Spin Cycle: When Your Ears Make the Room Dance

Dizziness And How It’s Related To Hearing Loss - Featuring: Dr. Jill Copley

Ever felt unsteady on your feet and dismissed it as just getting older? That lightheaded feeling might actually be your ears sending you an urgent message. Our fascinating exploration into the hidden connection between hearing loss and balance reveals startling facts that could change how you think about your ear health.

Dr. Jill Copley breaks down the science behind this crucial relationship, explaining how the vestibular system (responsible for balance) sits right next to the auditory system in your ear. This proximity means conditions or medications affecting one often impact the other. The statistics are eye-opening: people with even mild hearing loss are three times more likely to experience falls than those with normal hearing – and falls remain one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death in adults over 65.

We dive deep into conditions like Meniere's disease, which can cause both severe vertigo and hearing loss, usually affecting one ear. Dr. Copley explains how our balance system depends on four key inputs: vision, hearing, proprioception (feeling the ground beneath our feet), and central nervous system processing. When hearing diminishes, this delicate system becomes compromised. While research on whether hearing aids prevent falls shows mixed results, evidence suggests consistent, daily use of properly fitted hearing devices can significantly improve spatial awareness and stability. For anyone experiencing both dizziness and hearing difficulties, this episode provides crucial insights that could potentially prevent a devastating fall.

Ready to address your hearing and balance concerns? Call Total Hearing Care at [phone] or visit TotalHearingCare.com to schedule your comprehensive evaluation. Because better hearing doesn't just mean better communication – it could mean staying safely on your feet.

To learn more about Total Hearing Care visit:
https://www.TotalHearingCare.com

Total Hearing Care
Multiple Locations Across the DFW Metroplex
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Total Hearing Care Difference where we
help you experience lifethrough better hearing.
Hosted by the experts at TotalHearing Care, a leading private
audiology practice serving theDFW Metroplex, we're here to
provide guidance on hearing loss, tinnitus and the latest
advancements in audiology.
Transform your life throughbetter hearing let's get started

(00:21):
.
Transform your life throughbetter hearing let's get started
.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
That lightheaded feeling might not just be a
fluke.
It could be your ears trying toget your attention.
In this episode, we uncover howbalance, dizziness and hearing
loss are all intricatelyconnected.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host andproducer, back in the studio
today with Dr Jill Copley.

(00:49):
Dr Copley, how's it going today?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Going great.
I'm so glad to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you, I know and it's always a pleasure to join
you Now.
Today's topic hits close tohome for a lot of listeners.
Can you elaborate on dizzinessand how?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
it's related to hearing loss.
Well, I'm going to start justdescribing dizziness, because
dizziness can mean a lot ofthings, as you mentioned at the
beginning.
It could be just somethinglightheaded, it could be where
you feel like you're spinning,it could be the feeling of off
balance.
So dizziness is just reallykind of a catch-all for a lot of
things, and dizziness can becaused by a lot of things.

(01:33):
That lightheaded feeling couldbe.
You just got up too quickly,maybe your blood pressure is off
, of course, where my degreelooks at how the ears and
dizziness are related, and sothe part of the ear that handles
our hearing is very close tothe part of the ear that handles

(01:53):
our balance, which is thevestibular system, and so
sometimes medications ordiseases can affect both and
cause dizziness and hearing loss.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Now, what is vertigo and dizziness?
So vertigo is usually used ifyou feel like something is
spinning.
That's where I've most oftenheard it.
Again, it's really just asymptom.
It's just describing asensation.
You're having a symptom.
It's just describing asensation.
You're having, much like I justdescribed, dizziness.
And so those are justsensations.

(02:33):
But I think vertigo is usedmore when you feel like just the
room is spinning.
Maybe you feel like you'regoing to be sick.
It's just hard to keep youreyes open, that kind of thing.
I think when people use vertigothey mean it in a more severe
sense than just feeling dizzy.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Understood.
So vertigo is really all inyour head, is that correct?

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Not always, not always.
So there are some serioussituations that could cause
vertigo, and one of them thatrelates to hearing the most is
called Meniere's disease, andMeniere's disease is when the
fluids and membranes in the earare not functioning correctly
and they can cause severevertigo and dizziness.

