Hearing and Balance

Neurotologists specialize in the treatment of inner ear conditions (hearing and balance disorders). The Ochsner Hearing and Balance team includes two neurotologists that are among the only such fellowship-trained specialists in the Gulf South. Our experienced specialists work side by side with certified audiologists (they’re not just hearing techs) as well as a network of physical therapists, specially trained in balance therapy.

Ochsner offers the most current technologies available to manage your hearing loss, including assistive listening devices, hearing aids and, when hearing aids aren’t sufficient, Cochlear Implants. What’s more, our team is the most experienced in the area when it comes to ear tube insertion. We do more procedures of this kind than any other facility in the Gulf South.

Along with hearing disorders, our team specializes in treating balance and dizziness problems. One-third of all people over the age of 65 suffer a fall every year – an event that can change your life forever and not for the better. And according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 40% of the population in the United States will experience some form of dizziness or balance difficulty during their lifetime. Unfortunately, while it’s a common complaint, often there isn’t a single cause of dizziness and this can lead to misdiagnosis. This isn’t the kind of thing you just mention off hand to the family doctor. You need an experienced specialist from Ochsner, one of the leading ENT hospitals in the country. Ochsner uses the most sophisticated diagnostic techniques and treatments available to help you manage your condition and safely return to the activities you love.

For online scheduling, go to my.ochsner.org or call 1-866-624-7637.

Disorders we treat include but are not limited to:

Benign and malignant tumors of the ears
BPPV – Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Cholesteatoma – abnormal growth of skin cells inside of the temporal bone behind the ear drum)
Congenital ear deformities of the outer, middle or inner ear
Dizziness
Draining ears
Ear infections in adults and children
Ear pain
Facial nerve disorders, including facial nerve paralysis
Fluid in the ears
Hearing loss or deafness from any cause
Holes in the ear drum (tympanic membrane perforation)
Imbalance – balance disorders
Mastoiditis – infection of the back of the temporal bone felt behind and below the ear
Meniere's disease – attacks of dizziness, hearing loss, and ringing in the ear
Migraine associated dizziness – a spinning sensation that can occur with or without headache
Otosclerosis – Hearing loss due to fixation of the stapes bone in the middle ear
Profound deafness – congenital (born with) or acquired
Ringing in the ears – tinnitus
Tumors of the blood vessels of the middle ear – glomus tumors
Vertigo – the feeling you are moving when you are not
Vestibular neuronitis – a sudden severe attack of vertigo caused by inflammation of the vestibular nerve
Vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma) – a benign tumor of the insulating cells of the nerve from the inner ear or vestibulocochlear nerve

Repositioning techniques for vertigo, physical therapy for balance, special devices for hearing, a surgery for more complex issues…. the Hearing and Balance team at Ochsner has a large arsenal of tools at our disposal. Here are just some of the treatments we offer:

Acoustic neuroma surgery
BAHA hearing implant surgery
Chronic ear infection treatment
Cochlear implantation – for children and adults
Dispensing of certified audio/bone anchored hearing aids, cochlear, and cross hearing aids
Ear bone reconstruction
Ear wax removal
Hearing aid testing
Hearing implants
Hearing loss surgery
Mastoidectomy
Meniere’s disease treatment
Repositioning maneuvers like the Epley maneuver for BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo)
Superior semicircular canal dehiscence treatment
Skull base tumor surgery
Stapedectomy
Surgery for cholesteatoma
Treatment for cancer of the ear, temporal bone and skull base
Treatment for congenital atresia of the ear canal
Treatment for CSF leak to the ear/encephalocele
Tympanoplasty ear drum repair
Tympanostomy tube placement (ear tube insertion)

The Ochsner team performs hearing evaluations on children and adults of all ages.

Children and adults listen to beeps at different frequencies under headphones and a graph is plotted to understand what they hear.

For infants, we offer a piece of equipment most private practitioners don’t have – ABR (auditory brain stem response). With ABR, infants sleep while listening to soft clicks and a computer measures the integrity of the hearing nerve. All this information provides a precise hearing picture and assists in determining what management options are needed.

Depending on the nature of the hearing loss, Ochsner doctors provide medical/surgical solutions or medical clearance for non-medical options, such as a hearing aid trial, usage of assistive listening devices and/or effective communication strategies.

More than 20 million people fall in the U.S. every year. Ochsner's balance lab is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for assessing complaints of dizziness or vertigo as well as balance problem complaints.

Nystagmography, the “gold standard” for the laboratory assessment of complaints of “vertigo” and “dizziness,” has been around for 50 years and is still highly effective in assessing the condition.

Our lab also uses VideoNystagmoGraphy (VNG) to record and analyze the eye movements associated with these complaints, including testing for BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo), the most commonly occurring inner ear-related dizziness problem.

For more generalized balance problems, we use Computerized Dynamic Posturography to measure how the inner ear, vision and somatosensation interact for balance.

We also employ the vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP or VsEP), a neurophysiological assessment technique that determines the function of the otolithic organs of the inner ear. It is used in conjunction with information provided by caloric testing and other forms of inner ear (vestibular apparatus) testing.

Together, these clinical exams provide diagnostic information that form the basis for our treatment recommendations.

Our team includes ENT physicians and Audiologists at Ochsner: