THE PROMISE OKONKWO'S BLOG- HappilyHearingAfter

6 important secrets you need to know about that wax in your ears As an audiologist working in a hospital settings I am opportuned to attend to many patients with different hearing concerns and complaints. Nine (9) in Ten (10) patients believed it is unhygienic to have earwax in their ears. Earwax, also known as cerumen, is produced by glands in your ear canal and made up mostly of substances, including lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme, fatty acids, alcohols and cholesterol. Earwax is a secretions and it actually serves as one of your body's protective mechanisms. So when next anyone accuses you of being dirty by not cleaning your earwax, simply tell them “NO” you are not but you are actually healthy and your ears are well protected from infections and germs by having them in there. Below are five things you need to know about your earwax  You will always have cerumen in your ears whether you like it or not The physiology of the human ear is designed in ...

How are headphones and earbuds impacting your hearing? Photo credit: GoogleImages Trendy headphones and earbuds are popular among all ages, but it's important to know how the 'buds affect your hearing. Dr. Sharon Sandridge of Cleveland Clinic says the brand or type of headphone generally doesn't matter - it's the volume, or decibel level, coupled with how long they're listening that counts. "You can be perfectly safe with any set of headphones, with any set of music players, as long as you listen to it within the safe range," she says. Dr. Sandridge says listening to music at 85 decibels is considered safe, as long as you're listening for less than eight hours. Once the decibel level is increased, you have to decrease the exposure time to remain within the safe listening range. For example, if you're listening to a music player at full intensity, which is about 102 decibels, you can only listen to about two or three songs safel...

South Sudan’s Deaf find hope amid despair  (Photo credit: United Nations via Flickr)         South Sudan (MNN) — South Sudan is imploding. War and famine have pushed the world’s youngest nation to the brink of collapse. Over the weekend, attackers killed seven aid workers as they transported food aid from the capital to a smaller village. According to BBC News , this was “the deadliest single incident for humanitarians since the country’s civil war began” in 2013. The UN Secretary General recently accused South Sudan’s leaders of virtually ignoring their nation’s plight: Over 5.5 million people face death by starvation (that’s roughly half the population), Another 1.5 million have fled to neighboring nations like Uganda, making South Sudan’s refugee crisis the third-largest in the world , and Approximately 86 percent of these refugees are women and children . Their reason for leaving is clear. “They’ve seen family members killed, they’...

In a first, 25 deaf people are baptized in Burundi The Burundi church's evangelism director weeps as he watches the joyous scene. Deaf people praising God after being baptized at Kamenge Seventh-day Adventist Church in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, on March 25, 2017. [photo credit: East-Central Africa Division]     Twenty-five deaf people were baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s first deaf baptisms in Burundi as church members step up efforts to share the gospel with the hearing impaired across East Africa. A total of 27 people were baptized during a joyous ceremony at the Kamenge Seventh-day Adventist Church in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, on March 25. In addition to the 25 deaf people, the baptismal candidates included a blind person and a hearing person. The baptismal candidates gathered at the front of the church to take the baptismal vow before entering the waters of the baptismal tank last Sabbath. Afterward, they returned to the fron...

Meningitis outbreak kills nearly 270 in Nigeria: officials Nearly 270 people, most of them children, have died in the past five months during the latest meningitis outbreak to hit Nigeria, public health officials said Wednesday. "Presently we have 1,828 suspected cases... and we have 269 deaths in about 15 states," Olubunmi Ojo of the National Centre for Disease Control told local television. At least five northern states -- Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger -- and the Federal Capital Territory have been hit hard and have crossed the threshold for an epidemic, she added. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, director of disease control at the federal ministry of health in Abuja, said those six states accounted for 1,090 infected people and 154 deaths. "Zamfara State alone recorded 590 cases, out of which 29 people have died," he told AFP. Laboratory tests have confirmed that the disease was of a new Type C strain, he added. The World Health Organizati...

For babies, breastfeeding is still best, even if it doesn't make them smarter (though it might)    There are lots of reasons why doctors encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies. Compared with babies who get formula, babies who are breastfed are less likely to die as a result of infections, sudden infant death syndrome or any other reason. The longer a mother nurses — and the longer she does so exclusively — the bigger the benefits, studies show. Another perceived benefit of breastfeeding is the possibility that it boosts a baby’s brain. A clinical trial involving more than 16,000 infants in Belarus who were randomly assigned to get either special support for breastfeeding (based on a program from the World Health Organization and UNICEF) or a hospital’s usual care found that babies in the first group scored an average of 7.5 points higher on a verbal IQ test and 5.9 points higher on overall IQ. Teachers, apparently, could tell the difference – chi...

Hearing Industries Association (HIA) Response to the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017   WASHINGTON, DC --(Marketwired - March 27, 2017) - On March 20, 2017 the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 (S.670) was introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). The bill would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to propose a rule to establish an over-the-counter hearing aid (OTC) category for adults with "perceived" mild to moderate hearing loss within three years of passage of the legislation. Representatives Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have introduced an Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid bill (H.R. 1652) in the House, which mirrors the Senate bill. Hearing Industries Association (HIA) supports efforts to increase accessibility and affordability of hearing aids. Nearly two thirds of people with hearing loss in the U.S. have a mild ...

Jacksonville Zoo Officials Helping Deaf Gorilla Become A Mom  Kambuka is a nearly 300 lb. deaf female gorilla living at the Jacksonville Zoo.   The Jacksonville Zoo hopes its gorilla Kambuka will soon become a first-time mom. But Kambuka’s journey to motherhood has been complicated by the recent discovery that she’s deaf. Jacksonville Zoo veterinarian Dr. Yousuf Jafarey said there is often tension between Kambuka and the other gorillas because she doesn’t hear social cues. He said helping Kambuka overcome socialization problems within her gorilla family is an important step to having a baby. “The challenge arises in that other females, they view Kambuka differently. We are concerned about if she does have a baby, how will the troupe handle that baby? How will she handle that baby?” he said. Zoo official JJ Vitale recounted a recent scenario that helped keepers realize Kambuka had a hearing problem. She said the zoo staff gave all the gorillas whole co...

Hearing dogs for deaf people celebrate 35 years: Meet the dogs that save lives every day     Read story here:  Meet the dogs that save lives every day  

Can you repeat that please?    If you are living with hearing loss, this is probably a phrase you find yourself using a lot. And you’re not alone.   One in six Australians has hearing loss and with an ageing population and younger Australians increasing exposure to dangerous leisure noise levels, this is predicted to increase to one in four by 2050. Hearing loss can make daily communication with the people around you harder, but it needn’t restrict you from having an active social life or participating in social events. For instance, simply by positioning yourself so you are facing the person you are talking to, their sound is going directly to you and this makes it easier to hear them. This also makes it easier for you to pick up on visual cues to help you understand the conversation. Here are some other strategies you can use to make it easier to hear and understand, and most of all, enjoy socialising and avoid isolation: A...