Def Leppard's Guitarist Vivian Campbell's Chronic Cough Due to Lung Cancer

Image from Wikipedia A chronic cough that's been going on for months to years is an extremely tough problem to figure out due to the many possible triggers including reflux , reactive airway disease, post-nasal drip, allergies, etc. For Def Leppard's guitarist Vivian Campbell, his chronic cough was ultimately found to be due to Hodgkin's Lymphoma in his chest around his windpipe. In his own word's that he posted on the band's Facebook page  (June 10, 2013 post): “I …

6/13/2013 0

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Breathing or Voice... You Can Only Have One...

Sounds like a choice taken out of a morbid horror movie... "You can ONLY have one... Your voice or your breath..." The victim than loses one or the other after making a choice getting either the tongue or head cut off with a knife. But patients with vocal cord paralysis on both sides are essentially faced with this very question. Normally, the vocal cords (TVC in picture below) found in the voicebox move to accommodate talking or breathing. When the vocal cords are a…

11/04/2012 0

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Noise Charts as It Relates to Hearing Damage

Fun hearing facts collected from a variety of sources... Environmental Noise Weakest sound heard 0dB Whisper Quiet Library at 6' 30dB Normal conversation at 3' 60-65dB Telephone dial tone 80dB City Traffic (inside car) 85dB Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB Jackhammer at 50' 95dB Subway train at 200' 95dB Level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss 90 - 95dB Hand Drill 98dB Power mower at 3' 107dB Snowmobile, Motorcycle 100dB Po…

5/21/2012 0

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People DO Suffer Hearing Loss After a Loud Concert

Almost everybody at some point in their lives have attended a loud concert or loud nightclub. Almost everybody will also recall a temporary reduction in their hearing with or without ringing afterwards for a short period of time. This phenomenon is called temporary threshold shift (TTS) whereby the affected person has a temporary hearing loss that may last hours to days due to temporary damage of the outer hair cells of the cochlea. If loud nose exposure happens enough times, permane…

5/21/2012 0

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Simple Rubber Device Mimics Complex Birdsongs & Implications for Human Voice

A team of US researchers at Harvard has developed a simple rubber device composed of two pieces of rubber replicating the 'vocal tract' and a motor that replicates the action of a contracting muscle. With this device, the researchers have been able to EXACTLY mimic the birdsong of a variety of species including the bengalese finches and vireos. Given complex birdsongs have been faithfully reproduced with such a rudimentary device as shown here, it does suggest that complex neurolog…

1/02/2011 0

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Our Office Now Carries Ear Band-Its Swimming Headband!

Due to numerous patient requests, our office now carries in stock the swimming headband called Ear Band-Its that helps keep ear plugs in and water out when kids go swimming. Too often during swimming, the ear plugs get knocked out or in spite of a parents' best efforts, water seems to get by the plugs. Though swimming caps over the ears would work/help, most kids refuse to wear them. However, kids don't seem to mind wearing headbands as it apparently is "cool." Made of 3mm…

8/05/2009 0

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