Modern methods of using balloons has great results. These procedures are useful and now well accepted

Sinus Forum Asia now goes to Bali in October 2011

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Having to hear sounds within the ears without real external source is termed as tinnitus. Very often this condition is disturbing and in some may cause depression. It is often associated with deafness. When it presents with vertigo and deafness is known as Meniere’s Disease but uncommon in Asians.

Patients with one sided tinnitus should be cautious as it could be a tumour within the nerves of the inner ear but confirmatory imaging with MRI may be essential.

News Desk
Turn That Noise Down!
By Wes Phillips

September 3, 2006 — Yes, we’ve reported on this before, but it bears repeating—especially if you didn’t hear us because you were playing your iPod too loud: Prolonged exposure to loud music can damage your hearing.
The reason for this particular cautionary lecture? A recent article in Malaysia’s New Straits Times, which quotes ENT specialist Dr. Kuljit Singh: “Constant use of earphones, especially from listening to iPods, can cause loss of hearing, especially among the young who use it for prolonged periods. . . . In five years, I will be seeing people who used maximum volumes just to listen to their music.”
Quoted in the same article, Dr. Siti Zamratol Mai-Sarah Mukar, head associate professor of University of Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Audiology and Speech Sciences department, cited many new developments that caused increased concern among hearing professionals, including that favorite punching bag of the audiophile community, digital technology: “Before, with analog technology, there would be distortions in the music when you turn up the volume.”
Dr. Singh gave some simple guidelines to knowing when you’ve been listening too loud for too long, including difficulty in following a conversation, hearing what is being said over TV, or being able to detect sound quality.
We want to keep all of our readers paying attention to that last one—you might even say we’re counting on it.

http://www.stereophile.com/news/090406noise/
News Desk
Turn That Noise Down!
By Wes Phillips

Diving has now a favourite sport by many through out the world. One of the common medical problems related with diving is ear and nasal disorders. Ear often present with pain, loss of hearing and vertigo/dizziness.

Nasal symptoms are usually like headaches around the nasal area and forehead. Many divers have severe sinusitis with thickening of the mucosal layer within the nasal cavity. Adequate and proper treatment is required in order to avoid a serious condition or even causing a disaster while diving.

Ear Pain is common in divers especially in training or during upper respiratory tract infections. Severe pain with sudden impaired hearing can occur while ascending up to the surface. Severe pressure within the middle ear could damage the middle ear bones and rupture the ear drum.

Another common ear pain in divers could be external ear canal infection due to fungus or bacteria. Very often impacted wax with water within the ear canal causes the similar type of pain.

Patients suffering from sleep apnea literally choke on their own tissues within the throat when sleeping and the resultant fragmented nightly rest can lead to serious medical conditions if left untreated.

dr-kuljit-snoring-sleep-apnea1

Ear pain is one of the most painful condition one can have probably after child birth pain and tooth ache. There are many causes of ear pain. It could be a simple infection of the ear canal either bacterial or fungal. The other common cause is fluid in the middle ear.

Treatment is simple such as ear cleaning using suction by ENT specialist, antibiotic drops or anti fungal ear drops or relieve of middle ear fluid with a simple surgery.

CPAP is a device which contantly pushes air into the air way while sleeping to prevent an apnea spell. In todays technology; the CPAP machines are highly titrated and regulated which gives maximum comfort to the patient. It is gold standard to use a CPAP and it avoids a surgical procedure.

Sleep apnea is when breathing stops while sleeping. It is a non painful condition and patients usually do not know that they are apneic. The complications of sleep apnea are mostly related to heart, lungs and other psychological problems. To diagnose sleep apnea; a sleep study is done either partial or complete known as polysomnography [PSG].

The treatment could be conservative such life style change, surgical or on CPAP machine.