SEMENZA BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRY

“Our Eardrums Move In Sync With Our Eyes”

According to a report in New Scientist: “Our eardrums appear to coordinate with our eyes to shift our hearing in the direction we are looking. Why this happens is unknown, but it may help us work out which of the objects we see are responsible for the sounds we hear.”

A study at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina has been using microphones inserted into people’s ears to study how their eardrums change when our eyes move; specifically the movement that occurs when we shift visual focus from one place to another. You won’t notice it, but our eyes go through several movements a second to take in our surroundings. These pressure changes indicate that when we look left, for example, the drum of our left ear gets pulled further into the ear and that of our right ear gets pushed out, before they both swing back and forth a few times. According to the article, “How our moving eardrums affect the sounds we hear isn’t yet known… They may prepare our ears to hear sounds from a particular direction.” We also found it interesting that, “The changes to the eardrums began as early as 10 milliseconds before the eyes started to move, and continued for a few tens of milliseconds after the eyes stopped. …Never before has the position of the eyes been seen to have an effect on the ears…”

One theory for why the eyes and ears move together in this way is that it helps the brain make sense of what we see and hear. The discovery could lead to better hearing aids, which must locate where sounds are coming from to work well. The brain of a person with normal hearing can focus on sound from someone they are talking to in a restaurant, while ignoring a conversation at a nearby table, says Groh. “I could imagine a mechanism being incorporated into hearing aids that picks up signals of the eyes moving to a new location and tries to amplify the sound at that location,” she says.

If you would like to read the article on NewScientist.com, here is a link: Click Here

How Many Devices Do You and Your Children Use?

A top concern these days is computer eye strain. How many hours a day are you and your family members using electronic devices, including the smartphone? If your eyes feel strained and tired, especially at the end of the day you may have Digital Eye Strain.

If you want your eyes to feel less strain, and have better vision without the glare from the computer, Anti-Reflective coating works well. There are also special lenses we can prescribe which will help relieve the stress of working on the computer. Be sure to let us know the actual distance from your eyes to your computer monitor when you come in for your appointment.

If you don’t want to wear glasses, then it’s best to reduce your time on digital devices and computers and apply the 20-20-20 rule: 1.   take a break every 20 minutes and…   2.   look 20 feet away or further for   3.   20 seconds   The easiest way to implement this is to set a timer when you sit down to work on a computer or digital device – remember, time flies when you are having fun! 😉

Back to School Means Back to Sports – With or Without Glasses or Contacts

Glasses and contacts can be a nuisance, a safety issue, and a restriction when participating sports.   Are your child’s eyeglasses strapped on so he/she can run down the soccer field? Are glasses getting in the way when your child wears a football, baseball or hockey helmet? Does dust get under those contact lenses when he or she is playing baseball or softball?

What if your child’s vision could be corrected while sleeping? And glasses and contacts would not be needed during the day? Paragon’s Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT ® ) corneal reshaping system is ideal for active young patients between 8 and 20 years who need “corrective-free” vision. It involves the use of special contact lenses, worn only at night, that gently reshape a patient’s corneas as they sleep. (The cornea is the front of the eye where light goes through.) The patient removes his or her lenses in the morning. The cornea retains its shape all day, providing clear vision throughout the day.

Patients adapt to corneal reshaping quickly and maintain good vision during their waking hours. The treatment is noninvasive (nonsurgical), convenient (lenses worn overnight only) and, unlike surgery, is completely reversible.   CRT is effective for nearsighted children and adults, as well as for those who have astigmatism. For more information or to schedule a brief complimentary consultation on CRT today call:  (860) 434-2509

Semenza Behavioral Optometry  (860) 434-2509 drsemenza@sbcglobal.net  www.drsemenza.com