in your
ear than your thumb probably, I'd say, if I remember elbow, Yeah,
than your elbows.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Went to the doctor. He checked them, said I should
get my ear wax removed. Could see a big build up.
Got it done that day, a massive difference. I could
hear a lot better than that after that. Don't do
it yourself, correct.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, don't do it yourself.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
And this is a good example of way, because if
you stick something in there all the time, you make
the sort of alter part of the ear can now
look all right because you know that's what you might see.
But actually, in fact, you just sort of compress earbax
deeper and deeper and deeper onto the tympanic membrane ear drum,
and that can result in hearing loss. So you know,
they're sort of conductive females as a result of the earwax.
(30:15):
So yeah, it's a good example why you shouldn't use
cotton buds. And the other one is if you use
cotton buds, you can cost little cracks in the ear
canal's skin and that can lead to ear infections, and
that's another reason not to use it. So if it
gets a lot of wags, have it suctioned out by
one of the ears, send us ear nerves or in
(30:35):
the hospital. But I wouldn't put anything in the ear,
just so you don't need to clean the ear. It
comes up by itself.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Okay, right, we'll be back with more calls in just
a moment. We went to DoPT to Michelle Neif is
an E and T surgeon and hearing specialist. It's ten
two five, got a truckload of calls to get onto it.
I will squeeze one text and somebody says that they
for the relief of their tonightis Michelle that they use
noise canceling headphones and it actually helps. Is there any
science to that?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Not sure?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I mean when they say noise canceling had five, so
they produce a sound, maybe that's I mean that can help,
you know, absolutely, I mean that's it's essentially a masking
sound that they're listening to and it can be very useful.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Okay, okay, so it's not causing any harm though, no, no, okay,
because to be those people who sometimes use norse canceling
headphones when they go to sleep, yeah, actually I do it.
One other question, I see these things advertised. They're basically
little ear plugs called loop or something like that. You
pop them in your ear to sleep with they are
they okay? I mean that? Or do you have to
(31:36):
be careful about sticking those things in your ears? They're
basically blocking your ears.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, I mean they find most of the time and
they help you sleep figure that everything's a quieter. But
often when you block the years off with something actually
make the sounds inside your head louder. And so some
people actually as they have bad tinatus that would appear
louder when they've got earplugs in.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I did use them once when somebody was using a
circular saw after I've done a night shift, and that
was mildly helpful. Lesser of the two evils, right common Hi,
hey on, No, sorry to Ellie.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
Oh Hi guys. I have a low frequency hearing loss
and I've been working with the clinic for the last
couple of years. It's getting quite a bit worse. I
have tried a couple of hearing aids, but I understand
low hearing loss is life. Low frequency hearing loss is
quite difficult to manage. The hearing aids have been unsuccessful.
I'm just I guess two questions. Is it worth trying
(32:30):
a different clinics, different brands might be better. And I
guess are there any other technologies that are coming through
that might be useful for low frequency hearing loss?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Okay, and so you mean low frequency in both years?
Speaker 9 (32:44):
Yes, it's right, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I mean I when I see low frequency hearing loss,
I always you know, I would always work that up
with a scan because there can be an in a
year problem. We sort of develop high pressure and that
can ultimately result in vertig or spinning, which is a
syndrome which is well described. So that should be an
investigated independently. But yeah, I mean if it's if it's
(33:09):
high frequency alone or low frequency hearing loss alone, it
is quite difficult to treat. I think the mid and
high frequencies respond better to hearing aids. But yeah, everybody,
every hearing aid is slightly different. You know, you can
get similar strength hearing aid from different companies, but one
(33:29):
sounds good to me and the other one might sound
good to you. So I think trying different ones and
maybe changing audiologists and getting some sort of fresh ideas
is not a bad idea.
