If A-Rod Can Carry A Purse, I Can Too!
Remember that Seinfeld episode when Jerry decides to get rid of his over-stuffed wallet and start using a “European Carry-All”? Everyone calls it a purse, and he insists it’s not (“It’s European!”), even though it is. A couple of months ago, I finally got tired the trade-off between stuffing every spare pocket with all my hearing gear (and eventually having to wear a sport coat and overcoat with yet more pockets, even in warm weather) vs. packing it all in my business briefcase that is too big to carry with me everywhere I go. Read more
Did Someone Say Those Noises In My Head Are Real? Or Am I Hearing Things Again?
A few weeks ago I posted an item about the noises I constantly hear in my head. These aren’t the usual hissing or ringing noises commonly associated with tinnitus. I’m talking about distinct sounds such as dump trucks and payloaders working at a hallucinatory construction site outside my window, a chain saw whining in the distance, several orchestral arrangements of “God Bless America” that played in my head without a break for two full days…. the list of real sounds heard distinctly goes on. Read more
Okay, It’s Time To Get A Portable Bed-Shaker. Any Recommendations?
When my family toured Washington, D.C., in 1964, we stayed in a Holiday Inn where one of the beds was equipped with something called “Magic Fingers.” My brother and I scraped together two quarters and shoved them into the sliding arm that dropped the coins into a metal box above the headboard, and the entire bed started vibrating. Read more
Hearing Aids And Cellphones: One Step Forward, Half A Step Back
Making a cellphone easy to use with a hearing aid is devilishly hard. Both devices are packed with so many chips and other digital electronics that electromagnetic interference causing feedback, static and distortion is bound to occur in one or both devices. Last week, the cellphone/hearing-aid industry coalition that is racing to meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for hearing-aid compatibility issued a good-news, bad-news update. Read more
Excuse Me, I Have To Fall Down Now
Right after college, I had three roommates in their first year of medical school. Once a week, one of them would run up from the mailbox shouting, “MMWR is here! MMWR is here!” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the newsletter from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), chronicles every known malady afflicting the populace, providing graphic details of the latest horrific diseases and extensive weekly documentation of Who and How Many are Dying from What and Why. Read more