Longtime Enthusiast First Time Member

Hey Everyone

My first post on any forum/bulletin board and it is here at hometheater shack.

Just to introduce myself, I am a neuroscientist with hearing loss who loves to listen to music and home theater. In fact, the reason I do neuroscience research is because of my hearing loss and the lack of any real treatment options for those of us unfortunate enough to lose our hearing.

I pride myself in being able to setup a great audio system. Seems ironic, I know.

Anyhow I joined to download the Room Eq Wizard. Just want it to get a better view of my audio environment, apply some small changes etc.

Howdy BluNote and welcome to the Shack!

Glad to have you here.

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Sonnie



Cedar Creek Cinema

The Behemoth

Hi and welcome to the Shack!

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We're all in this together!

Welcome BluNote!

mech

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mech

Got questions? Start a thread.

Have you heard of this breakthrough cure for Tinnitus?

http://eugovector.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=313931

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Listen to the Real HT Info Podcast at http://realht.info, or on iTunes.

Also, listen right here on The Home Theater Shack. Just use the web applet on the front page.

Welcome BluNote. Glad to have you here. Most hearing loss is permanent, but, it depends on the cause. If it is years of loud music or other sounds, it probably won't reverse. If it is caused by nervous system interference, that can be corrected. the very first chiropractic adjustment in 1895 was given on a man who had lost his hearing after a fall 15 years before. He did regain his hearing. PM me is you want any more info. Have fun, Dennis

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L Dennis Doan, DC
Gonstead Chiropractor
IT'S THE NERVE!
www.drdoan.com
SVSound SBS-01 fronts, center, rear surrounds (I was honored to be the 1st purchaser of these great speakers)
Klipsch RS-42 side surrounds
SVSound SB12-Plus/2 sub (w/12.3 drivers)
Denon AVR-2807 Receiver w/AudysseyXT
LG DVD Recorder w/HDMI
Direct TV DVR HD
Optoma H31 projector mounted on ceiling. 91" MovieTime pull-down screen
15' x 11.8' vaulted ceiling dedicated HT room w/DIY sound absorption:

Doc Doan... that is an intersting chiropractic angle, I must say.

Welcome to the boards BluNote. That was a great record label...

'Mega Lego's" from another newish member!

Welcome aboard, glad to have you.

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Mark

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

Again I will reiterate my newness to forums and posting. I should probably ignore the comments made by Marshall and Dr. Doan, however, I feel a rebuttal is necessary. I thank everyone who has welcomed me, and I don't mean to insult or disrespect Marshall or Dr. Doan. I believe their comments were made with the best of intentions.

To begin, if you read my original post, I stated that I am a neuroscientist. This means I conduct scientific research in order to understand normal and disease processes in the brain and nervous tissue. I focus on the health related aspects, meaning I research the disease states and how we can treat them. I am currently researching retinal degenerative diseases, not diseases of the auditory system. This does not mean, however, I am wholly ignorant of the auditory system.

Marshall, there is no cure for tinnitus. This company is trying to make a quick buck.

Dr. Doan, a thoracic thrust or other chiropractic manipulation cannot treat hearing loss.

I sincerely believe in alternative medicine (acupuncture/pressure, chiropractic, herbal, and homeopathy) but, weak, nonsensical, and/or fraudulent claims do nothing for establishing these as accepted and real treatments.

To make my rebuttals more manageable and topic specific I have split them into two separate replies.

Response to Marshall's comment on treating Tinnitus.

For those unaware, tinnitus is a ringing, roaring, clicking, or hissing sound in your ears. It can be caused by hearing loss, loud noise, medications, or other health problems. Currently, no cure for tinnitus exists but there are treatments that provide a small measure of relief. Treatments include hearing aids, maskers, retraining, relaxing and medication. None of these affect the tinnitus, they only reduce your perception of the ringing. Some meds may directly affect tinnitus in some small way, but no universal solution has been found.

Let me state that I do not know if this product does or does not work (see mention below of scientific testing).

The product Marshall links to is Clarity2, a vitamin supplement that purports to treat tinnitus with noticeable results after 4 months of use (2 months twice daily and 2 months once daily). This totals 6 bottles at $35 each, meaning they suggest you spend over $200 on their non FDA-regulated supplement with no scientific testing of their claims.

While they do cite several references on their website, please note this is not scientific testing of their product (it is a rationale for beginning an experiment). Additionally, the majority of citations are rare and obscure journals with no impact value whatsoever. Many of the ingredients are very low levels of vitamin B (common B-complex supplements have much more) and most of their proprietary blend is also commonly available at your vitamin store (L-carnitine, Ginkgo Biloba, CoQ10, alpha lipoic acid). Of these ingredients, only Ginkgo appears in scientific literature semi-frequently in regards to tinnitus treatment.

I recommend you save your money or buy vitamin B-complex, L-carnitine, Ginkgo Biloba, CoQ10, and Alpha Lipoic Acid yourself. You're bound to save money.

