Hearing Loss: Symptoms And Treatment

Hearing loss affects 360 million people worldwide. You are more likely to suffer from this as you get older. Keep reading to find out more.
Hearing loss: Symptoms and treatment

Hearing loss is when you have a hearing impairment and cannot hear properly. There are actually a few steps that your body needs to go through in order to hear properly.

First , sound enters through the ear canal. It hits the eardrum and causes it to vibrate. This vibration moves to a series of tiny bones that stimulate the cochlea.

Inside the cochlea , there are some cells that convert these vibrations into energy. This energy moves through the auditory nerve to the brainstem as a nerve impulse. From there it reaches the cerebral cortex. Finally, you are aware that you are hearing sound.

The type of hearing loss depends on which part of the process fails. We will therefore show you the different types of hearing loss, as well as how to treat them.

Types of hearing loss

There are two main types of hearing loss: conductive and sensorineural. If the outer ear and middle ear (eardrums and ear bones) are not intact, it is conductive. However, the meninges, acoustic nerve, brainstem, or cerebral cortex may be damaged by sensorineural hearing loss.

Symptoms

It usually takes a while before people discover this condition. This is because your body is trying to compensate in many different ways. There is a wide range of changes that are related to hearing loss.

The main symptom is what kind of sounds you may or may not hear. In general, the low-intensity sounds are more difficult to hear when you have impaired hearing. However, it is difficult to distinguish sounds from sensorineural hearing loss, but you can hear their intensity.

A woman talking to an elderly lady

It is usually more difficult to hear high frequency sounds. Because of this, it is usually more difficult to hear female voices than male voices. In addition , people with this problem find it difficult to hear when there is noise in their environment. In other cases, they may think that certain sounds are louder than they actually are.

Depending on the cause , there are other common symptoms of hearing loss. One of the most common symptoms is pain in the ear. In addition , you may also experience dizziness if the organ that controls the sense of balance is damaged.

Having hearing loss without treatment can make it difficult to communicate. It can also have other emotional consequences, such as depression.

Treatment of hearing loss

To treat hearing loss, you need to know what is causing it. Then, depending on the type, doctors may recommend the best treatment for you.

Treatment for conductive hearing loss

If the cause is a wax plug, doctors will remove it. If there is damage to the ear bones, you can repair them or replace them. However, if the problem is ear infections , they will prescribe antibiotics. If there is fluid from an infection, doctors will empty it.

For a damaged eardrum, such as perforation or scars from infections, doctors can repair or replace them.

There is also a possibility for a bone-anchored hearing aid. They pick up the vibrations from sounds in the air and transmit them to the inner ear. Then they can fix the problems in the middle ear.

Treatment for sensorineural hearing loss

A woman with a hearing aid in her ear

In these cases, the causes can usually not be reversed. Therefore , you may need to get an implant that does the job for you. There are also therapeutic options, as well as non-implantable prosthetic treatments.

In other words, you can get a hearing aid. They change sounds depending on the patient’s specific needs. In general, there are two types of hearing aids:

  • Cochlear implants. These replace the function of Cortis’ body.
  • Auditory brainstem implants. They stimulate this area without sound having to go through the inner ear or the auditory nerve.

Finally, remember that the only person who can give you the best treatment option is a professional with relevant training for it.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Back to top button