Where Does Tinnitus Come From? Ear or Brain?

It is invariable that when a patient comes to an ENT office complaining of tinnitus or ringing of the ears that only they can hear, that they feel this problem stems from purely an inner ear problem. However, the truth is WAY more complicated in that this phantom ringing actually comes more from the brain rather than the ear and as such, treatment (if any possible) is geared more towards the brain rather than the ear. The analogy I often use to explain this phenomenon is phantom limb pain.…

1/22/2016 1

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Dr. Chang Mentioned on NBC News Regarding Sound of One's Voice

Dr. Chang was mentioned today in a NBC News article on their popular Body Odds section. The article entitled "why you hate the sound of your own voice" describes why people sound and often dislike the way their voice sounds on a recording. What we hear when we speak, however, is air- and bone-conducted sounds. Vibrations from our vocal cords directly reach the cochlea. Our skulls deceive us by, in fact, lowering the frequency of these vibrations along the way, which is why we…

4/02/2013 0

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Stem Cells Restore Toddler's Congenital Hearing Loss

In a potentially revolutionary treatment, a two years old toddler born deaf has had her hearing restored after receiving stem cells from her banked umbilical cord blood. (Reported in ABC News ) Madeline Connor at age 1 year old was completely deaf in the right ear and had severe hearing loss on the left. Normally hearing aids or cochlear implant would have been the only options. However, in January 2012 at the age of 2 years old, Madeline underwent a "simple" experiment w…

7/11/2012 0

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Why Does My Voice Sound Different on Recording and Treatment Options

Every so often, I have a patient who presents to my office with a complaint that their voice sounds different on recording than what they themselves hear. In particular, singers who come in state specifically that their vocal recordings sounds slightly flat when they thought they were singing in perfect pitch. So why does this happen? Unfortunately, it is physics  and fundamentally integrated to how the ear, skull, and sound transmission work. In other words, it can't be "trea…

3/31/2012 0

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