Inner Ear Disease Possible Cause for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)?

Image courtesy of Tuomas_Lehtinen at  FreeDigitalPhotos.net A loyal blog reader alerted me to an interesting research suggesting that inner ear disease may be a causative factor of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Apparently this association  made the news in April 2015. SIDS is when a baby without any obvious health issues inexplicably and suddenly dies while sleeping. This risk is mainly present within the first 12 months of life. Although all new parents are informed to institute…

7/24/2015 0

Continue Reading

Accurate Hearing Testing Using an iPhone

There is an iPhone app called " EarTrumpet " that apparently can provide accurate hearing testing... almost as good as a professionally administered test ( conventional audiometry ) and certainly as good (if not better) than medical-quality automated testing machines (ie Otogram ). Created with the assistance of the ENT department at the University of California, Irvine... According to one study , this iPhone application provided results as good as one administered by an audiol…

9/22/2013 0

Continue Reading

For $349, Test Your DNA for 100+ Hereditary Diseases

Image from Wikipedia A company called Counsyl claims to be able to test an individual's DNA and determine the risk of passing on over 100 hereditary diseases to future offspring for $349 (or free with insurance). Such hereditary diseases they are able to test for include the commonly known cystic fibrosis to more rare conditions like Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome. The full list can be viewed here . Though many of the diseases listed are associated with ear, nose, throat problems, the li…

1/30/2010 0

Continue Reading