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VOLUME 3, NO.

2 MAY, 1978
THE AMERICAN TINNITUS ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
We are happy to announce that U.S. Senator Mark 0.
Hatfield has now joined our National Board.
Senator Hatfield has always had a high interest and
knowledge in the country's health problem and par-
ticularly those in the field of hearing.
He has closely followed and strongly encouraged the
development of our program to assist the millions who
now suffer from tinnitus.
We are delighted and honored to have this distin-
guished Senator join our growing organization.
Biography: Senator Mark 0. Hatfield (R-Oregon)
Senate Service - elected 1966; reelected 1972
Born - July 12, 1922 in Dallas, Oregon
Publications: Not Quite So Simple, 1967
Confllct and consc1ence, 1971
Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 1976
Senator Hatfield serves on the Senate Appropriations
Committee; Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee; Senate Rules and Administration Committee;
and Senate Temporary Select Committee on Indian Affairs.
Senator Hatfield is the 13th ranking Republican and
the 38th in the full Senate.
Education - Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, B.A.,
1943; Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. M.A. ,1948.
Married in 1958 to Antoinette Kuzmanich, a former
high school teacher and Counselor for Women at
Portland State College. They are the parents of four
children: Elizabeth, 18; Mark 0., Jr ., 17; Theresa, 13;
and Charles Vincent, 12.
LETTERS) WE GET LETTERS. I I I' I
The foUowing letter is an example of the kind of
aorrespondence we have been receiving from the many
patients who have attended the Tinnitus Clinic, which
is located at the University of Oregon Health Sciences
Center, Portland, Oregon.
Dear Doctor Vernon & Colleagues,
I wish to thank you for the excellent care and con-
cern shown to me when I was examined and evaluated
at your excellent clinic.
A thank you seems hardly adequate for all the consid-
eration and help I was given.
The referral to the audiologist with the High Powered
Tinnitus Masker seems to have been successful.
1 was not prepared to be so well treated and to have
people go out of their way to help me with this agon-
izing problem that I have lived with for so long.
Perhaps now my family and I can again begin to function
more normally.
Were it not for my pharmacist, I would still not know
about your clinic. He was the person who, in August
1977, copied down part of your street address given
on an evening news broadcast . The rest of it was
gotten from a helpful Portland_telephone o p e r ~ t o r
after sifting through informat1on she had ava1lable
to her as my wife suggested possible clinic names.
Again, my heartfelt thanks to you and your team.
Sincerely,
RLP, Calumet, Michigan
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
The following volunteers have just completed a monu-
mental typing project for the ATA mailing list. They
can take pleasure in knowing that their efforts have
he7.ped ATA to substantiaZZ.y incr>ease the nwnber> of
persons reaeiving tinnitus information.
Vernie Bettis Lois Schiedel
Nancy Schuff Joe Scharff
Barbara Whitman Shirley Williams
Marguerite Wisner
Mrs. Gloria Reich, ATA Co-ordinator, has need of
volunteers on a regular basis. Regular can be once
a month, once every other month, or as often as once
a week. If you have some spare time and can work at
home or in the office, please give her a call (503)
248-9985 .
BIOFEEDBACK: A TINNITUS RELIEF
by John W. House, M.D.
Otologic Med i cal Groups, Inc .
Los Angeles, California
Beethoven once referred to his hearing loss as that of
"the roaring deafness". This describes many patients '
complaints about their hearing problems. In some
cases, the tinnitus is a far worse problem than is
the hearing impairment. For many years, all types of
treatment have been attempted. When the cause of the
problem can.be.corrected either surgical ly
or med1cally, the r1ng1ng may subside. When the tin-
due a sensori-neural hearing loss, or
1n pat1ents w1th normal hearing, then the treatment
is much more difficult. times, the problems can-
not be corrected through surgery or medicine.
of of some patients' complaint
regard1ng the1r t1nn1tus, we have studied the ef-
fectiveness of the use of biofeedback traini ng in
helping to control the patients' head noises. In
1975 and 1976, we performed biofeedback trai ning on
forty-one patients. The diagnoses in the patients
varied from sensori-neural hearing loss to normal
hearing. Of the patients with sensori-neural hearing
loss, most were due to past noise exposure or vas-
cular problems. Other causes included infection
trauma, and disease. '
Each patient underwent ten to twelve one-hour sessions
of biofeedback training. Prior to, during, and after
the biofeedback, the patients were interviewed and
to fill ?Ut regarding their
Dur1ng the b1ofeedback training sessions,
the pat1ents were taught to control the peripheral
by monitoring the temperature of their
f1nger. They were also trained to control the muscle
tensions of the frontalis muscle. The patients were
given exercises to de at home in addition to their
hourly sessions of biofeedback training.
