This mode of hearing loss occurs in the outer and middle ear impeding air movement.
What is "conductive" hearing loss?
Conduction of sound through the outer and middle ear is impaired, often due to cerumen impaction, foreign body, middle ear disease, and otosclerosis.
This agency's standards require ear protection for workers in environments where the noise levels consistently exceed 85 dB.
What is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)?
For every three decibels over 85, exposure time is reduced by half. (85 decibels for 8 hours, 88 decibels for 4 hours, 91 decibels for 2 hours).
85 decibel equivalents are smoke alarm, loud traffic, noisy restaurant, power mower, Dremel rotary tool.
A rock concert or ambulance siren registers around 120 decibels. So, using the exposure rate recommendation above, we should spend 0.234375 of a minute (14 seconds)!
This is characterized by symptoms caused by inner ear disease, including episodic vertigo, nausea, tinnitus, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, and aural fullness.
What is Endolymphatic hydrops?
AKA "Meniere's Disease", it is an excessive accumulation of endolymph (the fluid in the membranous labyrinth of the ear) in the membranous labyrinth.
Reduce dietary sodium, increase H2O, restrict caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and MSG. Elevate HOB, activity between episodes, administer Antihistamines, Ca+ Channel Blockers, Sedatives as ordered.
The term for hearing loss associated with aging.
What is Presbycusis?
Presbycusis, or hearing loss associated with aging, includes loss of peripheral auditory sensitivity, decline in word recognition ability, and associated psychologic and communication issues.
These devices provide amplification, sound lateralization, and speech discrimination.
What are hearing aids?
A hearing aid should be fitted by an audiologist or a speech and hearing specialist. Many types are available, each with advantages and disadvantages.
The conventional hearing aid serves as a simple amplifier. For the patient with bilateral hearing impairment, binaural hearing aids provide the best sound lateralization and speech discrimination.
Requires a motivated, capable user for optimum success
This condition is caused by scarring in the soft tissue of the ear and may be indicative of further outer, middle or inner ear damage.
What is "cauliflower ear" or "boxer's ear"? This is caused by scarring of the ear's cartilage.
This infection occurs during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, causing sensorineural deafness.
What is Rubella?
Congenital rubella syndrome occurs when the rubella ("German measles") virus in the mother affects the developing baby, usually in the first two months of pregnancy. Since the introduction of the rubella vaccine, cases have decreased dramatically.
Symptoms include a cloudy or white appearance to the eyes due to cataracts, deafness, heart defects, and developmental delay.
This technique, also known as canalith repositioning, is used to treat Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) by repositioning of calcium carbonate crystals.
What is the Epley Maneuver?
People over age 60 are more likely to get BPPV. It’s also the easiest type of vertigo to treat. Once assessed and trained by an HCP, the patient can then conduct his/her own maneuver at home.
Examples include built-in telephone amplifiers, FM systems that make sounds clearer (with or without a hearing aid, by delivering sound waves like a radio), and training in speechreading.
What is an assistive listening device?
An Assisted Listening Device (ALD) or Assisted Listening System (ALS) is an amplifier that brings sound directly into the ear. They separate the sounds, particularly speech, that a person wants to hear from background noise.
This form of communication relies on visual cues related to speech, such as gestures, facial expression, and body language.
What is speech reading "lip reading"?
Visual cues associated with speech facilitates understanding for only 40% of spoken words.
In speech reading, many words will look alike to the patient (e.g., rabbit, woman).
Help the patient by using and teaching verbal and nonverbal communication techniques.
Infection of the middle ear and its structures may progress to cholesteatoma development and invasion of this boney mass.
What is mastoiditis?
Symptoms include redness, swelling, and tenderness around the bone. Fever, ear pain, and discharge are possible.
Antibiotics can usually clear the infection. In severe cases, surgery may be needed.
In the past, this was a leading cause of child mortality.
This is contraindicated when attempting to remove a foreign body suspected to be of a dried organic matter.
What is irrigation?
Irrigation is contraindicated for removal of any dried organic matter in the ear. The matter may absorb the fluid and expand, causing further trauma and pain, and increasing the difficulty of extracting the object(s).
These may include dietary changes, medications, postural changes and changes in activity.