Speaker 9 (33:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Okay, thanks for call just quickly when you see it,
get independent. So you see audiologists. Are you suggesting maybe
you'd see an A and T person for that hearing specialist?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
No, not necessarily.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I think that you know, if it is the oh
I see, well for the loaf hearing loss, to investigate
it should be done by NT. But in terms of
getting a second opinion and another audiologist.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Okay, okay, thanks for that, let's go to Colin get out.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
Yeah good. I My wife's Scott badly deteriorating hearing and
she uses hearing aids with mold in them because it's
got that bad. The noise level. I can hear it
beside us, and is that damaging your ears?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, that's often the sort of what we think, but
it wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And so with with a hearing aid, it it sounds
like a pretty severe hearing loss. I think, you know,
if it's tricky for her to hear with hearing it,
that's that loud.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I think she.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Need to need to keep a close eye on it
and get the appropriate referrals to a cochlear implant program
if that, if that hearing head stops working well for her,
and in general terms, you know, if she can't use
the hearing aid to have a conversation anymore or here
on a speaker phone, then it might be an idea
to get a referral to a cochlear implant program to
(35:03):
make sure that there aren't other technologies that might be
better for her.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Right, we've actually considered the possibility of calcula, but the
audiologist said that it's not that bad yet, but it's
pretty bad. She misses complete sounds at times, half words
and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah, I think it's in general, if it's severe profound,
then the audiologists should refer But they know and it
comes down how many. It comes down to the percentage
of works that she hears on a hearing test, and
that's what they normally do.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Thanks Carolum. What's the funding situation with cochlear on plants
in terms of public versus private or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
It's much improved compared to say, twenty years ago. I
think the for children it's fully funded, so children get
bilateral cochlear implants and it goes up to the age
of nineteen and in adults the fund the funding has
improved significantly sort of over the last over the last
(36:05):
a few years. I think we do about must two
hundred implants throughout New Zealand for adults and about a
bit bit less than that for bilateral for children. But
I mean there's still lots of funding. We're missing out
a lot of patients. You know, about five percent of
(36:27):
patients who well, of patients who could benefit from a
cocklay implant, only get a cocklay implant, So we're missing
out a ninety five percent of patients who could have
one don't know or don't have one.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
How long has that technology been I remember when it
was just experimental sort of stuff, But it sounds like
if you could do it, you do it a lot
more frequently.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah. Yeah, it's been since the early eighties.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
And the big company, the big Australian company who is
the world leader in Cocklay implants. They are from Australia
and they obviously be with the vicinity to Australia. We
actually were on board with Cockla Implantation New Zealand early.
And yeah we've got maybe maybe fifteen hundreds or close
to eighteen hundred patients now with adult patients with cochlear implants,
(37:13):
and it's mainstream.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
There's nothing experimental about it anymore.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Amazing, it is ten to two five news. Talk to
me back and I took Yes, we're with doctor Mitchell
n for Ian t surgeon and hearing specialists. Just to
quick text before you try and squeeze on one more
call Michelle. It's cold and flu season. Blowing your nose
too hard? Is that a problem for hearing? You know
you need to pop your ears and stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I wouldn't do it all the time, and it can
sometimes help if you do it carefully, But I'm not
somebody who's keen on performing forceful maneuvers that sort of
pop the ear.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Drums I don't mean that.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
I mean people are advertently blowing the nose too hard,
and I mean, can you do can you hurt your
ear drums by doing that?
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Potentially you can, you know, you can potentially damage that.
You know you're hearing as well, you know, so you
don't need to blow too hard. You can just sort
of have a normal blow or use some sale runs
from the chemist to just wash your nose out if
it's still blocked.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Okay, right, Stephen Lucky last, Oh, hello, Michel.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
Look, I have a ongoing to Nator's problem which's been
working through for some time now. It's pretty debilitating at times,
and funny enough writers, I'm talking to you now, it
couldn't be worse. It's it'll be ten out of ten.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Now.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I had a bit of work done with audiologists and
they've been very good, and I've got hearing aids which
can help, particularly if we turn them up fairly loud
and there is a masking device on them. But coupled
with this, my ears are very often blocked, so it
(39:05):
feels like I'm underwater, and even talking to you right now,
it feels like my ears are underwater.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
I can't seem to clear that it comes and goes,
and it seems to have its own particular timing, often
worse in the evening.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Okay, we've only got at a minute and a half.
We'll hand it over to Michelle.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
On this point, it's I mean, it's a bit tricky
to say it just without seeing it, but you know
you're hearing a loss of the hearing loss itself can
cause a block sensation, and so maybe there's a fluctuation
in hearing, but it could also be the Eustachian tube
of the middle ear not working one hundred percent, and
for that your audiologist has to do pressure tests and
the and T sision can have a look at that.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Thanks for of course. Seven. I'm really sorry we were
running out of time there, but as I say, we've
all got to get an earlier on these course because
it's very popular. Just quickly, with about a minute to go, Michelle,
what is the journey for people who are concerned about
their hearing? Is it always does an audiologists refer to
an e and T it dos a GP. What's if
people are looking at treatment options?
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, I mean you can approach an audiologist yourself. You
don't necessarily have to go to your GP. I think
do it early. If you think you've got a giving
loss of a blocked you just approach an audiology clinic
and get an audiogram. And the audiologist actually knows best
whether the patient needs to be referred or not, and
they often recommended to the GP if they get a
GP referral whether NT decision should have a look, So
(40:33):
it's quite important.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Gosh, it's a busy hour as always. I hope Michelle. Really,
we really do appreciate you. You're making the time for
us this afternoon. Thanks so much, pleasure. Catch you again
sometime and bye bye, and we'll be back with Smart
Money and Mana Moralla's with us talking about loyalty schemes,
whether they actually end up costing your money or whether
you're one of those people who can't resist the sale.
(40:56):
That on Smart Money is coming up next News Talks.
It'd be for more from the weekend Collective. Listen live
to News Talks it'd be weekends from three or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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