(03:18):
They can cause severe hearingloss, and it often happens on
one side of one ear, or it couldhappen to both, but often it's
on one ear, and so that's themost common one.
There are other things that cancause dizziness and vertigo.
For instance, medications canaffect the hearing as well as

(03:41):
the vestibular system, which isthe balance system, and so you
could feel dizziness from thatas well.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Now, how are falls related to hearing loss?
How are falls related?

Speaker 3 (03:54):
to hearing loss.
Okay, so falls are one of theleading causes of
hospitalization and death inpeople over 65.
So falls can be very importantand they're not normal, so
something is usually causing thefall.
As it relates to hearing, whatresearch has shown is that

(04:15):
people even with a mild hearingloss are three times more likely
to fall than somebody thatdoesn't have hearing loss, and
as the hearing loss gets moresevere, your chances of falling
become worse.
Falling become worse, and oneof the other problems with falls

(04:39):
, just overall, is if somebodyfalls, they're much more likely
to fall again and it can becomemore severe, and so we really
want to protect people fromfalling.
And there are reasons that youmay fall, and I don't want to
get too technical, but there arefour senses that control how we
stand up and keep from falling.

(05:00):
One is vision, which makes alot of sense, where you can see
where you are in space.
One is hearing, where you knowwhere the sound is coming from,
so you know when to turn or whento move aside if something is
around you.
One is your sense of feeling,like being able to feel that

(05:20):
your feet are on the ground, andthen the other is your central
nervous system, and that puts itall together, and so if one of
those senses is affected, you'remore likely to fall.
Something that is very commonfor people who are diabetic is
that they start to haveneuropathy, meaning they can't
feel with their feet, and so itcan make them much more likely

(05:44):
to fall than someone who doesn'thave that issue.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Wow, Now aren't there a variety of circulation issues
in the feet and legs?
Not just from that, and wouldthat also correlate to falls as
well?

Speaker 3 (05:59):
It can.
You're right.
High blood pressure, or maybeblood pressure medication that
drops your blood pressure tooquickly, can affect you, and
that has to do with how theheart is pumping the blood.
So you're right.
There can be other issues.
I will have to say.
Circulation is not really in mypurview, so I'm not sure
exactly how circulation comesinto play, but certainly

(06:22):
anything that can affect howquickly or how slowly your blood
is pumping through your heartcan certainly affect either
feeling dizzy or falling.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Now, dr Copley, can you share with us a story from a
time when you had a client whowas dizzy and had hearing loss,
and how you were able todiagnose their situation?

Speaker 3 (06:50):
So I have seen a couple of people with Meniere's
and that is a one sidedMeniere's and so they feel very
off balance.
So one of the things withMeniere's is while the attacks
are going on you really can besick, feel really dizzy, feel
that the hearing is not going tocome back.
Once everything stabilizes andyou still have that hearing loss

(07:13):
, you can feel very off balance.
And so by fitting a person withtreating that off balance with
the hearing instrument canreally help them feel like
they're more in control of howthey're standing, how they
perceive space and things likethat.

(07:33):
Now I will say, when we look atthe research, we know that
hearing loss is part of falling,because the research says it is
More people with hearing lossfall than those that don't have
hearing loss.
But what we have to wonder is dohearing aids help?
And I think the research ismixed.
But I can tell you what I thinkis happening with the research.

(07:56):
There's a lot of research thatjust says do you wear a hearing
aid?
And people will say yes or no,but it doesn't explain how long
they're wearing the hearing aid.
So those kinds of studies don'tactually show a lot of
correlation that hearinginstruments will help with
falling.
However, there are some otherstudies and, of course, things

(08:19):
like what I just described toyou seeing patients that show
that if you look at how longpeople are wearing their hearing
aids, if they're wearing themevery day, consistently, that
does help prevent falls.
So I think the research istrending towards definitely
treating the hearing loss andthat helping with falls, but

(08:40):
there's still a lot that needsto be done in that arena.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Wow, thanks for walking us through such a
complex but important topictoday.
Dr Copley, it's alwayseye-opening talking with you,
and ear-opening as well.
I'm looking forward to our nextconversation.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Well, thank you for having me for this important
topic, because falls are verydevastating for people and we
want to certainly prevent fallsas much as we can.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
For people 100% Catch you next time, dr Copley.
Thank you, bye-bye.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Thank you for listening to the Total Hearing
Care Difference.
If you're in the DFW Metroplexand ready to take the next step
toward better hearing, call469-218-4853 to book an
appointment or visitTotalHearingCarecom, because
when you hear better, you livebetter.
See you next time.