About Hearing Loss:

Hearing loss simply means sudden or gradual decrease of how well you can hear a sound. Many things can lead to this problem. The degree of this problem sometimes depends on the cause itself. The loss may be partial or temporal, it can be permanent, mild or severe, it can also be reversed. Some people are born with this problem. The third most common chronic problem found with older Americans is gradual hearing loss. If this problem develops gradually, the person suffering it may not know. Rather, friends and family members may be the ones to notice it. Hearing loss slows down the person’s ability to work either in the office or at home and it also exposes such person to danger. It leads to loneliness, depression, loss of independence etc because it may result to less social interaction. However, there are modern gadgets that can help the person to hear properly.

CAUSES:

The most common causes of this problem in adults are:

1) NOISE: This affects people of all ages and the development in gradual .Exposure to noise over a long period of time can lead to hearing loss.

2) AGE: Presbycusis causes gradual but steady hearing loss. As one grows older, changes occur in the inner ear that reduces the ability to hear, this normally occurs gradually but is always permanent. Earwax build up, objects in the ear, injury to the head or the ear, infection in the ear, ruptured eardrum etc are some other problems that can lead to hearing loss.

SYMPTOMS:

The symptoms are many but the common ones are:

Muffled hearing, or a feeling that the ear is plugged. The person will now find it difficult to understand what people are, when he is listening to the radio or watching the television, the volume will be so high, and the person will now begin to avoid conversation with other people. Equally, the person will begin to notice pain in the ear, itching, irritation, fluid leakage from the ear, and a feeling that everything around you is moving, when nothing is actually moving.

DIAGNOSIS:

It is better to consult a qualified doctor who will ask the patient simple questions like, the symptoms, your past healthy life, etc and he will carry out a physical experiment on the ear .The doctor will test the level of your hearing loss with a whisper, or turning fork and when the test is positive, he will now do a comprehensive test called AUDIOLOGIC to know which part of the ear is damaged or affected.

TREATMENT:

When it is noise induced or age related hearing loss, you can use a hearing device like hearing aids. The person will now learn how to reduce hearing loss by paying attention to people’s gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. But in other type of hearing loss, the remedy is to treat the problem that caused the hearing loss, like removing the ear wax, taking medicine against infection etc.

CAN IT BE PREVENTED?

The answer is yes. This can be achieved by avoiding loud noise like the ones made by machines in the work place, very loud music, wearing ear muffs when and where necessary, avoid putting objects into your ear to avoid injury, wear helmet when you ride a bike, ski or participate in like activities that has potential for ear injury.

The most common causes of hearing loss in adults are noise, age and infections. An interruption of the flow blood into the inner ear, or parts of the brain that controls hearing may lead to hearing loss. This may occur when the person is suffering from other sicknesses like hearth disease, stroke, high blood pressure or diabetes. When there is auto immune hearing loss, it may occur in one or both ears may come and go or get worse after 3to m4 months. When you notice this, know that rheumatoid arthritis may be present.

We have the middle ear and the inner ear and which part of the ear that is affected determines the type of hearing loss to expect. There is also the conductive hearing loss which blocks sound energy from reaching the inner ear. There is the sensor neural hearing loss which prevents proper hearing although the sound reached the inner ear. Sometimes, mixed hearing loss may occur which is a combination of both the conductive and sensorial deficiency.