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Roswell Daily Record
Now hear this...Hearing problems can happen at any age
BY JAN HOBBS, MD Do you have trouble hearing conversations in large groups or in a noisy restaurant? Find yourself continually needing to turn up the television to hear? Or bothered by persistent ringing in your ears? Hearing loss affects one in 10 Americans – and the number has doubled over the past 30 years. “Hearing loss can happen at any age, and can be temporary or permanent,” says Dr. Jan Hobbs of Roswell Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy. Our ears – and the way they work – are a complex, delicate system. The ear has three parts: the outer, middle and inner ear. The outer ear transmits sound to the middle ear, where small bones pass sound vibrations to the inner ear. In the inner ear, nerve endings transmit input to the brain. When any of these
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gies can also cause temporary hearing problems, which can be diagnosed and relieved through allergy testing and treatment.
structures or passages in the ear are blocked or damaged, hearing loss can occur.
Hearing loss can be congenital (present from birth); acquired (through noise, illness or injury); and agerelated (a natural loss of nerve endings in the ear, over time). Congenital hearing loss is linked to genetics, prenatal infections, illness, or exposure to toxins; or premature birth. Acquired hearing loss, which can occur anytime in life, has many causes:
•Ear infections – Infection of the middle ear can occur with a cold, allergy or infection. Fluid build-up behind the eardrum can cause earaches and swelling. Untreated, chronic ear infections may lead to permanent hearing loss. Ear infections are the most common cause of hearing loss in children, but can occur in adults, as well.
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deficit, and running up the debt. Unfortunately for the Republicans, simply denouncing President Obama for every ill known to man may not lead to victory. Voters dislike much of the current GOP orthodoxy. President Obama could win an election which turns into competitive political demonization and personal destruction. Republicans should offer a positive agenda while addressing the party’s past failings. First, they should explain that current budget policy is unsustainable on both a short- and a long-term basis. Economist Larry Kotlikoff figures that America’s real public debt is $211 trillion, 15 times the nominal national debt. Public finance in states like California already looks a lot like that in Greece. Unless Americans want to turn their entire incomes over to government, public spending must be cut, and cut sharply. And it must be cut across-the-board. However, to regain lost credibility GOP politicians should lead with proposals to cut spending benefiting “their” interest groups. Corporate welfare should top any Republican Party list of budget cuts. Too often Republican apparatchiks have been pro-business rather than pro-free market, attacking financial transfers to the poor while endorsing subsidies for corporate America. The GOP also needs to support significant reductions in military outlays. There is no more important responsibility for the U.S. government than protecting America. However, most of the Pentagon’s current activities have little to do with protecting America. Instead, most U.S. forces currently defend prosperous, populous allies around the world. Europe has a larger GDP and
Dr. K
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Doctors check for this rare possibility by using a laryngoscope, a flexible tube with a light and mirror at the end of it. You are given a local anesthetic, and then the scope is passed into the back of the throat. The doctor can see the part of your throat that’s otherwise out
• Illness – Diseases or illnesses that cause a high fever (i.e., meningitis, measles, chicken pox, influenza or mumps) can damage the structure of the inner ear and cause permanent hearing loss. Chronic conditions such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure are also linked to hearing loss. •Traumatic head injury – Trauma to the ear or head can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. •Excessive noise exposure – Prolonged exposure to loud noise is one of the leading causes of hearing loss, affecting people of all ages. Studies show that 21
population than America, yet continues to rely on Washington to provide most of NATO’s combat capability. Japan long had the world’s second largest economy but nevertheless relied on America for its protection. South Korea has 40 times the GDP of its northern adversary, but nearly 30,000 U.S. military personnel remain in the South, creating a “tripwire” for war. Equally wasteful and far more costly in human terms have been nation-building exercises in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and more. Going to war in 2001 to punish the Taliban for hosting terrorist training camps made sense. Staying at war a decade later in an attempt to create a competent, honest centralized government in Kabul is foolish. Also required is an honest discussion of Social Security’s and Medicare’s funding crises. Neither is financially sustainable and both risk triggering generational conflict. The longer Congress puts off addressing these issues the costlier will be any solution. The GOP should reaffirm its opposition to tax hikes, but emphasize that taxes can be kept low only if outlays are reduced. Endless borrowing threatens a financial death spiral of increased debt, higher interest payments, slower economic growth, and lower investor confidence. The U.S. now is on the road to fiscal ruin. Moreover, Republicans should endorse President Obama’s attack on special interest tax breaks. Not all tax preferences are equally bad, but the narrower the tax break the more it approaches a special interest subsidy. The GOP should push legislation that simultaneously kills dubious tax “loopholes” and reduces overall marginal tax rates. Republicans should similarly respond to tax proposals from President Obama or congressional Democrats. Rather than defend the undefendable, the GOP should challenge yet another form of corporate welfare. With job creation at issue, Republicans of sight, in your neck. That’s the part from the back of your mouth down where your Adam’s apple is. It’s a very simple test, and it almost always confirms that the “lump in the throat” is not caused by an actual harmful lump. Dr. K o m a r o ff i s a p h y s i c i a n a n d professor at Harvard Medical School. Go to his website to send questions a n d g e t a d ditional infor mation: www.AskDoctorK.com.
