Hearing loss can occur due to various factors, including age, noise exposure, and genetic predisposition. However, certain diseases can also contribute to or directly cause hearing loss. Hearing loss might not always be curable, but it can be managed with treatment and hearing aids. However, if hearing loss is temporary and because of some underlying problem, treating that condition might help in curing hearing loss.
First, you need to know what caused the hearing loss.
Here are some conditions that often lead to hearing loss. Check if you have been diagnosed with any of these.
Meniere’s Disease
Meniere’s disease is an ongoing inner ear condition that impairs hearing and balance. While the exact cause is unknown, it is believed to be related to fluid buildup in the inner ear, resulting in pressure changes and damage to the delicate structures responsible for hearing.
Symptoms of Meniere’s disease include vertigo, tinnitus, fluctuating hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness in the affected ear.
Otosclerosis
Otosclerosis is a condition characterized by abnormal bone growth in the middle ear, specifically the stapes bone. This bone helps transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear. As otosclerosis progresses, the abnormal bone growth can interfere with the proper movement of the stapes, resulting in conductive hearing loss. Individuals with otosclerosis may experience hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness.
Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED)
Autoimmune inner ear disease is a condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the inner ear, causing inflammation and damage to the delicate structures responsible for hearing and balance. AIED can result in sensorineural hearing loss, typically affecting both ears. Symptoms include progressive hearing loss, tinnitus, and balance problems.
Meningitis
Meningitis is an infection that causes inflammation of the meninges, the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Bacterial or viral meningitis can damage the cochlea, the spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear responsible for converting sound vibrations into electrical signals. Hearing loss is a common complication of meningitis, and its severity can vary depending on the individual and the type of infection.
Presbycusis
Presbycusis refers to age-related hearing loss, which occurs gradually over time. It is a result of natural changes in the inner ear, including the loss of hair cells and reduced blood flow. While presbycusis is a normal part of aging, it can significantly impact an individual’s ability to hear high-frequency sounds and understand speech clearly.
Symptoms include difficulty understanding conversations, needing to increase the volume on electronic devices, and struggling in noisy environments.
Ototoxicity
Ototoxicity refers to the damaging effects of certain medications and chemicals on the structures of the inner ear. Medications such as certain antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, and high doses of aspirin can have ototoxic effects. These substances can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, or balance problems. Individuals undergoing ototoxic treatments should be closely monitored to minimize the risk of hearing damage.
Understanding the diseases that can cause hearing loss is crucial to identifying and managing hearing impairment effectively. Early intervention, appropriate medical management, and the use of hearing aids or other assistive devices can significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with hearing loss caused by these diseases.
Doctor’s ADVICE is a must and never try to diagnose a problem by reading an article or hearing from other’s experience. This article too is just informative in nature and shouldn’t be taken as an alternative to medical treatment.
How Many Types of Hearing loss Do Adults Experience?
Hearing loss is one of the most common ailments that people experience in the world. It can occur in people in varying degrees ranging from mild to severe and everything in between. A simple hearing test can determine the type and degree of loss by measuring the amount of volume loss individual experiences compared to normal averages.
To address these problems, the first step is to recognize where the problem originates from.
Conductive hearing loss
Conductive hearing loss refers to hearing loss where the inner ear or cochlea doesn’t receive the sound normally. This may be caused by a problem in the outer ear, eardrum, or the middle ear. The inner ear normally doesn’t get affected during this type of hearing loss.
Causes:
Some of the common causes of conductive hearing loss include head trauma, malformation of the inner ear, drugs that are toxic to hearing, genetics, ageing and exposure to loud noise.
Conductive hearing loss can be either permanent or temporary, depending on the source.
What can be done?
Some cases of conductive hearing loss can be corrected by medical management, while some may recommend amplification as treatment.
Sensori-neural hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss occurs as a result of the sensory receptors of the hearing system not working properly. This problem arises mainly if the cochlea of the inner ear isn’t working properly. In the majority of cases, it is caused by an abnormality or damage to the hair cells present inside the cochlea. This stops the sounds from being transmitted to the brain normally.
Causes:
Sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by benign tumors, fluid in the middle ear from colds, swimmer’s ear, ear infections, presence of a foreign body, allergies, absence of malformation of the outer ear, perforated eardrums and other conditions.
What can be done?
This type of hearing loss is permanent in the majority of the cases and can either improve or worsen over time.
Mixed hearing loss
This type of hearing loss results from existing Sensorineural hearing loss combined with conductive hearing loss. In other words, it can be described as a mix of sensorineural hearing loss and conductive hearing loss.
Causes:
This can occur due to a problem inner, middle or outer ear.
What can be done?
This type of hearing loss can either be permanent or temporary. They can be treated either with medical management. Alternatively, hearing aids can also be a common treatment recommendation.
The emotional impact of hearing loss should not be overlooked. This can result in feelings of frustration, isolation, depression and other related psychological feelings. Solutions like hearing aids can solve most hearing loss problems, depending on the source of the problem and whether it has been properly diagnosed or not.
Must Read: – What causes sudden ringing in the ears
How To Manage Hearing Loss In Adults:
When addressing hearing loss, no matter what type it is, it’s always recommended to seek the help of a hearing clinic with learned professionals. There are several treatment options for hearing loss such as removing ear wax, surgery, and even hearing aids.
