Hearing Found

A blog by Karl Halsten

At ALOHA we naturally talk about hearing loss because that is what brought us together. It recently registered that what gets us most excited is stories about hearing found. It’s surprising it took me so long to realize this because I had been a professional storyteller. As was often the case when I was an active storyteller, stories had a way of finding me when I wasn’t seeking them. I had been thinking about starting a blog or column for ALOHA’s monthly newsletter so with my newfound enlightenment over the subject of hearing found, I decided it was time to make this my opportunity to finally begin a blog. I encourage others who have or find a story to write it down and share it in this blog.

This first story found me by way of Terri Rice, our Office Manager. She saw the spot on the Today Show – NBC News. It was reported by Kerry Breen.

Michael Nicoletti is a retired Army specialist and former engineer. Like many of us he was tired of having to turn the TV volume way up in order to hear it. His volume was at 45 or so, and his wife’s was a much preferred 20-25. One day he was looking at a box of drinking straws on the kitchen counter and wondered if he cut off a piece and put it in his ear if it would help. Now, I’m wondering if he has trouble hearing the TV what else is he missing—-but that wasn’t an apparent concern of his.

Michael said, “I cut two pieces off of a straw, about an inch long each, and stuck them in my ears.” Then he tested them against his TV and found that he only had to have the volume at a setting of 20 or 25 to hear just fine! His homemade method, while successful in that moment, was of course not a permanent fix. He was referred to Dr. Kent Flanagan, an audiologist at the VA in Charleston, South Carolina.
Not surprisingly, Dr. Flanagan was a bit alarmed by Nicoletti’s paper straw solution. After a diagnostic exam he understood why it worked. Nicoletti had an acquired atresia, a condition where the ear canal collapses. The condition usually occurs in only one ear, but Nicoletti had it in both ears. The effect of atresia on hearing is like wearing earplugs.

Acquired atresia is usually corrected by surgery, but Nicoletti decided he didn’t want to undergo the procedure. He and Dr. Flanagan decided to use the experience with the straws as a starting point and began to design and develop their own permanent device. They engaged the help of biomedical engineer Nikki Beitenman, who leads the Charleston Veterans Affairs 3D printing lab, to help create a pair of stents for Nicoletti’s ears. They developed six prototypes before coming up with the final form. The goal was to find a product that was comfortable in the ear yet strong enough to hold the canal open. The flexibility of 3D printing technology was ideal for the experimentation, as the process is quick and relatively inexpensive. The cost ended up at a mere 64 cents for a pair of the stents for Nicoletti!

Nicoletti says the stents are a game changer and he no longer needs to blast the TV in order to hear it. He has named his invention the Gio Ear Canal Stents in honor of his grandson, Giovanni.

Now that Nicoletti has found his hearing, what happens for others like him? It took a few months for the VA to be granted compassionate use approval for the device by the FDA. That means the stents are only approved for Nicoletti. The VA is seeking broader approval, but is held up pending research and clinical trial.
Source: Retold from a story reported by Kerry Breen on NBC, the Today Show News, 5/26/2021.