They for periods up to one year
after th1s 1n1t 1al b1ofeedback training. About half
of the patients have sustained a significant improve-
ment in their tinnitus following this type of therapy.
Because of these good results, we have continued to
use biofeedback training in patients who find their
tinnitus_to be very severe and disturbing to them.
By learn1ng to use autogenic type of exercises and
biofeedback techniques, they are able to reduce the
relative loudness of their ringing. They have learned
to better cope with their problem and find t hey are
taking less medications as they master the techniques
of the biofeedback.
Biofeedback training is not a cure for tinnitus but
is a treatment to help patients to better learn'to
cope with the aggravation and annoyance of the pro-
blem.
Our research in the area of tinnitus continues. We
are always searching for better ways for controlling
this most annoying problem.
TINNITUS-CLINIC OBSERVERS NUMBERED 370
In the following picture, Bob Hocks, the ATA National
Chairman, points to a map pinpointing cities across
the country from where observers have come to visit the
Tinnitus Clinic. As of this month, 370 visitors have
come from all parts of the U.S., Canada, Western Europe
and Australia . Observers include the three helping
professions for the hearing impaired: medical doctors,
audiologists, and hearing aid dispensers.
The purpose of these visits has been to learn the
procedure and technique used in the Tinnitus Clinic
at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center.
Observers are then qualified to help tinnitus suf-
ferers from their cities.
Anyone wishing the name of a doctor in their area
who has been through the Tinnitus Clinic as an ob-
server, or the name of a doctor whose audiologist or
hearing aid dispenser attended the training session
may obtain their name by writing directly to the
Tinnitus Clinic, or to the American Tinnitus Assoc.
TINNITUS-SELECTED BIBITOGRAPHY
Many ATA Newsletter subscribers have requesting
a list of publications regarding tinnitus . . The foZ-
is a compilation that may be obtained through
your local or medical library .
1. Feldmann, H. Homolateral and contralateral masking
of tinnitus by noise bands and by pure tones.
10:138-144, 1971.
2. Fowl er, E. P. Head noises in normal and in disor-
dered ears: si gnificance measurement, differentiation
and treatment. Arch. Otolaryngol.39:498-503, 1944.
3. Grossan, Murray. Treatment of subjective tinnitus
with biofeedback. Ear, Nose & Throat Journal 55:22-30,
October 1976 .
4. Josephson, E.M. A method of measurement of tinnitus
aurium. Arch. OtoZaryngol. l4:282-2Z3, 1931.
5. Lackner, James R. The auditory characteristics of
tinnitus resulting from cerebral injury. EXp . NeuroZ.
51 : 54-67 ' 197 6 .
6. Nodar, Richard H. & Graham, James T. An investi-
gation of frequency characteristics of tinnitus associ-
ated with disease. Arch. Ot oZaryngol .82:28-31,
July 1965.
7. Parkin, J.L. Tinnitus evaluation. American Family
Rhys i cian 8(3):151-155, 1973.
8. Quarry, J. Greg. Unilateral objective tinnitus: a
case and a cure. Arch. Otolaryngol . 96:252-253, Sep-
tember, 1972 .
9. Saltzman, M. & Ersner, M.S. A hearing aid for the
relief of tinnitus aurium. Laryngoscope 57:358- 366,
1947.
10. Toglia, J.U.; Rosenberg, P.E. & Ronix, M.L.
Posttraumatic dizziness. Arch. OtoZaryngol. 92:485-
492, 1970.
11. Vernon, Jack. Tinnitus. Hearing Ai d Journal,
November 1975.
12. Vernon, Jack. Attempts to relieve tinnitus.
Journal American Audiology Society 2(4):124- 131, 1977.
13. Vernon, Jack; Schleuning, Alexander; Odell, Lee
& Hughes, Fred. A tinnitus clinic. Ear, Nose &
Throat Journal, April 1977.
14. Vernon, Jack & Schleuning, Alexander. Tinnitus:
a new management. Laryngoscope 88(3):413-419,
March 1978.
TINNITUS CLINIC! APPOINTMENTS
by Sharon L. Olson
Word of our Tinnitus Clinic continues to reacn many,
many people in this area, as can be seen from a
quick look at our appointment book. There has never
been a time, in the last year and a half that I have
been at Kresge Laboratory, that our appointments
were not scheduled ahead for 2 to 3 months or more.
