Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/89851
M AUDIOLOGY AND COCHLEAR IMPLANT CENTER By Alex Strauss ORE THAN TWO million people in the United States are severely or profoundly deaf, having lost 90 percent of their hearing in both ears. And it is not just a problem for senior adults. One in a thousand babies is born severely hearing-impaired. "Hearing impairment is actually one of the most common inborn problems. This is the reason that we test all newborns before they even leave the hospital," says board-certified otolaryngologist and neurotologist Cliff Megerian, MD. A cochlear implant specialist with the UH Audiology and Cochlear Implant Center, Dr. Megerian is also chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at UH Case Medical Center; director of the UH Ear, Nose & Throat Institute; and the Richard and Patricia Pogue Endowed Chair Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In fact, audiology assistants with the Center, a part of University Hospitals Ear Nose & Throat Institute, test more than 5000 newborns each year at UH in an effort to catch and treat hearing problems before they disrupt a child's life. "Hearing impairment can affect any age group, newborns through geriatric, at any point in life," says audiology supervisor Robin Piper, AuD, CCC-A, who is a member of the Center's cochlear implant team. "Many people do not seek help, either out of denial or because of communication problems caused by their hearing loss. The prevalence is probably much greater than what is documented." Heredity can play a role in hearing loss, as can occupational or recreational noise exposure, ototoxic medications, trauma, certain autoimmune diseases, or boney growths on the middle ear bones (otosclerosis). The Audiology and Cochlear Implant Center offers diagnosis and advanced treatments, including Otolaryngologist and neurotologist Cliff Megerian, MD, is a cochlear implant specialist with the UH Audiology and Cochlear Implant Center, which has one of the lowest revision rates in the country — just 2.5 percent compared to 5-15 percent nationally. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS