It is normal for young children to have frequent acute ear infections. This is because the child’s ear tubes (eustachian tube connecting the back of the nose to the ear) are smaller and straighter than adults, making it easier for any Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) to reach the middle ear causing severe pain.
In Infants while breast feeding due to wrong posture, ear infections can occur.
Since children are prone to these painful blockages, it  is always advisable to visit an ENT doctor.
Not only can an ENT doctor help with immediate relief and treatment, but they also help parents identify the best solutions for preventing ear infections in the future.

If you can hear ringing noise in one or both your ears, without any identifiable source it is called tinnitus. it can occur due to variety of underlying causes, either damage to nerve of hearing due to toxic drugs, noise exposure, head injury. it can also be aggravated by anxiety and insomnia. Rarely some tumors developing in the inner ear or brain can be the cause of such tinnitus. At times, tinnitus can also occur without an explanation.
Tinnitus symptoms can be disturbing specially at night . When the ringing is unbearable or has a negative impact on your life, visit an ENT consultant to determine the underlying cause. You can explore possible treatments to address this root cause, which may help to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus.

Symptoms of hearing loss include difficulty in understanding what others are saying, asking people to repeat themselves, struggling to hear in crowded places with distracting background noise, perceiving that others are mumbling or not speaking clearly, listening to the television or radio at a higher volume than others and experiencing a ringing or buzzing in the ears.  often the patients themselves are in denial but it is their family members who detect this problem. social isolation due to difficulty in communication and thereby depression and dementia can ensue.

Observation and screening is the only way anyone can detect hearing problem in early childhood. as per universal neonatal hearing screening, every child born should be tested for any hearing impairment by simple bedside test called OAE (otoacoustic emission). Parents and elder family members are the first to notice any impairments. During first year, check whether the child is responding to loud noises, imitates sounds, reacts to his/her name and has directional awareness. At age 2 to 3 years, the child should be able to form words or small sentences and also obey simple commands. If for any reasons you think there is a problem in hearing, consult an ENT doctor as early as possible. Accurate tests are available for even infants with mild hearing disorder. Early detection and intervention are key to manage hearing loss in children.

A cochlear implant is an electronic device which bypasses the damaged areas of the cochlea (the hair cells) and restores hearing to near normal for environmental sounds, speech understanding and even perception of music, thus helping persons with severe to profound hearing loss join the mainstream society.

Hearing aids only amplify the environmental sounds - it cannot bypass the damaged inner ear. Cochlear Implants substitute the damaged cochlear hair cells. So even totally deaf patients, who do not benefit from hearing aids, can get back near normal hearing with Cochlear Implants.

Both children and adults can benefit from cochlear implants.
Children who are born deaf on both ears, due to various risk factors, having severe to profound hearing loss who don’t benefit from hearing aids, are candidates for cochlear implants.
Older children or adults, who could hear well previously but completely lost hearing in both ears (either suddenly or gradually) benefit extremely well from cochlear implants as they have already developed speech and language earlier.

After surgery, we wait for 2-3 weeks for healing the wound. Then the outer part of the implant is fitted behind the ear, which connects to the inner part by the help of a magnet. When the device is switched on, the patient will be able to hear immediately.
For a child who is born deaf, these sounds only have no meaning. Here comes the importance of post operative auditory verbal therapy or speech therapy, where the child is made to understand the meaning of these sounds and slowly, he or she learns to speak.
In older children or adults who have previously developed speech and language abilities, once the device is switched on, they are able to hear and understand the sounds. With minimal therapy, they can speak very well.

Sinusitis is a very frequent and recurrent infection that occurs due to blockage in pathway of the sinus drainage. Commonly seen symptoms are facial pain and pressure, headache, nasal obstruction, yellow or green nasal drainage, fatigue and fever. The main causes are allergies like hay fever, respiratory tract infections, deviated nasal septum, nasal polyps and also associated with other medical conditions. If medical treatment is ineffective, surgery may be an option.

Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) coupled with post-operative follow-up with regular nasal washing and allergy treatment has shown good results in giving relief to patients suffering from chronic sinusitis not responding to medication.

Snoring occurs when the tissues in the throat vibrate. Lifestyle modifications such as losing weight and sleeping on your side instead of your back may help. Surgery for removing enlarged tonsils or bent nasal bone may also be an option. Snoring is often associated with obstructive sleep apnea, a dangerous medical condition.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a condition in which an individual’s breathing stops periodically during sleep. These episodes can last ten seconds or longer and may occur hundreds of times each night, preventing restorative sleep and leading to daytime sleepiness and fatigue, irritability, memory or concentration problems. OSA increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes. If you experience these symptoms, visit an ENT doctor to get a sleep study done and understand the various treatment options available.

Dizziness can happen when a person loses balance or experiences spinning sensation. It can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, a ringing noise in the ear (tinnitus), hearing loss, blurring of vision or even loss of consciousness. It can be caused either due to problems in the inner ear or brain or eye sight. One of the most ENT condition responsible for dizziness is Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo (BPPV). It can also be a warning sign for heart or brain related diseases. Do not ignore it, visit an ENT consultant. One should avoid driving and other risky activities in such situations.