Volume Control - David Owen

Sub-title: Hearing in a Deafening World

A year ago in March I woke up unable to hear very much in my left ear.  After agonizing and frightening medical visits I was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) commonly known as sudden deafness and now wear hearing aids.  It was a painful, expensive journey.  This book gave me perspective on the current state of the treatment of hearing loss, its causes and future solutions.  I was encouraged by its analysis and discussion of the efforts being made to address the problems.

Quotes:

"On the advice of James Henry, the VA research scientist and tinnitus expert, I now own several sets of so-called musician's earplugs. They're good for musicians because they reduce the overall level of sound but maintain almost the full sonic spectrum-unlike regular foam earplugs, which disproportionately mute high frequencies. The ones that Henry wears cost several hundred dollars and were custom-made from ear-canal impressions taken by an audiologist; mine are off-the-shelf, from Amazon, and cost $10 or $15. Mine are made by Etymotic Research, which has been making high-fidelity headphones and other audio devices since the early 1980s; it sells a full range of musician's plugs, including not just the cheap ones that I bought but also fancy ones like Henry's. In 2018, Etymotic merged with Lucid Audio, a company that makes a number of high-quality hearing-related devices, including PSAPs. The merged company is one of many to watch during the next few years, as hearing-aid regulations change and as more and more sophisticated tech companies create ear-related products for aging boomers. Each of my Etymotic plugs is shaped like a Christmas tree: it has three nesting umbrella-shaped flanges made of soft silicone. Ear plugs of this type create excellent seals in most people's ears, but inserting them properly can be tricky. The best technique is to widen and slightly straighten your ear canal by reaching over the top of your head with the opposite hand and gently pulling up your pinna. Doing this makes the earplug easier to slide in correctly. (Once it's in, you let go of your ear.) My plugs came with a plastic carrying pouch, which I've attached to my key chain. "

"You can estimate the frequency of your tinnitus yourself online, and you can do that every bit as accurately as an audiologist can, since only you can perceive the sound in your head. When Desyncra applied to the FDA for premarket approval, the FDA said that it has done so unnecessarily because "the device is substantially equivalent... to legally marketed predicate devices marketed in Interstate commerce prior to May 28, 1976, the enactment date of the Medical Device Amendments, or to devices that have been designed in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug Cosmetic Act." My guess is that if the technique really does work you'll soon be able to download and self-calibrate an app that does the same thing for much, much less. If you're feeling adventurous you can try it for free, right now, using a Web app that a musician who calls himself General Fuzz created, based on the description of the Desyncra technique in a scientific paper available on the website at the National Institutes of Health. I'm going to wait."

Published: 2019  Read: February 2020  Genre: Science