Dissapointed with House Ear Clinic

AMazieLN

AMazieLN

New Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
89
Reaction score
0
Went for my second appt. with them. Had my CT disc, and they did an ABR test. Or tried. They said they couldn't get a response. Said there was too much noise in my head for the machine to measure the results. Took half a Xanex to make me calmer, still couldn't get any results. Audi gave up at that point, even though I offered to take more Xanex. She actually had the nerve to ask me if I even took the first half! Even though she WATCHED me take it! She brought me the water! This is the same lady who got frustrated with me last time during the speech discrimination test, telling me she KNOWS I can hear the words, so I need to respond?! Yeah lady, I can HEAR it, DOES NOT mean I can UNDERSTAND it!! Ugh, done with her. Go back to see Dr. and he says, well we need to try again with you taking a whole Xanex 2 hours before the test? Um, ok. How are you going to get any better results, when as it was I almost fell asleep three times during the test? That's about as good as it gets for relaxed! My Mom and I are no annoyed, especially because my Audi here at home (House Ear is 2 1/2 hours away from us) doesn't even understand why he is doing the ABR, because I'm not 2 years old (her words). He REFUSES to do ANYTHING (aid my left ear, try a BAHA on a softband, etc) until he can get ABR results. SO annoying! On the drive home, my Mom and I decided were not going back to the ABR appt they scheduled for the end of the month. I have an appt with my Audi on Friday, and were going to talk to her about this. See if she can recommend a different Dr. and clinic.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent!
 
That's awful!! Seriously, someone who work with people with hearing loss really should understand the difference between hearing and understanding! I also always wonder why they don't have any other way to contact them except for the telephone. Why don't they have email, or a website where you can leave them messages, ask questions etc?? You deal with people who can't hear, or hear very well, wtf??

Noises in your head. I have to google ABR to find out what this is!! Sorry mazie :(
 
drphil said:
Isn't there any closer ENT clinics nearby?
Click to expand...

Yes, I have an ENT here in town, but he doesn't do BAHA's or CI's. Only two docs here in town do, and both my ENT and Audi advised against them, as they are very new. They both recommended going to LA or Santa Barbara for this. Both had good things to say about House Ear Clinic. Guess its just not a good fit for me or my loss.
 
ambrosia said:
That's awful!! Seriously, someone who work with people with hearing loss really should understand the difference between hearing and understanding! I also always wonder why they don't have any other way to contact them except for the telephone. Why don't they have email, or a website where you can leave them messages, ask questions etc?? You deal with people who can't hear, or hear very well, wtf??

Noises in your head. I have to google ABR to find out what this is!! Sorry mazie :(
Click to expand...

Dr. said that it is the muscles in my head, face, neck, etc? That since they weren't fully relaxed, they were moving slightly and giving off noise? Very confusing to me! I did warn them that I have a sensitive swallow reflex, and would try to swallow as little as possible, but that I wouldn't be able to prevent it. The Ausi's response was "Well just don't." Annoying! I only swallowed 4 times during the test, so that couldn't have screwed the whole thing up.
 
From what I just read about it the ABR tests are done on adults if there's hearing loss in only one ear, or more severe loss in one ear than the other. I guess this happens sometimes one something's up with the nerve? They probably want to do the test because if there IS something wrong with your auditory nerve a CI won't work. At least I wouldn't think so since a CI bypasses your ear's hearing mechanisms and puts the sound via electrodes straight to the nerve.

My question is....do they already know what caused your hearing loss in the first place? Because if they do, and it doesn't involve the auditory nerve, testing for it seems silly.
 
ambrosia said:
From what I just read about it the ABR tests are done on adults if there's hearing loss in only one ear, or more severe loss in one ear than the other. I guess this happens sometimes one something's up with the nerve? They probably want to do the test because if there IS something wrong with your auditory nerve a CI won't work. At least I wouldn't think so since a CI bypasses your ear's hearing mechanisms and puts the sound via electrodes straight to the nerve.

My question is....do they already know what caused your hearing loss in the first place? Because if they do, and it doesn't involve the auditory nerve, testing for it seems silly.
Click to expand...

My hearing loss is/was a direct result of a severe skull fracture. I was completely deaf for 2 years, at which point surgery was performed on my ears to repair ossicles. Afterwards I was still deaf in left ear but only severe loss in right. Recently I progressed to severe/profound in my right. My loss is mostly conductive, with a small bit of sensorial loss. I've only had aids for 2 years. Year and a half with a BiCROS system, and now several months with my Naida and pursuing an implant for the left.

These are my options right now:
1. Get another UP hearing aid for left ear and postpone seeking an implant.
2. Get a BiCROS aid for left ear and postpone seeking implant.
3. Continue pursuing implant in the present.

Going to ask Audi's opinion tomorrow. I've never had a regular aid in my left ear, so I'm curious to see if it would help me locate sounds (ie have directional hearing). Not expecting to hear/understand speech with it.
 
Last edited:
that is sound serious big pretty day ! did you replace new doctor? or new audiologist?
he or we refused say?

search find on better how doctor?
 
Last edited:
that is bull...and ABR isn't influenced by sounds in your head..and if it was it wouldn't be significant enough to not give results...excessive moving and external noise can be a problem but not internal noise..they aren't experienced with ABR's if they are telling you that..

