Services

Midwest Ear Institute has been providing exceptional ear and hearing healthcare to the greater Indianapolis area built on a foundation of unmatched expertise. We’re more than just highly trained- our medical team is led by our fellowship-trained and board-certified physician specializing in otology and neurotology. Along with our board-certified nurse practitioner and masters and doctoral-trained audiologists, our team has studied, seen and provided solutions for every ear issue along the wide spectrum of ear and hearing health.

Catering to the young, old and everyone in between, we welcome every hearing concern you might have. We begin every patient relationship with easy and industry-leading testing which we use to develop individualized diagnosis and custom treatment plans.

Our providers work with people every day to improve their hearing health and consultations are available to explore your personal avenues towards an enhanced listening experience.

Hearing Tests

The symptoms of early hearing loss can be subtle and hard to self-diagnose. That’s where we come in! We provide comprehensive hearing exams to get an accurate picture of your hearing abilities. Using the results of your hearing exam, we’ll be able to determine whether a hearing loss is present, and if there is, together, we’ll explore possible solutions to get you back to your most vibrant hearing possible.

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Custom Hearing Protection

One in 10 Americans has hearing loss affecting their ability to understand speech. While age continues to be the leading predictor of hearing loss, excessive noise also damages people’s healthy hearing every day.

Exposure to dangerously loud noise can harm hearing all at once, or as is more common, slowly and over time. We engage in activities, ranging from workplace environments to recreational activities, that routinely expose us to too-loud noise and puts our hearing at unnecessary risk.

Noise-induced hearing loss is an avoidable condition that you can protect yourself against by investing in custom hearing protection.

The fine cells of our inner ears are integral to the hearing process, but they’re also non-regenerative. When they become damaged, due to aging or dangerously loud noise, they do not repair themselves or produce new cells. Instead, with less ability to receive sound, we hear less.

It’s widely accepted that noises exceeding 85 decibels — the unit of measurement for sound — carries the risk of hearing loss. But we encounter such sounds on a daily basis. Sitting in loud traffic can expose your ears to upwards of 89 decibels, mowing the lawn registers at about 90 decibels, and shockingly, attending a game at a sports arena or catching a rock concert can both reach levels of up to 120 decibels.

What is important to note is that even moderately loud sounds, from the football game to your daily commute, can do real damage to your hearing if the element of time is also prolonged. The longer you are exposed and the number of times it happens can compound into noise-induced hearing loss over time.

When a condition evolves slowly and over time, it can be hard to self-diagnose. In fact, it’s likely that your friends or family will notice the impact of your hearing loss before you do. The initial signals are subtle, and hearing loss usually begins with the loss of certain frequencies rather than an overall lowering of volume.

It might become difficult to hold conversations because hearing words becomes challenging, particularly in a noisy environment. You might also notice tinnitus, or a persistent ringing in your ear.

The first step to take if you notice any of these symptoms is to schedule a hearing consultation. Our team of providers can help determine your current hearing level and will assist with managing hearing loss or obtaining the best custom hearing protection.

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Balance Testing

We were proud to be the first to introduce a Balance Center at our facilities, the first of its kind in Indiana. Created as a dedicated medical facility to diagnose and treat dizziness and balance disorders, we can help if you’ve experienced these issues:

Vertigo or dizziness, whether acute or chronic
Vertigo or dizziness accompanied by hearing changes, sounds in the ears, or headaches
History of one or more falls due to vertigo or dizziness, especially in older adults

The experience of dizziness can vary from mild unsteadiness to a severe whirling sensation accompanied by nausea and vomiting. We often see patients referred by their primary care provider or specialist who has determined that an otologic consultation with our specialists is the next logical step in the evaluation of their imbalance.

Because dizziness can be caused by a variety of reasons, we first work with you to find the underlying cause. We can treat most balance disorders using a variety of rehabilitation, counseling and medications. Occasionally, surgery can help to mitigate or correct dizziness issues.

Focused intently on imbalance issues, we use advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment and methods, including audiometry, videonystagmography, electrocochleography, auditory brainstem evoked response, and vestibular evoked myogenic potential.

