The Magic Ears Club kicked off its existence with a first ever Halloween Party on October 29, 2011 where over 15 kids from elementary to high school ages who wear hearing aids co-mingled and played games while their parents talked amongst each other their experiences. Prizes and free hearing aid goodies were also distributed.
Dr. Catie Chalmers, audiologist with Fauquier ENT who founded the Magic Ears Club, stated that the purpose of the club is to help parents, as well as their hard-of-hearing children, connect, share, and provide support for each other.
Being a member of this unique club means being able to participate in practice-sponsored parties as well as meeting new friends who also have “magic ears” (aka, hearing aids).
Furthermore, members can participate over the internet in either open or closed forums hosted by Fauquier ENT where members can ask questions or provide other meaningful support to each other wherever and whenever they wish.
The open forum is through Facebook which is open to all who support our goals whereas the closed forum is hosted through Yahoo Groups and limited to ONLY those individuals who are patients of Fauquier ENT.
Due to popular demand, our office now participates with Chase Health Advance. This plan is for those patients without insurance coverage or to help pay for uncovered procedures/services. Flexible payment options are offered only if total charges exceed $1000 (cost can be as low as $48 per month over 24 months). Depending on the promotion offered by Chase Health Advance, there may even be no interest charged! Click here to calculate your monthly payments.
Even though our office has been offering hearing tests and hearing aid services in Fauquier County for over a decade, many people are still surprised when they learn they can get hearing tests, hearing aids, ear plugs, and other ear & hearing services in our office. The additional benefit is having a ENT specialist also present in the same office.
Our office has produced a new video on non-sedated ABR/OAE hearing testing. Such testing traditionally required sedation as the patient was required to be absolutely still and quiet in order to obtain accurate test results. However, new technology now enables such testing to be performed without sedation. Furthermore, given the testing can be performed wirelessly, the patient can stand and walk around. Absolute quiet is also no longer necessary and the patient can actively play and even eat while testing is going on.
For those not in the know, Groupon is a website that offers coupons and other savings on local merchandise and services. Groupon also has recently rejected a takeover bid by Google.
I recently encountered this amazing deal on Groupon offered by an ENT colleague, Dr. Ghaheri:
I wonder if such marketing and medical discount offerings like this will become the future. Clearly, procedures and other types of medical treatments that are not covered by insurance will be applicable.
For example… here are some medical treatments/services I am considering to discount on Groupon:
It seems that the ENT-related videos we have created for medical education and made publicly available on YouTube are rapidly becoming the most viewed in the world! As of October 17, 2010, our YouTube Channel is ranked #14 in “Most Viewed” of All Time under the category “Director” (we make our own videos)! When taking into consideration ALL channels, we are ranked #44. We have had over 101,913,849 views since November 2007 when we uploaded our first video on Trans-Nasal Endoscopy. We now have 43 videos.
Currently, our videos collectively get about 250,000 hits a day. By far, our most popular videos are related to endoscopy (watch below) and gather about 160,000 views a day.
However, even our less popular videos like earwax removal or nosebleed control with cauterization garner about 400 views a day.
Our YouTube Channel also has a large subscriber base (2,457 as of 10/17/2010) from all over the world. Our channel averages about 4 new subscribers a day.
Strangely enough, the United States is not the most common place where our videos are watched from. Not even close! Rather, it’s from Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Russia which round out the top 4. The United States didn’t even make the top 10.
Our office produced our first ENT-related video in November 2007 on Trans-Nasal Endoscopy. At the time, YouTube did not support high definition video and the overall video quality was clearly sub-par with blurry images and pixelation with movement. However, since than, YouTube has added HD quality video support and we have taken the time to re-upload the majority of videos, but in high-definition.
You can browse the full list of refreshed HD videos here.
Watch our very first video upload before HD support as well as with HD support.
This fascinating iPhone app called EarTrumpet was developed in collaboration with the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at University of California Irvine. The app claims to convert your iPhone/iPod into a hearing aid of sorts (hearing enhancer app is the term they use) via headphones with a built-in microphone (the ear buds that come with the iPhone work just fine). In essence, the microphone will pick up the surrounding sound and the app will instantly amplify the sound and play it into the headphones. The degree of amplification is customizable via the app.
Hearing testing is also available.
As per the manufacturer website, the EarTrumpet features include
• use of the built-in microphone on the supplied iPhone ear buds
• allows the user to select which frequencies to boost.
• choose the left or right ear to amplify
• store custom profiles once balance and equalization settings have been selected
You can download the app here which sells for $1.99 (much less than traditional hearing aids which go for $1000 and higher). Watch the tutorial of how the app works below.
On a further note, EarTrumpet was created by Allen Foulad, a medical student.
Time Magazine published a story 7/20/10 describing a situation where Qantas Airlines was sued by a passenger who allegedly lost her hearing when a toddler on board screamed near her.
The passenger claimed that the Qantas flight crew was negligent in failing to take precautions to protect passengers and that she had suffered permanent hearing loss as a result.
Of note, the patient already wore hearing aids due to hearing loss.
Though most reasonable folks would side with the airline in that: “Plaintiff’s injuries, if any, were caused by the arbitrary and volitional act of a three-year-old child. Flight attendants cannot predict when children aboard an aircraft are about to scream. There is no evidence that the child was screaming in the terminal, or on board the aircraft prior to the particular scream which allegedly caused the damage.”
However, the passenger does have the legitimate point that loud noises can cause hearing loss… even sudden hearing loss.
It’s been a few years since the warning has come out from the FDA regarding sudden hearing loss in men who take viagra, cialis, and other erectile dysfunction (ED) medications. A recent study determined that it may actually double the risk of hearing loss. With sudden hearing loss, one can also experience tinnitus as well as ear fullness.
As such, it’s nice to review this rare condition that may lead to permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, ear fullness for which only hearing aids may help. Of course, one can suffer this sudden condition without taking such medications.
If you experience sudden hearing loss (whether taking ED medications or not), see your local ENT as soon as possible as there is a window of opportunity during which certain medications may help reverse and restore your hearing back to normal!