Whatever the problem may be, it is always better to seek professional help rather than engage in home remedies.
Hearing loss is a common condition that has affected millions in the past. However, medical advancements have made it possible to access solutions made specifically for managing hearing loss.
To explore the correct and comprehensive approach to managing hearing loss in adults, it is recommended to visit a hearing clinic that has the required expertise to diagnose the condition.
Seeking professional evaluation:
- The first step to address this problem is to seek a professional evaluation by an audiologist or a hearing clinic.
- They have the required professionals that can thoroughly assess the individual’s hearing abilities, identify the hearing loss type and ascertain underlying causes.
- This can allow clients to receive personalized treatment which can help rule out any underlying medical conditions.
Considering hearing aids:
- Hearing aids are one of the most common and effective solutions for hearing loss. After the evaluation, the professional might recommend a hearing aid.
- If this happens, it is essential that the client work closely with the audiologist to select the appropriate device based on the individual’s hearing needs, preferences and lifestyle.
Communication strategies:
To effectively manage hearing loss, it is imperative that individuals adopt effective communication strategies to optimize interactions. For starters, individuals should position themselves facing the speaker to better utilize lip reading and visual cues. They can minimize background noise by selecting quieter environments.
Continued Support and Rehabilitation:
- An ongoing process to mitigate the effects of hearing loss is to regularly follow up with the audiologist for hearing aid maintenance, adjust it and undergo periodic hearing evaluations.
- There are also some hearing rehabilitation programs and classes which help individuals adapt to hearing aids, improve listening skills and address any residual communication challenges that individuals are facing.
How to select an appropriate hearing clinic?
With so many options available, selecting the best hearing aid can be a daunting task. However, using some factors, individuals can easily make that decision.
Credentials and expertise:
Always check whether the clinic employs licensed audiologists or otolaryngologists who specialise in treatment. You should also consider their qualification, certifications, and experience in this field.
Range of services:
The hearing clinic should ideally provide a wide array of services including hearing evaluations, hearing aid fittings and consultation sessions. They should also offer tinnitus treatment options as well as hearing aid repairs.
Patient-focused approach:
The clinic should have a patient-focused approach to cater to all types of clients. The professionals should take the time to understand the individual’s specific hearing challenges, lifestyle, and communication needs. The staff should also be friendly and ready to answer queries no matter how simple they are.
Managing hearing loss in adults is important to improve or maintain one’s quality of life. With modern hearing clinics providing expert solutions, it has become quite easy to manage ones hearing loss in a way that doesn’t affect their social and personal life. This is why it’s very important to select a reputed hearing clinic to ensure one receives the best treatment available to them.
The Role of Hearing Aids in Managing Hearing Loss
Hearing aids are a boon for those who have been told that their hearing loss is not curable and its permanent.
No, all is not lost because there are a variety of hearing aids available which can help in getting back your hearing ability to a large extent.
However, it is necessary to get the right kind of aids and then adjust to using them. Many people are often not comfortable using the hearing aids and believe that it is not working as per their requirement.
Many people have a common misconception that it is wearing and getting used to hearing aids can be done within a small period.
But the truth is different, as hearing aid adaption can take some time. You must visit your hearing aid clinic where you can receive help on how to adapt your hearing aids. While your hearing care professional will always play a major role in answering queries and providing other instructions, there are a lot of things that you can do to speed up this process.
That being said, here are some tips to adapt to new hearing aids.
Practicing at home
Starting to wear hearing aids at home or in other environments can be a nice start. You should focus on having one-on-one conversations and inform all your friends about your new hearing aids.
With some help, you can stay committed to better hearing using the device. Reading aloud or talking to yourself can also help you get used to your voice.
Taking breaks
When first using hearing aids, you should not wear them for the whole day. Instead, you should gradually increase the number of hours you wear them per day. Start with a few hours the first day, and gradually increase the time every day after that.
Follow-up visits
Visit your hearing care professional for frequent follow-ups as you need to fine-tune the sounds you’re hearing. The health professional will also adjust the hearing aid in your ear and offer solutions for challenging scenarios. It is recommended to visit an audiologist after two weeks after their first fitting.
Attending classes
If your hearing clinic offers hearing aid orientation classes, you should definitely join them. These classes are very helpful to quickly getting used to hearing aids with professional help.
Getting used to new sounds
If you have been suffering from hearing loss for multiple years and suddenly wear a hearing aid, you may notice sounds that you haven’t heard before. For instance, the humming of a refrigerator may seem louder or unbearable at first. This is due to the inability of your brain to sort out background noise and prioritize certain sounds over others. People adjusting to new hearing aids have to retrain their brains to ignore background noise.
Inform your hearing aid specialist if you experience pain
You may have custom-fitted ear molds to fit the hearing aids comfortably. Hearing aids can cause slight tenderness at first. However, if the pain reaches levels of discomfort, you should contact the hearing aid professional immediately. Receiver-in-the-ear hearing aids are easier to adjust as they do not produce a plugged-up feeling in the ears.
Conclusion
Getting used to hearing aids at first can be challenging and frustrating, but it’s worth it. Wearing them can overcome auditory deprivation, allowing you to take part in everyday life without any confusion. To get the best results, you should always choose providers which have experience and can provide a number of options. Professional hearing aid specialists will help you choose the best hearing aid that suits your ears the best.
