Causes of Hearing Loss and how it leads to Deafness.

about 1 year ago

Have you ever seen someone with a hearing disability, and you just feel so bad for them? It is not even that rare any longer, as it has become a more prevalent condition than diabetes mellitus, all pediatric cancers, myelomeningocele, and other different medical conditions. Deafness, hearing loss, or hearing impairment refers to a partial or total inability to listen to sounds, there are various types and causes of deafness, and I will mention them as we go on with the post.

When a patient has a mild hearing impairment, it may be difficult for speech to be understood especially with so much noise, those with moderate deafness will require a hearing aid. There are some cases of severe deafness, in this people will have to rely on lip-reading for effective communication, and deaf people would rely on sign language or lip-reading for effective communication.
A person is considered deaf when he or she is unable to hear properly, and has a hearing threshold of 20 dB in both ears, in some cases, only one ear is affected while in other cases, both ears are affected. Those we consider normally as being deaf must be under the category of profound hearing loss.

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Some reasons behind deafness and hearing loss;
Factors that are encountered throughout life could contribute significantly to the loss of hearing.

Prenatal phase, this phase has the impact of genetic factors contributing to deafness. Genetic factors include hereditary and non-hereditary hearing loss problems.
Perinatal period includes; low-birth weight, birth asphyxia., as well as other perinatal morbidities and their management.
We also have the childhood and adolescence deafness causative stage which includes, smoking, age-related sensorineural degeneration, and sudden hearing loss, which falls under this category as well.
Older age and adulthood deafness is often linked with; smoking, sudden sensorineural degeneration, chronic diseases as well and otosclerosis.

Factors that cause deafness and spread across different life spans include; nutritional deficiencies, cerumen impaction, highly loud noises, viral infections, ototoxic medicines, ear or head trauma, and ototoxic chemicals that are work-related.
Diseases or circumstances that can cause deafness are; mumps, Lyme disease, sickle cell disease, chicken pox, meningitis, syphilis, diabetes, some cancer forms, and teenagers that have been exposed to second-hand smoke.

There is a difference between hearing loss and deafness, and the two should not be confused with one another, so we should get to know the difference between the two.
Hearing loss is a reduced ability to hear sounds in the same manner as others, deafness, on the other hand, happens when a person is unable to understand speech through hearing, even after the sound gets amplified, and speaking on profound deafness, is referring to a complete lack of hearing, when the affected person is unable to detect any form of sound whatsoever.

There are different types of hearing loss, we have conductive, sensorineural, and mixed hearing loss.
Conductive Hearing Loss: When this happens, it means vibrations are not passed through from the outer ear to the inner ear, especially the cochlea, this can happen as a result of; a defective eardrum, glue ear, malfunction of the ossicles, excessive wax build-up.
With ear infections, scar tissues can be left there, which may reduce the function of the eardrum, due to the infection as well, the ossicles may become impaired.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss: This type of hearing loss is caused by a dysfunction of the inner ear, the auditor-tory nerve, brain damage, and the cochlea. This nature of hearing loss is often a result of a damaged hair call in the cochlea, and as humans get older, hair cells begin to lose some functions, and hearing as well gets deteriorated.

Intense long-term exposure to loud noises, especially high-frequency sounds, is a common reason for hair cell damage. When a hair cell is damaged, it cannot get replaced.

Mixed Hearing Loss: This nature of hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. When there is a long term ear-infection, it can damage both the ossicles and the eardrum.

Certainly, treating hearing loss is strongly dependent on the treatment of the underlying disease. Sometimes, the treatment may be a conservative one which means the removal of a foreign body or the micro suction of the cerumen, discharge in the ear canal is very necessary if the ear is blocked. Surgical treatment is provided to infants diagnosed with SNHL, as they are made to go through cochlear implantation under 6 months. The intervention procedure would require the expertise of an ear, a nose, or a throat specialist, long-term monitoring is also highly essential to foster the social development of the child.

When a child has a hearing loss complication, it could contribute to speech delay and difficulty thriving in school. A child who has a speech delay would require formal hearing evaluation, as this is usually the most common cause.
When you meet with a doctor, the following question would require answers as asked by the doctor;

When you chat with people, do you need to fix your gaze on them?
Do you constantly have to tell people to repeat the thing they say to you?
Do you try to avoid group conversations and much more?

Unfortunately, not all cases of heart problems could be sorted, so the use of sign language, and lip reading would do so much good. These control measures will do so good with protecting your hearing;
When listening to the radio, or watching television, you would need to turn down the volume a little bit. With headphones, block out other environmental sounds. If you work in a noisy environment, then you may need to make good use of some earplugs or earmuffs.