Can you have any control on whether you will lose your
sense of hearing? There are many causes of deafness and
certainly some are preventable.
Deafness can vary from mild to severe. Deafness at birth is
called congenital deafness and that which occurs after
birth is called adventitious deafness. The causes of
adventitious deafness are many. Lifestyle has a vital
responsibility for cause of hearing loss and one of the
main causes of adventitious deafness is noise.
Some common causes of deafness are:
• Hereditary Disorders: Hereditary deafness happens when
the parents pass the defect on to their children. It means
that people are born deaf and this is generally caused by
the malformations of the inner ear.
• Genetic Disorders: Genetic deafness occurs when the baby
is in the mother's womb.
• Prenatal Exposure to Disease: When pregnant mothers
suffer from rubella, influenza or mumps, the baby born will
either be deaf or will have some hearing problem.
• Noise: Loud noise like gunshots, firecrackers, explosions
and rock concerts tends to damage the ear mechanisms. A
single exposure to loud noise does not damage the eardrum.
Repeated exposure to sound over a long period of time will
affect the ear with moderate to severe hearing loss.
• Disease: There are certain diseases that cause loss of
hearing such as meningitis, mumps, chicken pox and
cytomegalovirus. In the case of meningitis, the inner ear
tends to become inflamed which leads to deafness.
• Trauma: A hole in the eardrum, a fractured skull or
changes in air pressure lead to deafness.
• Wax: The ear canal produces a waxy substance, which is
useful in lubricating and protecting the tissues. This has
to be cleaned out once in a while. If not done, the wax
will build leading to short term deafness. Even foreign
substances such as the tip of a cotton bud or a hairpin can
cause hearing loss if they puncture the eardrum. This is
not too serious as the eardrum heals on its own, although
it can take a few weeks.
• Excess Mucus: Excess mucus is caused either due to the
common cold, hay fever or other allergies. This blocks the
Eustachian tube, which leads to loss of hearing.
• Ear Infections: During an ear infection, the fluid and
pus fills in the middle ear. This does not allow full
transmission of sound and leads to partial hearing.
• Drugs: There are certain drugs like chloroquine, which
lead to temporary deafness.
• Age-related Hearing Loss: This type of hearing loss is
commonly found in old people. This is normal and rarely
leads to deafness. Age-related hearing loss also known as
'presbycusis' begins with loss of certain speech sounds
like 'S', 'F' and 'T'.
• Tinnitus: Tinnitus is the ringing sound in the ears.
Middle ear infection and damage caused by loud noises can
cause tinnitus. This disease can cause psychiatric symptoms.
• Occupational Hearing Loss: Men working in bars, pubs, and
nightclubs are liable to have their sense of hearing
impaired. Such people are exposed to loud noise most of the
time. The deafness is caused by the damage to the hair
cells of the organ of Corti in the cochlea.
In addition to the above causes of deafness, there are many
unknown causes. Loss of hearing is a serious problem. Some
say it is worse than losing one's sight. People lose their
quality of life due to the isolating nature of the
condition.
----------------------------------------------------
If you or someone you know has hearing loss, you know how
isolating that can be. Keep up with the latest digital
hearing aids - information that Michael Jennings has put
together on the subject hearing loss ==>
No comments:
Post a Comment