Robbed of Her Hearing, a Classical Musician Finally Finds a Diagnosis & Novel Path to Recovery – NYU Langone Health
In 2006, Laura Barbieri was delighted with her role as a clarinetist in the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, when she noticed one day that the hearing in her right ear felt blocked. “It was soon after I had the flu,” she recalls, “so I just assumed that it was a lingering symptom.” But the problem persisted, and by 2008, she experienced a progressive decline in hearing in that ear as well as tinnitus. A brain scan revealed a benign tumor about the size of a grape growing on the nerves t…….
In 2006, Laura Barbieri was delighted with her role as a clarinetist in the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, when she noticed one day that the hearing in her right ear felt blocked. “It was soon after I had the flu,” she recalls, “so I just assumed that it was a lingering symptom.” But the problem persisted, and by 2008, she experienced a progressive decline in hearing in that ear as well as tinnitus. A brain scan revealed a benign tumor about the size of a grape growing on the nerves that control hearing and balance. In April 2009, the tumor was removed by a surgeon in Los Angeles, but by then, Barbieri had entirely lost hearing in her right ear.
Fearing further damage to her hearing, Barbieri consulted several neurosurgeons, including John G. Golfinos, MD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Golfinos told her that he suspected an underlying condition known as neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). A genetic condition that affects about 1 in 25,000 people, NF2 causes tumors to grow on the nerves of the peripheral nervous system.
Dr. Golfinos’s professional instinct proved correct. A follow-up scan showed another tumor budding on the nerves of her left ear. “I consulted a ton of doctors,” she recalls, “but Dr. Golfinos was the only one who discerned that I had NF2.” For Barbieri, a classical musician who had spent two decades honing her skills to earn a coveted spot in a major orchestra, the diagnosis was “earth shattering.” She describes music as her primary language. “Playing,” she says, “was the thing that made me feel most fulfilled, the thing I felt I most had to offer the world.”
In 2010, Barbieri moved to New York for a job, settling in the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn. She continued her care at NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center, the largest neurofibromatosis clinic in the United States. The connection not only afforded her the highest level of multidisciplinary expertise, but also led to an unprecedented surgical intervention to stem the escalating damage caused by NF2.
By January 2021, Barbieri had gone completely deaf and started to notice tingling on the left side of her face, along with weakness that made it difficult to smile or raise an eyebrow. A tumor compressing the brainstem can affect facial movement, swallowing, and vocalization, among other things. Barbieri was forced to communicate with a voice-to-text app on her phone.
With Barbieri’s auditory nerve now irreparably damaged, J. Thomas Roland, Jr., MD, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, recommended an auditory brainstem implant (ABI), a device that can recreate the electrical pathways that normally stimulate the auditory nerve and enable the brain to interpret sound. NYU …….
