In one of the more bizarre explanations for deafness (and no, this wasn’t dated April 1st) Dr Levi Reiter, a professor of audiology at Hofstra University in New York, has claimed that an innocent kiss on the ear can cause “cochlear ear-kiss injury,” leading to permanent hearing loss.
Dr Reiter has been studying the phenomenon ever since a woman told him she went deaf in one ear immediately after her five-year old son kissed her there. He soon found another case of ‘ear-kiss injury’ in the 1950s and has now identified a further 30 cases around the world.
An article for MSNBC quotes Reiter as saying: “Ear-kiss patients exhibit a characteristic pattern of hearing loss, with hearing most diminished in the frequency range of unvoiced consonants, such as “ch” and “sh.” There are a lot of cases of unknown unilateral hearing loss in kids, and I am sure that a good portion are from a peck on the ear.”
The article also says that Reiter ‘believes that the intense suction on the eardrum pulls the chain of three tiny bones in the ear. The third bone, the stirrup-shaped stapes, then tugs on the stapedial annular ligament, causing turbulence in the fluid of the cochlea, or inner ear.’
This phenomenon is now considered an “emerging topic in the field” by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and could leave a lot of Deafies wondering whether our deafness was really down to genetics, or whether we were just amazingly cute babies who attracted one too many kisses from admiring adults. Personally, I’m going with the latter.
Read the full article here: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10906327-innocent-kiss-of-deaf-can-cause-permanent-hearing-loss
By Charlie Swinbourne, Editor
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John Walker
April 3, 2012
This posting is a bit late for April 1st, isn’t it? Plus, I am pretty such non-deaf people have a secret, morbid obsession with deafness.
Edis Bevan
April 3, 2012
If we are going to deal with ‘Medical Arguments’ let us insist they are properly grounded medical arguments.
An exceptional book ‘Testing Treatments. Better Research For Better Healthcare’ gives its readers the tools to evaluate claims like those of Dr Reiter.
I have the feeling that the chapter ‘taking account of the play of chance’ will be quite relevant here. (Account must be taken of ‘the play of chance’ by assessing the confidence that can be placed in the quality and quantity of evidence available)
Now its possible that Dr Reiter may turn out to be right. But the claim should be properly debated and this book shows what a proper debate should contain. Every time we see a medical claim relating to deafness we should insist it be judged by these standards. And not by the dramatising standards of short press or broadcasting snippets.
Don’t just let this claim become by default one of the medical myths applied to deafness.
The book is beautifully written. Do try it
The authors are so convinced of the importance of their work that they make the complete text available online for free at http://www.testingtreatments.org
If you want to buy the book and support the authors it is:
‘Testing Treatments’ Evans, I Thornton, H. Chalmers, I. and Glasziou, P
Second edition Pinter and Martin (2011)
Forward by Ben Goldacre.
Editor
April 3, 2012
I’m not sure this is what you’re getting at but one thing I did wonder is whether, with so few cases of this reported, these incidents of ‘kisses causing deafness’ could be down to coincidence?
maggisummerhill
May 16, 2012
Can I just express my amazement – if this article is true – that someone who is a Doctor and Professor in audiology is spending his talent and abilities on examining and expressing opinions on something so esoteric; 30 cases worldwide – Gimme a break!!!!! And when you have finished indulging yourself, a cure for Meniere’s perhaps?
Lisa hinton
August 25, 2013
Last night whilst at dinner my husband reached over and unexpectedly kissed me on the ear.
I felt an instant discomfort, loud ringing and a dulled sense of hearing immedietly. Similar to having water in ones ear. When i spoke my words were echoing in my right ear.
Feeling off I took myself to bed in hope that upon waking all would be back to normal.
This is not the case. Whilst i can hear in this ear, it is dull, my voice still echoes and there is a slight hum ( particularily noticable if i put my hand over the effected ear)
With hope, moments ago I googled- “can a kiss to your ear cause damage?”
This was the article that came up. Shocked, I will go now to seek medical advice. I will still hope that it improves…. Most of all I will warn others, and thank God it wasnt oue of our children. Lisa Hinton Perth Western Australia
Deepti
February 20, 2016
One of my friend had the same problem..did your problem got cured?