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percent of Americans ages 48 to 59 have varying degrees of hearing loss, rising to 40 percent of people over age 65 – and it is largely preventable (see sidebar). •Abnormal bone growths or tumors – Hearing impairment is also linked to benign growths or tumors in the middle or inner ear, which typically develop between ages 30 and 60. The condition is treatable with surgery. •Certain medications or allergies – Some antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, and very high doses of aspirin or other pain relievers can cause hearing loss. Aller-
Hearing loss happens painlessly and gradually, over a period of several years. The primary symptoms include ear noises such as a ringing, buzzing or muffled sound (known as tinnitus), ear fullness or pressure, and dizziness. According to the Mayo Clinic, people with hearing loss generally wait five to seven years between experiencing the first symptoms of hearing trouble and seeking medical help. However, prompt medical attention is important – to resolve temporary problems that could lead to permanent hearing loss.
If you believe you have hearing loss, talk with your primary care doctor. You may be referred to a physician with special training in
should develop a list of regulations and taxes which interfere with a growing economy. Political candidates enjoy denouncing “over-regulation” in the abstract, but they would be more convincing if they targeted specific policies costing real jobs. The House GOP should follow the example of its earlier majority which held hearings on regulatory abuses. Republicans should challenge politically popular public agencies. For instance, the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the epicenter of the housing and financial crises. The GOP rightly criticized Democrats for not including the two GSEs in last year’s financial “reform” bill. But so far House Republicans have done nothing to close Fannie and Freddie, which continue to lose money. Deregulation should include proposals to make more market friendly controls which are necessary even in a free society. After all, few Americans want to breathe dirty air or swim in dirty water. And there is no simple market solution to such problems. But people don’t want to needlessly waste money and destroy jobs when cleaning up the environment. The Republicans also should offer a more restrained foreign policy. Doing so is necessary to curtail military outlays — in effect, the defense budget is the price of a nation’s foreign policy, since the more Washington seeks to do in the world, the more military force it requires. So long as the U.S. government is determined to dominate every region of the globe against every power, it will have to spend as much on the military as the rest of the world combined. Indeed, real, inflation-adjusted military outlays have doubled over the last decade, and today are higher than at any point during the Cold War, Korean War and Vietnam War. But a more humble foreign policy also would be a better foreign policy. Rather than engage in social engineering abroad,
Your hearing will be checked with a complete ear, nose and throat examination, and possibly other tests based on specific symptoms. You may also have a hearing test (known as an audiogram), an allergy test, as well as tests to assess your balance and other functions.
To lear n more, visit www.enmmc.com; click on “Health Resources” and “Interactive Tools,” and take one of 14 quizzes on hearing and hearing disorders including the Hearing Quiz; Ear, Nose & Throat Quiz; Balance Disorders Quiz; or Ear Infection Quiz.
Republican politicians should leave friendly states with responsibility for international problems. If there is a problem in the Balkans or North Africa, Europe should address it. Japan, South Korea, Australia and other democratic nations should cooperate to restrain potential Chinese aggressiveness. Only the Afghans can create a sustainable political order, of whatever form, in Afghanistan. The GOP should simultaneously support a globally engaged America and Americans. For instance, international cooperation can help meet humanitarian, environmental and other problems which transcend national boundaries. Whatever U.S. policy toward illegal aliens, Americans should expand the legal immigration of entrepreneurial professionals. Trade benefits Americans. Washington’s failure to ratify the free trade agreement with South Korea is beyond foolish. A commercial war with China would hurt Americans while poisoning the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century. Other issues also deserve attention — such as expanding educational opportunities for children stuck in poorly performing public schools. Even here, however, the GOP needs to break with recent Republican Party orthodoxy. President Bush and the Republican Congress centralized even more authority in Washington with the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. Perhaps Chris Christie or some other late electoral entrant will revolutionize the GOP presidential sweepstakes. But without good ideas well-expressed, the GOP could still end up outside the White House looking in. The Republican Party deserves to win in 2012 only if it recognizes that it deserved to lose in 2008. Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to Ronald Reagan, he is the author of “Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire” (Xulon).
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ear care and hearing disorders, such as an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose and throat doctor, or ENT), an otologist (a doctor who specializes in the treatment of ear and hearing disorders) or audiologist (a specialist who treats hearing loss and balance disorders).
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Latin Rhythms Seminar 3 – 4 PM Guest Musicians Chuck Redd, Michael Francis, Holly Hofman, Ricky Malichi, Albert Aragones, Cecilia Noel, and David Hett
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