Prior to the introduction of MP3 players, hearing loss among children was estimated at around 12.5 percent. More recent studies, however, estimate that 16 percent of teenagers, or approximately 6 million children, suffer from permanent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
In a modern society that is constantly “on,” with 24-hour news channels, Internet connection, cell phones, video games, and a rapid pace of life unequaled in previous generations, sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are not only a risk—they are a given.
Hearing aids-external electronic devices used to help individuals with hearing loss-traditionally consist of a microphone, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital signal processor, a digital-to-analog converter, and a receiver that delivers an acoustic signal into the external auditory canal. In 2008, 97% of all hearing aids sold used digital processing. Catherine V. Palmer, PhD, provides a review of current digital hearing aids.
In a recent debate-style panel, five otolaryngologists addressed topical clinical issues relating to the pediatric airway ranging from adenotonsillectomy in children with obstructive sleep symptoms, to whether cidofovir should be used as a standard treatment in children with recurrent respiratory papillomas.
SAN DIEGO-Weighing whether or not to perform tonsillectomy boils down to a balance between benefit and harm, declared Richard Rosenfeld, MD, MPH, at the lively and well-attended miniseminar on evidence-based tonsillectomy at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery annual meeting here.
The otolaryngologists and pediatric surgeons who watched President Obama’s July 22 press conference must have been astonished to hear themselves vilified by the Health Care Reformer-in-Chief.
Approximately 28 million people living in the United States suffer from some degree of hearing loss. It is the most frequently occurring birth defect—about three of every 1,000 babies are born with hearing loss.
Infantile hemangiomas and lymphatic malformations (LM) are vascular anomalies that otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons often encounter in their practices. Infantile hemangiomas and LMs differ from one another in prevalence, etiology, and clinical presentation, but both may be undergoing potential shifts in treatment, depending on research outcomes.
Few medical conditions that otolaryngologists treat possess the breadth of heterogeneity of vascular anomalies. The size of lesions ranges from minute to massive, and the manifestations range from trivial to life-threatening, with the severity of symptoms not always proportional to the size of the lesion.
While Paul Kileny, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical Schoo, was treating patients with superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD), he noticed something a bit strange: The patients had abnormal readings on electrocochleographic tests. And not just some of them-all of them did.