We’ve diagnosed and provided treatment for Ménière’s Disease, Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), Labyrinthitis, and Migraine-Associated Dizziness.

If you or a loved one is experiencing imbalance, you don’t have to live with it. Contact our specialized team today to find proven solutions.

Our team’s highly trained otologist– a physician who specializes in disorders of the ear, hearing, and balance, and our nurse practitioner will meet with you during your visit. Please bring any records and previous test results from other medical facilities. To diagnose your balance and dizziness problem, our providers undertake a multifaceted approach. First, they will conduct a comprehensive history focusing on balance and dizziness symptoms. Next, they will perform a thorough physical examination including tests specifically designed to assess your balance mechanisms. Finally, as necessary, our providers may direct additional hearing and balance tests to aid in diagnosing the cause of your dizziness symptoms.

Most balance tests are performed at the main office of the Midwest Ear Institute at 7440 N. Shadeland Avenue, Suite 150, Indianapolis, IN. Once we have the test results, we can begin to craft your custom treatment plan.

Some tests you might be administered:

AUDITORY BRAINSTEM EVOKED RESPONSE (ABR)
This computerized hearing test measures the responses of the hearing centers from your ears to your brain. You will sit or lie on an examination table with earphones in your ears and electrodes will be placed on your head. You will hear a series of clicking sounds. Your brain’s response to these sounds will be analyzed by the computer. This test is painless and will take approximately one hour. No special preparation is required for this test.

VESTIBULAR EVOKED MYOGENIC POTENTIAL (VEMP)
Assessing a different portion of your balance system than does VNG, you will lie on an exam table and electrodes will be applied to your forehead and to the sides of your neck below your jaw. You will listen to a series of clicks through headphones. This test takes 30-45 minutes. Special preparation for people with neck hair: Neck must be clean-shaven for electrodes to stick.

ELECTROCOCHLEOGRAPHY (ECoG)
We may assess a different portion of your hearing & balance system with an ECoG. You will hear a series of clicking sounds and the computer will analyze your brain’s response to the sounds, as in the ABR test (described above). This test is painless and will take approximately one hour. There is no special preparation for this test.

VIDEONYSTAGMOGRAPHY (VNG)
We may test your balance function to help determine the degree and location of a problem with your balance system. You will lie on an examination table and electrodes will be placed on your face. You will be asked to follow the movements of lights on a bar. Your balance system will be gently stimulated by position changes and by the introduction of cool and warm air into your ears. Your responses will be analyzed by the computer. This test will take approximately 1 1/2 hours. You may get dizzy during this test, which usually passes quickly, though we do advise that you have someone available to drive you home after this test.

Preparation for a VNG:
24 hours before the test: Stop taking medications such as sleeping aids, tranquilizers, sedatives, narcotics, cold medicines, antihistamines, or dizziness medications. This includes medications such as Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, Dalmane, Hismanal, Halcion, Robinul, and Xanax. NOTE: You must be off Antivert (meclizine) and Valium (diazepam) for 5 days before this test. Be sure to take medications for other medical problems such as heart disease, blood pressure, circulation, diabetes, epilepsy, etc. Also avoid caffeine (coffee, tea, cola, chocolate) and alcoholic beverages. Decaffeinated beverages are fine.

Day of the test: Avoid smoking. Do not wear makeup, including mascara.

3 hours before the test: It is best if you do not eat or drink anything but if you must, have only a light snack with water.

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Hearing Aid Repair

Like any machine that is used daily, hearing aids will often require routine maintenance and other small repairs. At Midwest Ear Institute, our team is specialty trained to perform both these regular diagnostic evaluations, as well as more irregular and unique repairs.

Investing in hearing aids can be costly, but their value largely outweighs the upfront costs. We know that many of our patients are dependent upon the improved listening experience they receive from hearing aids, and any time spent away from these devices can be challenging. Our team can work quickly and efficiently to diagnose the trouble and take the necessary steps to get your hearing aids back into your ears as soon as possible.

Because warranties often vary between models and manufacturers, we will work with you to get the most work done for the least cost possible.

