New Webpage on Temporomandibular Joint Disease (TMJ)

We have a new webpage on TMJ disorders uploaded. As most people know, TMJ is a joint found immediately in front of the ear where the jaw joins with the skull. What many people may not recognize is that TMJ disorders have numerous symptoms which is often confused as coming from the ear when in actuality, there is nothing wrong with the ear. Such symptoms include ear pain, crackling/popping in the ear, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), pulsating sounds in the ear, etc. Strategies to treat TMJ is also discussed on the webpage.

www.VirginiaHearing.org

Fauquier ENT has offered hearing tests, hearing aids (dispensing and repairs), custom ear molds, and assistive listening devices for over a decade. In order to better promote and make our community aware of what we offer, a new web address has been created called:

http://www.VirginiaHearing.org

This web address will take a person directly to our audiology section of our main website (www.FauquierENT.net).

Hear Better & Improve Your Quality of Life!

What to Expect With Hearing Aids
There are three important rules to remember. First: the most important thing to remember is that “We hear with our brain, not with our ears”. Second: hearing aids will not restore normal hearing. Hearing aids help your damaged auditory system work as well as it can. Third: hearing aids are only half of the process towards better hearing. You will be learning to listen and process sound again. Everything will sound different. Voices will be louder and clearer. Your own voice may sound strange. There will be different sounds in your environment that were not there before. Expect a period of adjustment.

History of Hearing Aid Technology and Circuitry
1950 – Analog
1990 – Analog Programmable
1996 – Digital
2004 – Open Fit and Receiver-In-The-Canal
2007 – Wireless Bluetooth

What Hearing Aids are Best
There are several different hearing aid manufacturers on the market. The manufacturers that our office works with primarily are WIDEX, OTICON, and PHONAK. Hearing aids are manufactured with different sizes of shell styles and internal circuitry. Styles are either in-the-ear or behind-the-ear. Hearing aid internal circuitry ranges from entry level to advanced. All of the aids dispensed at our office have the most technologically advanced circuitry, ensuring the best sound quality available. The four factors to consider when choosing an aid are (1) type and degree of hearing loss (2) lifestyle and listening environments (3) dexterity and vision (4) budget. The most appropriate level of circuitry for each individual will depend on these four factors.

The Bottom Line
The cost for one hearing aid ranges from $800 to over $3000 depending on the style and type of circuit selected. In our office, the cost of a hearing aid is determined by the level of internal circuitry and not the shell style.

A complete hearing evaluation takes only minutes and you could be on the road to better hearing.

Our office also provides custom ear plugs for musicians and swimming as well as assistive listening devices & technology such as infrared loop systems for TV and radio, amplified phones, personal body-worn amplifiers, and FM systems.

A full list of our audiological services can be found here.

http://www.VirginiaHearing.org

--Catie Chalmers, MS, CCC/A

Washington Post Medical Mystery: Severe Chronic Sinus Headache

The Washington Post on November 13, 2007 published a story of a gentleman who suffered from a sharp headache due to Sluder's neuralgia centered in the "anterior ethmoid neurovascular complex".

The amazing thing about this story is that the patient himself figured out what was causing his headache by finding a reference on a microfiche he found in a 1963 article in the British Journal of Laryngology & Otology.

Read the story here.

To read the 1963 journal article entitled "The Anterior Ethmoid Nerve Syndrome" describing this patient's condition, click here.

There was a subsequent correspondence to this article (periodic migrainous neuralgia) you can read here.

Read more about this problem here.

New Videos Produced Showing How Trans-Nasal Endoscopy is Performed

A couple videos have been produced by our office showing how a trans-nasal endoscopic exam is performed and what one would see from this type of exam. Instead of publishing these videos on our website, they have been added to our YouTube homepage. The videos can be found here or viewed below in the embedded player.