What are treatments for Meniere's Disease?
•Reduce dietary sodium to minimize fluid and endolymph accumulation volume. Diuretic?
• Elevate HOB to promote drainage. (Emesis basin?)
• Promote activity between episodes. 8-9 hours sleep / night. Quiet environment during episode.
• Antihistamines, Ca+ Channel Blockers, Sedatives
• Dietary change – restrict caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and MSG
Cost, appearance, lack of knowledge, functional difficulty with care and handling, competing noises, and unrealistic expectations.
What are reasons for poor compliance with amplification devices among the elderly?
This is how it's spelled using ASL:
What is Jeopardy?
This type of hearing loss is caused by impairment of the inner ear or vestibulocochlear nerve.
What is "Sensorineural" hearing loss?
Associated with damage to cranial nerve VIII (vestibulocochlear nerve). Attributed to congenital and hereditary factors, noise trauma, aging, Ménière’s disease, and ototoxicity.
Symptoms of this injury include sharp ear pain that subsides quickly, drainage, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), or hearing loss
What is a tympanic perforation?
A perforated eardrum may be caused by loud sounds, a foreign object in the ear, head trauma, a middle ear infection, or rapid pressure changes, such as from air travel.
The condition usually heals on its own within a few weeks. Antibiotics, an eardrum patch, or surgery may be necessary.
Auditory symptoms may be present in this condition.
What is Endolymphatic hydrops (Meniere's Disease)?
These auditory symptoms may include tinnitus ("ringing" in the ears), fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, and aural fullness.
This common physical condition is associated with several preventable outcomes.
What is hearing loss?
Hearing loss is independently associated with mortality, poorer cognitive function, incident dementia, depression, and physical functioning. The impact of hearing loss on healthy aging translates into significant financial burdens on the health care system.
Contrera, K., Wallhagen, M., Mamo, S., Oh, E., Lin, F. (2016). Hearing Loss Health Care for Older Adults. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 29/3; 394-403.
It consists of an external microphone placed behind the ear, a speech processor and a transmitter implanted under the skin that change sounds into electrical impulses, and a group of electrodes placed surgically that stimulate the auditory nerves in the ear.
What is a cochlear implant?
Used for profound sensorineural hearing loss in one or both ears.
Ideal candidates became deaf after acquiring speech and language skills.
Enables monitoring own speech volume.
Decreases feelings of isolation.
This condition is hereditary, the most common cause of hearing loss in young adults, and typically bilateral.
What is otosclerosis?
Otosclerosis is an autosomal dominant disease, most commonly seen in young adults, and typically bilateral.
Otoscopic exam shows a red-blue coloring of the tympanum (Schwartz's sign).
Tuning fork and audiogram show air-bone gap = poor conduction.
Treatment of Na+ Fluoride po and hearing aid.
Example of this include ASA, NSAIDS, Antibiotics, aminoglycosides, loop diuretics, and chemotherapy.
What are ototoxic medications?
The degree of toxicity is related to medication dose, frequency, metabolism (i.e.: renal failure), and patient susceptibility/sensitivity.
The condition in which free-floating debris (“ear rocks”) in the semicircular canal causes vertigo with specific head movements.
What is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).
"Ear rocks" or canaliths, are small crystals of calcium carbonate that derive from the utricle in the inner ear.
This is associated with difficulty managing the quantity of incoming environmental sensory stimuli.
What is sensory overload?
The person/nursing student feels overwhelmed by the excessive input from the environment.
Occurs when a person is unable to process or manage the intensity or quantity of incoming sensory stimuli
Amplified music should not exceed this percentage of maximum volume.
What is 50%?
A growing body of research shows that how we listen to our iPhones can cause lasting hearing damage. The old iPod can produce a maximum of 100-115 decibels (software limits European iPods to 100 dB; U.S. models have been measured higher), which is the equivalent of attending a rock concert.
When listening to music on earphones at a standard volume level 5, the sound generated reaches a level of 100 dB, loud enough to cause permanent damage after just 15 minutes per day!
A clap of thunder from a nearby storm (120 dB) or a gunshot (140-190 dB, depending on weapon), can both cause immediate damage