The 44 Sounds Hearing Aid Clinic

11/21/2025

11/21/2025

RINGING in the ear is common, but the line between “normal” and “tinnitus” is straightforward once you know the patterns.

Brief, harmless ringing and true tinnitus share some physiological pathways, but the underlying mechanisms differ in stability, intensity, and duration.

NORMAL, SHORT-LIVED RINGING
Momentary ringing comes from temporary, benign disruptions in the auditory system. Hair cells in the inner ear fire spontaneously when they reset after stimulation or fatigue, similar to a muscle twitch. Sudden changes in quiet-to-noise environments can cause neural circuits to momentarily misfire. Stress hormones and changes in blood pressure can alter the cochlea’s fluid dynamics, creating a quick, self-correcting distortion. These episodes resolve as the auditory system stabilizes; there is no structural damage or long-term dysregulation.

COMMON TRIGGER FOR NORMAL RINGING
Stress spikes, brief changes in silence, jaw tension, caffeine surges, dehydration, minor middle-ear pressure shifts, or a single loud impact noise. These create short aberrations in hair-cell signaling or auditory-nerve firing, but the system recalibrates quickly.

TINNITUS
Tinnitus occurs when the auditory pathway fails to recalibrate and instead enters a chronic hyperactive state. Damage or dysfunction in the cochlea can reduce normal input to the brain. In response, the auditory cortex increases gain (neural amplification) to compensate for missing signals. This amplification produces a constant internal noise. Once this maladaptive feedback loop is established, the ringing persists even if the original cause is no longer active. Tinnitus is a neuro-auditory disorder, not simply an “ear” problem.

CAUSES ASSOCIATED WITH TINNITUS
• Noise-induced hair-cell damage: Prolonged or intense sound exposure leads to synaptopathy (loss of nerve connections) even without obvious hearing loss.
• Age-related degeneration: Gradual loss of auditory nerve fibers alters how the brain processes sound.
• Middle-ear dysfunction: Chronic fluid buildup, Eustachian tube issues, or infections can distort sound transmission.
• Ototoxic medications: Some antibiotics, chemotherapy agents, and high doses of NSAIDs alter hair-cell ion channels and can trigger persistent ringing.
• Jaw and neck disorders: TMJ dysfunction and cervical spine tension feed abnormal sensory signals into the auditory pathway.
• Vascular abnormalities: Turbulent blood flow near the ear can produce rhythmic or continuous noise.
• Neurological factors: Auditory-cortex hyperexcitability, poor gating in the thalamus, and altered limbic-system responses all contribute to tinnitus persistence.
• Metabolic issues: Thyroid imbalance, anemia, and poor glucose regulation can all disrupt cochlear energy systems.

SEEK EVALUATION WHEN
• It lasts more than a week without improving
• It becomes constant or frequent
• It affects sleep, concentration, or mood
• It occurs after loud noise exposure
• It’s only in one ear
• It’s pulsatile
• You notice hearing loss, vertigo, or ear pain

11/15/2025

Livonia, Michigan, US My last day. Coming home. The clinic will be open on Tuesday November 18.

11/11/2025

November 11 — We Don’t Know Them All, But We Owe Them All

Today we pause to honor those who stood in danger so others could live in safety.
Every name, known or unknown, represents courage, discipline, and sacrifice that shaped the world we live in.
Freedom and peace were not given—they were earned.
Take a moment to remember, to listen to the silence, and to be grateful.
Lest we forget.

11/07/2025

Listening to Yourself Matters as Much as Hearing the World

Not everyone needs a psychologist, but everyone needs awareness. Some people have a strong inner voice—they reflect, question, and guide themselves through life. Others struggle to quiet the noise of stress or uncertainty, and therapy helps them find that internal balance.

In both cases, the principle is the same: healing starts with listening. Whether it’s your mind or your hearing, awareness changes everything. The moment you start paying attention—truly listening—you begin to regain control.

Hearing aids help people reconnect with sound, but the deeper purpose is helping you connect with yourself and others again. Hearing clearly outside supports thinking clearly inside.

Listen to the world. Listen to your body. Most importantly, learn to listen to your inner voice. It’s the sound that keeps you balanced.

11/06/2025

From Survival Mode to Safe Mode

Human evolution built us for danger. Every noise in the dark, every uncertain face, once meant threat. Our biology still runs that ancient script. The amygdala fires, cortisol floods, and the body prepares to fight, flee, or freeze. That reflex once saved us—but now it keeps many of us trapped in invisible emergencies that no longer exist.

Modern life is safer than any era before, yet our nervous systems haven’t caught up. We scroll, worry, and overreact because the brain still believes that vigilance equals survival. But constant survival mode shuts down creativity, connection, and healing. It’s the reason people feel exhausted while technically safe.

If we don’t learn to switch into safe mode, the cost is high. The body that never leaves survival mode burns itself out early—aging faster, wearing down immunity, and mistaking safety for threat until life itself feels like defense. We were never meant to stay in that state until the end of our lives.

Survival, in biological terms, was never the goal—it was only the means to reproduce and continue the species. Once that basic purpose was met, evolution had no further plan. But as conscious humans, we can create meaning beyond reproduction. Safe mode is what allows that higher purpose—growth, creativity, connection, and longevity—to exist.

Safe mode isn’t passive—it’s power under control. It activates the prefrontal cortex, restores balance to the body, and allows long-term thinking. You shift into it through conscious language. The inner voice is the only command line your nervous system listens to. When you tell yourself, “I’m safe. I can act with intention,” you’re rewriting a million years of reflex with one deliberate sentence.

You were designed to survive. But survival alone is obsolete. The new evolution is safety by choice.
Start listening to your inner voice—not the one built on fear, but the one that pushes you out of survival.
Use it to rise, to move, to live long and healthy!

11/06/2025

The clinic will be closed:

Wednesday, November 12
Thursday, November 13
Friday, November 14
Saturday, November 15

And will reopen on Tuesday, November 18.

During this time, I will be attending a professional development program in the United States with the National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences to help advance clinical standards and care quality.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Your support allows us to continue providing the highest level of service.

11/02/2025

each whisper proof that presence still speaks!

11/01/2025

each tone a thread of memory returned

10/31/2025

to stitch the world back to your senses,

10/30/2025

to pull lost voices from the fog of silence

10/29/2025

Small device to change your life