When it comes to hearing loss disorder, people get tensed but the good news is that there are numerous solutions, including hearing aids.
Let's know more about what it is.
People use the word deaf, deafness, or the difficulty in hearing when they’re talking about hearing loss.
Hearing loss is the loss of hearing in one or both ears (too obvious?!), ranging from mild to profound.
There are many causes, and it can affect anyone at any age, but it's most common among people older than 60.
Someone who has hearing loss might be able to hear some sounds or nothing at all.
About 3 in 1,000 babies are born with hearing loss, making it the most common birth defect. A hearing problem can also develop later in life.
The type of hearing loss you have depends on what part of your hearing is damaged. There are three basic types of hearing loss.
Conductive hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss
Mixed hearing loss
Tests for hearing loss
If you suspect you have a hearing loss, it is important to immediately seek the advice of a qualified hearing healthcare professional, such as an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist.
Hearing tests are simple, painless, and widely available. The professional will begin by conducting a thorough history review, and they will ask questions about the challenges you are having, your lifestyle, and your communication needs.
There are different types of hearing tests that evaluate specific parts of the auditory system and specialized hearing tests just for infants and toddlers. However, most hearing tests involve a sound-treated room or booth and headphones.
Your hearing care professional will also conduct a visual exam of your ear canals and eardrum using a lighted instrument called an otoscope. This will determine if something physical, such as earwax, is contributing to your hearing loss.
Once in the booth, you will be asked to listen to a variety of tones and indicate the softest tones you can hear by pressing a button. This part of the exam is called pure tone audiometry, and it is valuable for determining not only how much hearing loss you have, but which frequencies are most affected. You may also be asked to listen for and repeat words. These speech tests can determine the softest speech sounds you can hear and how well you can understand speech clearly when it is loud enough for you to hear it.
For people with age-related hearing loss, it's typical to experience what's known as high-frequency hearing loss. Higher-pitched sounds, such as women's voices and birds chirping, maybe harder to hear.
But in general, people who have hearing loss may experience any or all of the following:
Difficulty understanding everyday conversation
A feeling of being able to hear but not understand
Having to turn up the TV or radio
Asking others to repeat often
Avoidance of social situations that were once enjoyable
A sense of exhaustion after a day of listening to other people
Increased difficulty communicating in noisy situations like restaurants, lively family gatherings, in the car, or group meetings
Tinnitus, or ringing and/or buzzing sounds in the ear.
Causes of hearing loss
There are many causes of hearing loss, and it's important to figure out what is causing the hearing loss to determine the right treatment.
Hearing loss risk factors
Any of the following scenarios increase your risk of developing gradual hearing loss:
Being over 60 years old, when age-related hearing loss is more likely to occur
Frequent exposure to excessive noise, such as from loud machinery or gunfire
Having a close family relative with hearing loss, or a family history of genetic disorders with hearing loss.
Trauma or head injury.
The more of these risk factors you have, the more likely you will experience hearing loss. Hearing loss is usually gradual. These are the most common risk factors, but there are some surprising risk factors, too.
Complications
Hearing loss can have a significant effect on your quality of life. Older adults with hearing loss may report feelings of depression. Because hearing loss can make conversation difficult, some people experience feelings of isolation. Hearing loss is also associated with cognitive impairment and decline.
The mechanism of interaction between hearing loss, cognitive impairment, depression, and isolation is being actively studied. Initial research suggests that treating hearing loss can have a positive effect on cognitive performance, especially memory.
Prevention
The following steps can help you prevent noise-induced hearing loss and avoid worsening of age-related hearing loss:
Protect your ears. Limiting the duration and intensity of your noise exposure is the best protection. In the workplace, plastic earplugs or glycerin-filled earmuffs can help protect your ears from damaging noise.
Have your hearing tested. Consider regular hearing tests if you work in a noisy environment. If you've lost some hearing, you can take steps to prevent further loss.
Avoid recreational risks. Activities such as riding a snowmobile, hunting, using power tools, or listening to rock concerts can damage your hearing over time. Wearing hearing protectors or taking breaks from the noise can protect your ears. Turning down the music volume is helpful too. Children and hearing loss
Hearing loss is harmful to people of all ages, but for children, it has special implications. Because babies and young children need to hear to develop spoken language, good hearing is the foundation for spoken communication, social development, and educational success.
Most hospitals screen every newborn for potential hearing loss. Those infants identified by the screening are referred for further testing to confirm the presence of hearing loss and gather more information so decisions can be made regarding intervention. If your child has hearing loss, you are encouraged to talk with a pediatric audiologist. Pediatric audiology is a specialized field of professionals dedicated to the specific needs of babies and children with hearing loss.
Hearing loss in children can be caused by congenital factors, head trauma, medications, childhood illnesses, and persistent middle ear infections, deformities of the ear canal, or malfunctioning eardrums. Treatment of childhood hearing loss depends largely on the underlying cause. Identification of hearing loss and intervention before 6 months of age has been shown to dramatically improve outcomes for kids.
Identification and management
Early identification of hearing loss and ear diseases is key to effective management.
This requires systematic screening for detection of hearing loss and related ear diseases in those who are most at risk. This includes:
Newborn babies and infants
Pre-school and school-age children
People exposed to noise or chemicals at work
People receiving ototoxic medicines
Older adults
Hearing assessment and ear examination can be conducted in clinical and community settings. Tools such as the WHO “hear WHO” app and other technology-based solutions make it possible to screen for ear diseases and hearing loss with limited training and resources.
Once hearing loss is identified, it must be addressed as early as possible and appropriately, to mitigate any adverse impact.
- Anamika Tripathi