Is 1 Liter of Nasal Fluid Produced a Day Truly Normal?

Ask any ENT how much nasal drainage is normally produced by a healthy human nose every day and you will be told 1 liter. But that's not what this blog article is about. Rather, HOW was this amount determined? What is the research behind this volume? The answer is surprisingly difficult to find and still up in the air... If any readers can do some sleuthing beyond what I report below, I would be much appreciative! The vast majority of references found on simple google searching are quot…

12/15/2017 0

Continue Reading

Suction Powered Nasal Irrigation

Most sino-nasal irrigation systems currently in use require passive drainage after flushing... typically into a sink. You squirt the saltwater into one nostril and the flush drains out the other side passively. However, there is a new system called " Navage " made by RhinoSystems that adds suction along with the flush. The upper chamber is where clean water is held. There are two nasal pillows that goes into each nostril. By pushing a button, the water gets mixed with salt and fl…

9/25/2016 0

Continue Reading

Hearing Amplifiers That Work Almost as Well as More Expensive Hearing Aids

CS50+ High End Hearing Amplifier In my last blog , I argued that hearing amplifiers are not safe to use in patients with hearing loss . In fact, such hearing amplifiers can potentially cause further hearing loss given indiscriminate amplification of sound frequencies where hearing loss may be minimal/absent. Given that caveat, there are a new breed of high-end amplifiers that approach the quality and safety of hearing aids . Such high-end hearing amplifiers typically run $300+, can be pu…

8/05/2016 0

Continue Reading

60/60 Rule to Avoid Hearing Loss Due to Loud Music

It is a well-known fact that permanent hearing loss can result from listening to loud music for prolonged periods of time. With the advent of portable music players, earbuds/headphones, and long-lasting battery life, people are losing their hearing at younger and younger ages compared to prior generations. In order to save your hearing from such noise-induced damage, their are two factors that must be considered: How LOUD the Music The louder the music, the higher risk of hearing loss. …

10/31/2015 0

Continue Reading

Best Headphones for Kids

MacWorld did a nice review on the best headphones for kids which is important given the increasing use of electronic devices in the classroom. It should be noted that the best headphones for adults are not the best headphones for kids due to important discrepancies in size, durability, and absence of volume-limit controls. From an ENT perspective, volume-limit controls are the most important factor when picking a set of headphones for a child as such circuitry prevents the headphones from pl…

8/27/2014 0

Continue Reading

Teens (People) Who Listen to Music Loudly... A Possible Solution

Now parents may not like this, but I do have a possible solution to getting teenagers to turn the music volume down so not to damage their hearing ... Get them noise-cancelling headphones . As an occasional audiophile myself, I understand that when listening to music with headphones, you invariably HAVE to turn the music volume up in order to hear everything clearly, especially when listening to music in noisy environments. Such environments include city sounds while walking, airplane buzz …

9/01/2013 0

Continue Reading

Healthcare Blogging a Losing Proposition?

An interesting blog article from the folks at Compete came to my attention recently. Compete for those who don't know is a fantastic analytics site to see how ANY website is doing in terms of popularity (number of visitors in a given time period). The basic data is free. For more in depth information, there's a charge. For example, for our practice's website , here is the Compete data I pulled which is "relatively" accurate based on my own analytics information: …

12/06/2011 1

Continue Reading

Hearing Loss Can Can Accelerate Brain Volume Loss

Everyone has heard of the saying "If you don't use it, you will lose it." Well, when it comes to hearing loss , that seems to apply to not just hearing per se, but the actual structure of the brain! Researchers studied MRI scans of older individuals (ages 60-77) with hearing loss , they found less brain volume in the auditory cortex of the brain which is not entirely surprising. What was surprising was that there was less brain activity on functional MRI scans when these in…

9/01/2011 0

Continue Reading

iPods & Other Music Devices Can Cause Permanent Hearing Loss!

The Washington Post wrote up a nice article regarding the increased risk of permanent hearing loss kids these days may suffer due to listening to music devices too loudly. Such noise-induced hearing loss also increases the risk of tinnitus (ringing of the ears). The key things to easily remember to ensure proper music volume is: 1) If people around you can hear the music you are listening to, it's too loud. 2) If you can't hear what people are saying while listening to music, it&#…

7/03/2009 0

Continue Reading