Beyond the obvious repairs needed in the event that your hearing aids stop working, scheduling regular evaluations of your hearing aids can help bring you their maximum peak performance. For that reason, our team will perform a quick turnaround so that you know you’re experiencing the very best that your hearing aids can offer.

Your hearing aids won’t turn on
The most common reason a person cannot get their hearing aids to turn on is a problem with the battery. You might need to purchase a new hearing aid battery if the old one becomes depleted. Also consider that hearing aids notoriously live in a humid and damp environment which can lead to battery corrosion. In these instances, you’ll only need to replace your previous batteries before using your hearing aids to your satisfaction again.

They do not perform as well as they used to
While we explain with care the daily routines needed to properly care for your hearing aids, sometimes a home cleaning doesn’t completely get the job done. Your hearing aids might have wax buildup in some parts of the device and a detailed cleaning will significantly improve your experience.

In some cases, the wax build up is in the ear and not on the device. In others, your level of hearing loss may have changed. When you bring us the problems you’re having with your hearing aids, we can examine the issue from all sides, including updating your hearing loss diagnosis or a physical examination of your ears.

If you hear ringing or whistling while wearing hearing aids
Bring your hearing aids in if you hear ringing or whistling while wearing your hearing aids. We will run diagnostics on your device, but it might just be simply an issue of proper fitting. Among other things, aging might change how your hearing aids fit. If you have gone through a significant weight change, even the shape of your ear might be affected. Going through the process of having your hearing aids refit can help eliminate these external sounds.

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Assistive Listening Devices

When you have hearing loss that causes you to have trouble understanding speech, you might be a great candidate for an assistive hearing device.

Hearing aids can provide a wonderful enhancement of your hearing experience in daily life, but even then, more challenging hearing environments can provide much more dramatic obstacles. Though they’re unparalleled in conversation, certain listening scenarios remain confounding. Many people who wear hearing aids have trouble hearing conversation and speech in busy restaurants, churches and temples, conference rooms and large presentation or banquet halls.

In these situations, assistive listening devices can improve listening experiences in a way that hearing aids can’t. Because of wireless technology, these devices can provide subtle enhancement of speech in venues that prove more challenging.

Certain architectures, building spaces and gathering types prevent clear speech hearing. What we call spatial acoustics, like large and modern or tiled and high-ceilinged, make trying to discern clear speech nearly impossible. In these instances, assistive listening devices connect to your hearing aids so that the sound you want to hear is brought directly to you. Background sounds are eliminated from the equation and the result is more defined speech clarity.

In noisy and crowded environments when the speech you want to hear is competing with poor spatial acoustics or background noise, assistive listening devices function wirelessly. The most common type of assistive listening help is provided by microphones placed near the speaker, what the microphone picks up is then transmitted directly to your hearing aids.

A TV streamer will plug into your television’s audio stream to wirelessly deliver the speech in stereo right to your hearing aids. These are great for enjoying films and television with others, as you can select the volume that works for you without changing the volume experienced by others in the room.

If your hearing aids don’t automatically connect to your smartphone’s bluetooth, a separate Phone Clip can stream phone calls or music from Bluetooth-enabled phones.

If you are interested in experimenting with assistive listening devices to support your participation in challenging listening environments, speak to a member of our team at the Midwest Ear Institute. We’re familiar with both the tried-and-true options as well as the more innovative devices on the market and we can match you with the device that makes the most sense for your unique listening needs.

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Tinnitus Management

Tinnitus is a condition in which one hears sound though no external noise is present. It usually takes the form of persistent ringing or whistling, though the kinds of noises and their volumes certainly vary among cases. It can cause aggravation, exhaustion and trouble focusing.

More than 50 million people in the United States experience some type of tinnitus, while chronic tinnitus afflicts approximately 20 million Americans. In rarer cases, 2 million people report extreme and even debilitating cases of this pervasive condition.

Our team of providers approach each case with individual attention, first by conducting a thorough examination and evaluation. We seek to discern the underlying cause of your tinnitus before identifying a custom treatment plan.

The ringing in the ears experienced with tinnitus can take other shapes, like loud roaring or clicking, humming or even buzzing. It is usually caused by damage to the microscopic endings of the hearing nerve in the inner ear. These nerves are foundational to our sense of hearing and when they are harmed, we experience that as hearing loss or even tinnitus.