We require all of our patients to be referred by
an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor or by their fami ly
physician. In many cases, we receive letters or
phone calls from physicians in the area asking us
to schedule their patient into our clinic. We also
receive letters and phone calls from tinnitus suf-
ferers themselves--in the latter case we schedule
them tentatively into the clinic and then send them
a referral letter to be signed by their physician.
We also send our patients information sheets ex-
plaining briefly the kinds of testing that will be
done and what kinds of relief procedures might be
recommended. It is important that our patients
understand that there is no cure for tinnitus, that
what we offer at our clinic is only the possibility
of relief for their tinnitus, and also that this
relief cannot be guaranteed.
After patients have received confirmation of their
appointment (and a map showing where our clinic is
situated in the university complex, a bewildering
megalopolis to most newcomers), they receive a
reminder in the last week before they are scheduled
to come. We see 6 patients each Thursday, 3 in the
morning and 3 in the afternoon. There is a certain
amount of juggling necessary when patients find
they need to postpone their appointment, but most
of our patients are interested in coming earlier if
any openings occur--there are, however, very few
cancellations. The tinnitus patients coming to our
clinic are a dedicated group of people, each one
determined to find some relief for his or her own
brand of ringing, buzzing, whistling, hissing, or
just plain noise.
f.tiss Olson has handled aZZ. of the Tinnitus Clinic
appointments and correspondence for the past six
months in addition to her other responsibilities in
the Kresge Laborat01"J In a few weeks she wiZZ be
leaving Oregon for Palo Alto, Cali fornia to pursue
her career in Library Science . The laboratory will
miss Sharon, howeve1' we send her off with "good wishes".
Moving?
Please let us avoid missing you
by supplying us with your new
address.
Advisory Board
HONORABLE OEL CLAWSON
zip ________________ __
United States House of Representatives
WasMngton, 0. C.
OAVIO 0. DeWEESE, H.O.
Chairman Dept. Otol aryngology
University of Oregon
Heal t h Sci ences Center
THE HONORABLE MARK 0. HATFIELD
United States Senat e
Washi ngton, O. C.
ROBERT W. HOCKS
National Chai rman ATA
Hocks Laboratories
Portland, Oregon
OAVIO N. PLAHT
2789 - 25th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
CHARlES UlliCE, H.O.
10601 Horley Avenue
Downey, CA 90241
ATA Newsletter
Her Zene Benson, Editor
35Z5 s.w. Vet erans Hospital Rd.
Port land, Oregon 9720l
f) f ) @ ~
f)) f) J
37 mittten tinnitus sufferers
N B ~ STAFF
The Tinnitus Clinic has two new staff members: Or.
Robert Joh"nson who comes from the University of
Denver where he was Chief of Audiology and Director
of the Audiology Program. He supervised graduate
students in diagnostic clinic and internship pro-
grams and in screening programs throughout the
Denver area. Dr. Johnson is multi-talented and his
qualifications are too long to print at this time.
The other staff member will be Dr. Curtin Mitchell
who comes from Northwestern University in Chicago,
Illinois where he was a Research Psychologist
conducting cochleography testing procedures at
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Mitchell is
currently involved with special tests on patients
returning to the Tinnitus Clinic for follow-up
evaluations.
During the next few years they will be conducting
research under the direction of Dr. Jack Vernon in:
1. Studies of Masking of Tinnitus: General Procedures
2. Studies of Residual Inhibition
A. Frequency Dependence of Residual Inhibition
B. Effect of the Intensity of the Masking Tone
Upon Duration of Residual Inhibition
C. Effect of Masking Duration Upon Residual
Inhibition Duration
3. Ipsilateral, Contralateral, and Bilateral Masking
of Tinnitus
4. Residual Inhibition Produced by Ipsilateral and
Contralateral Masking
Drs. Johnson and Mitchell will also be involved with
other clinical aspects of hearing.
ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION AMERICAN TINNITUS ASSOCIATION
Regular Member $ 10 or more 0
Sustaining Member $ 25 or more 0
Professional
$100 or more
0
Sustaining Member
Benefactor $500 or more 0
YOUR GIFT IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Do you know someone who has tinnitus and would like to receive our newsletter?
Name ________________________________________ __
Address---------------------------------------
State, Zip
The American Tinnitus Association
P. 0. Box 5
Portland, Oregon 97207
(503) 248 9985
Non-Profit Organ.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Permit No. 722
Portland, Oregon

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