Ask the Doc
Dr. H. Ganapathy, Consultant ENT surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, answers this week's questions.
Last year I heard panchavadyam at a temple festival at close range. When I came out I had to strain to hear. The ENT surgeon I consulted took an audiogram that showed that there is moderately severe SN hearing loss in right ear and minimal SN hearing loss in left ear. The doctor's view was that I had nerve degeneration. I did not experience vertigo. The doctor put me on Wysolone for three weeks in a tapering dosage, Neurobion forte one daily and Ginkoba twice daily. I was advised to continue with the last two for three months. During the last visit in June the surgeon informed me that there is no further role for medicines and the nerves will regenerate in the course of time. Hearing in my left ear has improved. I am experiencing some hearing loss in my right ear and there is a humming even when I close the ear. I am 59 and, barring mild hypertension, for which I take one ATEN 50 daily, I am in good health. K.M.Menon
Answer: What you experience is Tinnitus. It is a symptom and not a disease. Unless the disease is treated, it is not possible to eradicate it fully. We do not know how you developed hearing loss. If there is any identifiable cause please get it treated. Otherwise we have to try Tinnitus retraining therapy. The brain perceives the sound you hear and it has formed an impression. We have to erase it from the memory of the brain like erasing matter from a computer hard disk. The process takes a long time. Now and then the sound will be aggravated by physical or emotional stress. The best thing would be to ignore it. It is difficult but not impossible. There is no specific medicine for tinnitus though many drugs have been tried.
I am 46 with no known medical problems. My problem is a hissing sound in the left ear. It is louder when I am tired, sick or hungry. Even before this problem began, I had some hearing loss in the left ear. I had sinus problem, which improved under Homeopathic treatment. I consulted an ENT physician and underwent audiogram. Except for the hearing loss in the left ear, nothing else was wrong. What exactly is my problem? Prakash Nair
Answer: You have tinnitus in one ear associated with hearing loss. Any unilateral tinnitus needs to be investigated thoroughly to rule out the presence of a tumour arising from nerves of the inner ear. Once a serious disorder is ruled out further tests can be done to rule out other diseases.
I am a Bangladeshi. My father has been hard of hearing from his childhood. According to the doctor, his internal ear frame has got a hole. Surgery has been suggested but my father is against it. What is this surgery? Will he be able to hear again? How long will he be hospitalised? Krishna
Answer: A hole develops in the eardrum (Tympanic membrane) due to an infection in the middle ear or injury. The hole has to be closed by a surgery called Tympanoplasty. This is highly successful if the ear is dry. If there is discharge then we have to eradicate the infection either by surgery or medicine and then do the tympanoplasty either in stages or combined with mastoidectomy. The chances of hearing improvement depends on many factors like condition of small bones inside the middle ear, which form part of sound conducting mechanism and status of the communicating tube (Eustachian tube) between middle ear and nose. The tympanoplasty is usually done under local anaesthesia and the patient can leave on the same day. If combined with a mastoidectomy, then hospitalisation of one day would be ideal. If tympanoplasty has not resulted in improvement of hearing, a hearing aid can be used. For proper functioning of hearing aid a sealed drum would be an ideal situation.
I am an air force fighter pilot. At present I am on a teaching assignment. However, I still need to stay fit for occasional flying. In December 2005, I had a severe ear infection, which took more than a month to heal. At the end I was told that my left eardrum was damaged over 75 per cent. The doctor advised me to wait for a couple of months for an outside chance of self-recovery. It has now been confirmed that the recovery of the drum was highly unlikely. The doctor advised me to undergo surgery at the earliest. How safe is this surgery? Can it be done under local anaesthesia? Prabhakaran
Answer: The surgery usually advised for diseases like yours is either tympanoplasty with or without mastoidectomy. In either case it is safe provided you are otherwise fit.The surgery can be done under local anaesthesia. The choice of anaesthesia depends on many factors, which can be discussed with the surgeon concerned. Though surgery may correct the damage done to your ear, there is no guarantee that the ear infection may not recur. It is usually due to recurrent cold or sinusitis, which needs to be addressed too. Being a flying officer the chances of you getting otitic barotraumas (injury to ear due to pressure changes) is more compared to people travelling on the roads. So it is better that you do not fly when there is an acute cold.
I am suffering for the last 10 yrs from buzzing sound in my ears and my hearing capacity is gradually declining. I have tried various medicine systems (allopathy, homeopathy, acupressure) with no results. Is there a cure for this problem? If not, is it possible to stabilise hearing without any further loss? M.S. Mani
Answer: There is no specific drug or surgery for tinnitus. As mentioned earlier, tinnitus retraining therapy can be tried. Moreover you need investigations to identify the cause of progression of your hearing problem.
Send in your medical queries to Ask the Doc, Magazine, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 002. Or e-mail: askthedoc@thehindu.co.in
Keep your queries short and focused. Do not send medical records with the queries. Please mention your name and address and also whether your name can be published or not.
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