Woman Drinks Beer Through Her Ear

Now I am not sure if this woman is actually drinking beer through her right ear at a Czech beer festival as reported by Huffington Post, but is it anatomically even possible?

Well the answer is that it IS theoretically possible though highly improbable.

In order for this to occur, there must first be a hole in the eardrum. Given an eardrum hole, beer can be sucked up into the ear canal (1), through the hole in the eardrum (2), into the middle ear space (3), through the eustachian tube (4), and down into the throat.

Now why would it be highly unlikely that the women is drinking beer through her ear?

1) The eustachian tube opening is VERY small (< 2mm). Trying to suck beer through the eustachian tube would be even harder than trying to suck beer into the mouth through a coffee stirrer.

2) The video would have been more believable if she pinched her nose up when drinking beer into the ear.  The fact that she is not makes it unlikely adequate negative pressure can build up in the back of the nose to the point that it would suck beer up into the ear. Not pinching the nose is equivalent to trying to drink something up into the mouth WITHOUT making a tight lip seal around the straw.

Even if you could drink beer through the ear, you really shouldn't because...

1) Beer contains alcohol and if this touches the middle ear region which is very sensitive, there would be quite a bit of pain akin to alcohol touching an open skin wound.

2) Alcohol can also potentially lead to permanent hearing loss if drawn into the middle ear. It's the same reason why earwax removal drops specifically caution against using it whenever there's a hole in the eardrum.

3) Beer in the ear could lead to an ear infection.

4) Lastly, if the beer is not at body temperature, it could lead to severe dizziness due to a phenomenon known as caloric vestibular stimulation.

So... don't do it... even if you could!

Source:
Woman Drinks Beer Though Her Ear? Czech Clip Appears To Show Crazy, Dangerous Stunt (VIDEO). Huffington Post 5/14/13

Read More

Mozart May Help with Tinnitus

Currently, there is no fast, good, and cheap way of resolving tinnitus. Tinnitus is in essence hearing a ringing or buzzing that does not exist in reality. At best, it may be something you hear, but does not bother.

At worst, it can literally drive a person crazy.

Neuromonics is perhaps one of the very few treatment protocols that has been proven to work resolving/improving tinnitus in 80-90% of patients over a period of months.

However, it is expensive... typically around $6000 out-of-pocket.

In a study out of Italy, a group of patients between 22 and 78 years of age who suffered from tinnitus were told to listen to Mozart's Sonata k448for 1 hour daily for 1 month. This was followed by instruction to listen to Beethoven's Fur Elisesonata for 1 hour daily for another month.

For all the parameters investigated, there was a general significant improvement between the pre- and post-listening evaluation. Significant improvement in several parameters were seen even after a single exposure to Mozart's sonata.

So apparently listening to Mozart may not help only baby's to become smarter (debatable), but it can help adults as well.

It's also cheap... about as much as it takes to download the songs from a music store.

Some other thoughts that may require additional research...

• What if a patient hates classical music?
• Does "how" a patient listens to the music affect results? (Playing the music in background while doing some other activity versus doing nothing other than listening to the music.)
• How long does the improvement last after treatment?
• What about other songs by Mozart?

But... all in all... given it is cheap... it certainly can't hurt to give it a try.

Reference:
The Mozart effect in patients suffering from tinnitus. Acta Oto-laryngologica. Posted online on October 1, 2012. (doi:10.3109/00016489.2012.684398)

Read More