And I get the SAME thing from my CI audi..make sure if you hear it you tell me the word or press the button that you can hear it...b*tch hearing and understanding are two diff things! arghhhh
 
Smithtr said:
that is sound serious big pretty day ! did you replace new doctor? or new audiologist?
he or we refused say?

search find on better how doctor?
Click to expand...

Seeing me Audi here at home tomorrow :) Bad Audi was from the House Ear Clinic :) Will look into different surgeons if we decide to pursue an implant in the short term :)
 
AliciaM said:
that is bull...and ABR isn't influenced by sounds in your head..and if it was it wouldn't be significant enough to not give results...excessive moving and external noise can be a problem but not internal noise..they aren't experienced with ABR's if they are telling you that..

And I get the SAME thing from my CI audi..make sure if you hear it you tell me the word or press the button that you can hear it...b*tch hearing and understanding are two diff things! arghhhh
Click to expand...

Seriously, I don't understand how my muscles moving slightly from not being 100% relaxed could cause noise on the test. I'm wondering if the Audi thinks I'm faking it or something? She always seems so annoyed with me! And to question whether I even took the Xanex, I really think she thinks I'm a faker. Could not hearing anything back on the ABR be indicative of SSD and a severe/profound loss?
 
AMazieLN said:
Seriously, I don't understand how my muscles moving slightly from not being 100% relaxed could cause noise on the test. I'm wondering if the Audi thinks I'm faking it or something? She always seems so annoyed with me! And to question whether I even took the Xanex, I really think she thinks I'm a faker. Could not hearing anything back on the ABR be indicative of SSD and a severe/profound loss?
Click to expand...

I have to admit I know almost nothing about the ABR test, but I am very familiar with EEGs and ECGs which test electrical activity in the brain and in the heart. I'm guessing the ABR somehow tests for electrical activity in the auditory nerve? If so, then the results of the test would be subject to "noise" from the electrical activity in other nerves and muscles. That's not noise like what we can (or cannot) hear, but electronic "noise" that interferes with accurate results of the test.

Regardless, the whole thing sounds horribly frustrating! They need to treat you better!
 
If there is no response on the ABR within different freqs then yes you are profoundly deaf
 
WillKnit said:
I have to admit I know almost nothing about the ABR test, but I am very familiar with EEGs and ECGs which test electrical activity in the brain and in the heart. I'm guessing the ABR somehow tests for electrical activity in the auditory nerve? If so, then the results of the test would be subject to "noise" from the electrical activity in other nerves and muscles. That's not noise like what we can (or cannot) hear, but electronic "noise" that interferes with accurate results of the test.

Regardless, the whole thing sounds horribly frustrating! They need to treat you better!
Click to expand...

ABR acutally tests activity in the brain.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

Bottesini said:
WillKnit said:
I have to admit I know almost nothing about the ABR test, but I am very familiar with EEGs and ECGs which test electrical activity in the brain and in the heart. I'm guessing the ABR somehow tests for electrical activity in the auditory nerve? If so, then the results of the test would be subject to "noise" from the electrical activity in other nerves and muscles. That's not noise like what we can (or cannot) hear, but electronic "noise" that interferes with accurate results of the test.

Regardless, the whole thing sounds horribly frustrating! They need to treat you better!
Click to expand...

ABR acutally tests activity in the brain.
Click to expand...

And often aren't very accurate in adults, or for that matter even infants.
 
AMazieLN said:
Yes, I have an ENT here in town, but he doesn't do BAHA's or CI's. Only two docs here in town do, and both my ENT and Audi advised against them, as they are very new. They both recommended going to LA or Santa Barbara for this. Both had good things to say about House Ear Clinic. Guess its just not a good fit for me or my loss.
Click to expand...

That could be a good thing. They could have a fresh approach to all this that may be to your benefit. Years ago I switched ENTs for my daughter because the one we were seeing wasn't able to clear up the infection in her ear. We got a "fresh out of residency" ENT at the new practice and he bombarded her with meds to clear up the infections. My daughter had been scheduled to have her eardrum repaired when a week before the surgery she got the ?fungal? infection in that ear. The new doctor was able to clear up the infection and do the surgery a month or two later.

Edit: We still use this ENT.
 
AMazieLN said:
Seeing me Audi here at home tomorrow :) Bad Audi was from the House Ear Clinic :) Will look into different surgeons if we decide to pursue an implant in the short term :)
Click to expand...


Glad of hear news :)
 
Saw Audi, who is convinced House Ear thinks I'm faking. She says that's completely ridiculous. She said she attempted to "make me jump" during the test(in June) by suddenly putting out 110dB, and said I didn't even flinch, so she knows I'm not faking. She gave us a recommendation 5 hours away. I'm letting my Mom decide on where we go, it's her and my Dad's money.

Audi ordered me an FM system to trial for school. I was really worried I wouldn't be able to function. So this is very good. Will get it from her 3 days before school starts :) Excited for it!!

Oh, and returned my ComPilot. It was super sketchy with its signal, so I was only using it as a remote. Oh well! If I decide later I want the iCom I'll get that back, had no problems with it!
 
Seems silly that they think you would waste time and money to fake it. Doesn't make sense.

Here in UK. People faking hearingloss for compensation is huge business. They do a simply test where they ask people what are the saying, pat, mat, bat. They all have the same lip movements.

Hope you get things sorted. ;)
 
Back
Top