The natural aging process, of course, is a contributing factor to the wear of these cells. However, the leading cause of tinnitus in younger people is most often exposure to loud noise. Hearing devices can ease the burden of tinnitus, which makes it a treatable condition.

We can begin to diagnose tinnitus in a patient when they report hearing persistent sounds that are not heard by others and aren’t present in the external world. The experience of sound is happening only to the tinnitus sufferer. As the hearing consultation for tinnitus cases progresses, we can typically pinpoint its exact cause which helps direct treatment.

Some people have what is known as pulsatile tinnitus, which is when the persistent sound mimics that of the person’s heartbeat or pulse. In these rare cases, this sound can indicate a vascular tumor in the middle and inner ear and a physician’s consultation is required to rule out the presence of a tumor.

While the natural aging process is certainly a factor in tinnitus cases, the most preventable cause is exposure to excessive noise. It can even be a warning sign that noise-induced hearing loss is on the horizon. If that is your situation, be advised to immediately implement hearing protection or other measures to protect your hearing health.

Common medications are known to be ototoxic, which means that they can damage the sensitive nerves within the ear. Your physician will have communicated these risks upon prescribing and in most cases, the tinnitus will cease once you stop taking the medication. With overuse, though, even an over-the-counter pain reliever can contribute to tinnitus, as is the case with aspirin.

Some cases of tinnitus are not associated with hearing loss at all. Instead, it develops when an excess of ear wax is lodged in the ear canal and makes contact with the eardrum. The presence of this ear wax and its position will cause a change in how the eardrum vibrates. Other obstructions that might cause tinnitus include loose hairs from the ear canal that contact the eardrum.

There are a number of non-auditory conditions that can cause tinnitus, as well as lifestyle factors. Hypertension or high blood pressure, thyroid problems, and chronic brain syndromes can all cause tinnitus without any specific auditory problems. Stress and fatigue may cause tinnitus, or can contribute to an exacerbation of an existing case. Poor diet and lack of exercise that may cause blood vessel and heart problems may also either cause it or exacerbate an existing condition. It is also possible that tinnitus could be caused by food or beverage allergies, but these causes are not well documented and are difficult to sort out.

Other health conditions might cause tinnitus in extreme cases like benign tumors, lesions on or around the hearing centers of the brain or traumatic brain injuries.

Evaluation and treatment of tinnitus
Like most hearing health consultations, patients dealing with tinnitus will first relay their medical history to an expert member of our team. Here, we’ll be able to discern possible causes and previous conditions that may be contributing to your experience. Then, you’ll undergo a simple hearing test to evaluate possible hearing loss.

We typically end up devising custom plans for tinnitus sufferers, because no two cases are exactly alike. Our first step will always be to attempt determination of the underlying cause and treat it at the root.

Among our most common recommendations are to:

Avoid exposure to loud sounds and noises.
Make sure your blood pressure is controlled. Your primary care physician can help with this.
Decrease your intake of salt. Salt impairs blood circulation.
Avoid stimulants such as coffee, tea, cola, and tobacco.
Exercise daily to improve your circulation.
Get adequate rest and avoid fatigue.
Recognize your head noise as an annoyance and try to ignore the sound as much as possible.

Counseling, support and mindfulness practices have shown significant promise in relieving the burden of chronic tinnitus, as can the inclusion of white noise in certain instances.

Particularly when hearing loss is present, hearing aids can reduce the effect of tinnitus and can even cause the noise to disappear temporarily. Some hearing aids contain special settings to specifically treat or alleviate tinnitus, and if we recommend that route of treatment, we will always provide a thorough fitting and testing.

At the Midwest Ear Institute, we understand that chronic tinnitus can suppress the vibrancy of life. Our highly trained team can guide you through the examination and diagnostic process, towards a more easeful and peaceful hearing reality.

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Services

Hearing Tests

Custom Hearing Protection

Balance Testing

Hearing Aid Repair

Assistive Listening Devices

Tinnitus Management

NE Indianapolis

NW Indianapolis

Mooresville