If you think you have tinnitus but have not been diagnosed, please see your doctor, otolaryngologist (ENT), or audiologist.

Response to Dr. Doan's comment on chiropractic manipulation as a treatment of hearing loss.

Dr. Doan cites the case of D.D. Palmer in September 1895 treating one Harvey Lillard for hearing loss suffered after Harvey heard a "pop" (in his back) while bending over some 17 years previously. Palmer examined Lillard, found a "lump" between his shoulders, and reasoned the lump and hearing loss were related. Palmer then administered a thoracic thrust and Harvey reported his hearing to be better.

Hearing loss can be broken into conductive or sensorineural categories. Conductive hearing loss is the disruption of sound transduction to the inner ear. It can be caused by obstruction of the ear canal, ear infection, tympanic sclerosis (ear drum scarring), or physical damage (calcification, trauma) to the the middle ear bones. Sensorineural loss is caused by insensitivity of the inner ear, most commonly noise-induced death of auditory hair cells (that's all us house rumbling ht lovers here at the shack ), or by impaired auditory processing.

The outer ear collects sound with the pinna (floppy thing with/without earrings on the side of our head) and directs it to the eardrum by the auditory canal. Sound pressure vibrates the tympanic membrane (eardrum), pushing on the malleus (1st of three middle ear bones). The middle ear uses mechanical leverage, amplifying the SPL in order to overcome loss caused by the sound-medium change from air to liquid. The stapes (last of the middle ear bones) transfers this amplified signal by pressing on the oval window (like a small eardrum) of the cochlea.

Once inside the cochlea (inner ear), the sound waves stimulate auditory hair cells which transmit their signals to the brain via the auditory portion of the vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII cranial nerve). The non-auditory portion, vestibular (balance system), is also located in the inner ear and shares the VIII cranial nerve.

The inner ear is embedded in the densest bone of our body, the temporal bone. The VIII cranial nerve runs directly from the inner ear to the brainstem (brainstem damage = vegetable ), where the auditory pathways proceed to the auditory cortex via the ventral and dorsal cochlear nuclei, superior olivary nuclear complex, inferior colliculus and the medial geniculate nucleus. It does not interact in anyway with the peripheral nerves or the spinal cord, it is a wholly "cranial" nerve, as opposed to the vagus nerve, cranial nerve X, which sends some efferents (outgoing nerve path) to the heart, lung and digestive tract (parasympathetic system).

The vestibular signals from the inner ear travel to the vestibular nuclei, located in the brainstem, via the vestibular portion of the VIII nerve. The vestibular nuclei send outputs that join with descending motor systems, and they are responsible for maintaining balance, eye tracking, head & neck position, and muscle tone. This is the system that gets messed up when you spin in circles around a bat at the office picnic party.

No chiropractic manipulation of the outer, middle or inner ear is possible, thus, ruling out chiropractic treatment of conductive hearing loss. This leaves the more complex sensorineural loss. Again, no direct manipulation of the inner ear or vestibulocochlear nerve is possible. At least not without severe pain and threat of "vegetableness."

One concept of chiropractic treatment attempts to send a signal from the location of manipulation, typically the spine, along a nerve pathway to the brain or other nervous tissue and regulate or modulate the target tissue's activities. No spinal nerve fibers make connection (input or output) with auditory processing nuclei. However, they do make connection with vestibular nuclei. As previously stated, vestibular and auditory pathways are distinct.

Therefore, only vestibular pathways could feasibly be modified by a thoracic chiropractic manipulation (thrust to the spine between your shoulder blades). So, given a balance or vertigo problem, I might be convinced that chiropractic treatment could work. As for treating hearing loss, however, chiropractic medicine only offers wishful thinking.

Jim

I agree Blue Note records has some great albums

Glad to see someone picked that up

its nice to see other "Audio first" guys here along with the friendly HT members...it would be nice to swap stories and experiences in audio...if you like that idea PM me anytime

Can't necessarily say I'm audio first. My Hifi and HT passion began about the same time. If it sounds good and engages my ears I am a happy listener.

One of my fav labels is Sheffield Labs. Unfortunately they have a small amount of records to choose from and no longer seem to be producing new ones. Such a shame, love their sound.

Funny I just listened to the Pressure Cooker tonight, that direct to disc has huge dynamics! I guess I misunderstood your original post or didnt read very carefully, all the same I believe if you have a great Audio focused system the HT falls into place nicely but in reverse that is not a given.

Yeah, I was joking, thus the "...you're killing your hearing, and there is no cure." I don't want to spread any misinformation, so I'll edit it to clarify.

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Listen to the Real HT Info Podcast at http://realht.info, or on iTunes.

Also, listen right here on The Home Theater Shack. Just use the web applet on the front page.

Superchad,

No worries. Apparently I didn't understand Marshall's comment was just a joke.

But we can agree we love to hear great sound.

Marshall

Sorry 'bout not getting the joke. Told you I was new to this forum stuff