Patient History

Age: 81

Gender: M

The patient reports military noise exposure.  He was discharge from the military in 1953.  He has a hearing aid that he wears in his left ear, a BTE obtained from hearing aid dispensary in a big-box retailer.  He reports he is “quite deaf” and lipreads.  He says his right ear is too poor for a hearing aid. He has aural fullness and tinnitus bilaterally; but it sounds like crickets in the right ear and a hum in the left ear. He experiences dizziness when looking up and to the right. He had stapedectomies – left ear 20 years ago and right ear 13 years ago.

□ If you haven’t answered already for case #3, stapedectomy treats what disease? What type of hearing loss?

□ What type of hearing aid is a BTE?

Otoscopy

Not reported

Case credits: The Univesity of Miami Ear Institute donated this case.