Causes Of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is one of the most common health concerns people face. In some cases, no cause can be determined. There are many
different causes of hearing loss. It can be hereditary or just be a part of the aging process. It can be triggered by a blast of loud noise,
infections, the effects of toxins or by injury. While most causes of hearing loss are well-understood, researchers are still studying all
the possible causes, methods for prevention and treatment options. There are solutions to successfully correct most types of hearing
loss. Learn about the most common risks and what you can do to prevent hearing loss.
Age-Related Hearing Loss
The most common type of hearing loss is known as age related hearing loss or presbycusis. This means the gradual loss of
hearing that occurs over time. As with other body changes related to aging, hearing loss is a normal-but treatable-part of aging.
You may not realize it’s happening until your symptoms become severe or someone else notices, you’re else having trouble.
This type of loss is permanent and usually makes it harder to hear what are known as "high-frequency" sounds, such as
children's voices, birds chirping or the ringing of a telephone.
The main symptoms that indicate you may have age-related hearing loss? First, you may feel like you can hear, but not
understand. You may find certain sounds annoying or too loud. You also may notice more episodes of tinnitus (ringing in the
ears).
Presbycusis is a type of sensorineural hearing loss, which means it occurs from changes in the inner ear as a person age. It
also can be the result of changes in the middle ear, or along the nerve pathways leading to the brain. As you age, heart related
conditions like high blood pressure also affect how well you hear
Inherited Hearing Loss
Hereditary hearing loss can be conductive, sensorineural or mixed and is sometimes the result of a genetic trait passed down
from a parent. There are more than 400 known genetic and rare syndromes that include hearing loss. It's likely more will be
identified as genetic testing becomes even more sophisticated.
The degree of loss can vary widely from person to person, even those with the same genetic condition. For some people,
hearing aids will be sufficient. For others, cochlear implants and/or learning Indian Sign Language will be recommended. While
many hereditary hearing losses are congenital (present at birth), some of these conditions develop slowly over time.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Noise reduced hearing loss is caused by prolonged exposure to loud noise. The culmination of constant exposure to every
day sounds like traffic, construction work, noisy office environments or loud music can negatively impact your hearing. While
noise-induced hearing loss is generally temporary in nature, repeated overexposure to loud noise makes it harder for the ears
to recover between events. The noise damages inner ear hair cells, causing hearing loss to deteriorate over time and become
permanent.
Illness-Related Hearing Loss
There are numerous illnesses and disorders that contribute to hearing loss, including: Meniere’s Disease (The cause of this
disease is unknown, but symptoms usually include fluctuating hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus), Middle ear infections (Hearing
loss from middle ear infections is usually temporary) and Otosclerosis (This disease affects the movement of the tiny bones in
the middle ear causing a conductive hearing loss) etc.
Unilateral Hearing Loss
Unilateral hearing loss (UHL), sometimes referred to as single sided deafness (SDD), is hearing loss that occurs in just one
ear. It can cause difficulty hearing speech on the affected side and locating the source of sounds. Causes of unilateral hearing
loss include:
- Trauma to the ear/head
- Autoimmune ear diseases
- Excessive noise exposure to one ear (shooting guns, for example)
- Genetic or hereditary conditions
- Specific syndromes
- Illnesses and infections
Sudden hearing loss should be evaluated promptly by an otolaryngologist or other physician—the faster the treatment, the
better the chance of recovery. If it is due to a cause that is not medically treatable, specialized hearing aids called CROS
(Contralateral Routing of Signal) aids or bone anchored hearing aids can be considered.
Drug That Cause Hearing Loss
There are numerous drugs and medications linked to hearing loss, known as ototoxic drugs. Research is still being
conducted to further understand the effects of specific dosages of drugs and medications.
Head Trauma And Tumours
Head trauma can damage inner ear structures causing a temporary or permanent hearing loss. Any injury sustained to the
head should be evaluated by a doctor immediately.
Another cause for hearing loss is from tumours such as an acoustic neuroma. Tumour-related hearing loss might also include
tinnitus (ringing in the ears), or you might have a sensation of fullness in one or both ears. Tumours are usually treated either
medically or surgically and normal hearing may or may not be restored.
Treatment Of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is one of the most common health conditions facing individual today. The right treatment depends on a number of
factors, such as severity of hearing loss, the underlying cause, type of hearing loss and your lifestyle. The first step is getting a hearing
test and a thorough evaluation from a hearing care professional.
Why Treat Hearing Loss?
In children, untreated hearing loss negatively impacts language development, learning, and social engagement. Meanwhile,
older adults with hearing loss often have difficulty following day-to-day conversations and may begin withdrawing from activities
and other things they enjoy.
In fact, for people entering their retirement years, untreated hearing loss has been linked to several physical and psychological
issues, ranging from cognitive decline and depression to an increased risk. Hearing Aids have health benefits beyond just
helping you hear better.
How Do Hearing Aids Help?
If your hearing care professional recommends hearing aids, they will work with you to calibrate them to your specific hearing
loss, during a process known as fitting. The basic purpose of a hearing aid is to amplify sound. But today's hearing aids can
be highly customized to your specific hearing needs - amplifying the sounds you need to hear while minimizing those you
don't.
Hearing aids can be worn behind the ear or in the ear depending on the degree of hearing loss and personal preference. There
are many types and styles and if you have hearing loss in both ears, two hearing aids are far better than one.
Prevention Of Hearing Loss
There are many causes of hearing loss that are beyond our control, such as those caused by heredity. Prevention of hearing loss is the goal.
While not all types of hearing loss are preventable, there are steps you can take to lower your risk of developing age-related hearing
loss and/or noise-induced hearing loss. It's never too early-or too late-to begin wearing hearing protection around loud noises. And
adopting a healthy lifestyle and following your doctor's advice can go a long way to protecting your hearing health.
Lifestyle Tips To Help Prevent Hearing Loss
- Manage your blood pressure and cardiac health
- Stop smoking and vaping, and limit drinking
- Keep diabetes under control
- Exercise and practice stress reduction
- Eat foods high in certain vitamins and minerals
- Be aware of drugs that cause hearing loss
- To avoid noisy situation or wear ear protective around loud noise.
Hearing Loss In Children
If your baby or child has recently been diagnosed with hearing loss, you likely have a lot of questions and concerns. It's normal to
feel overwhelmed and anxious, but rest assured that there are many treatment and adaptation options available, for both home and
school.
Perhaps the most important thing to know is that hearing ability helps a child develop her speech and language skills. That's why
new born hearing screening has become universal and children with hearing loss are being identified and treated at much younger
ages than in the past.
Study shows that treating hearing loss before a baby reaches six months of age results in significantly better speech and language
outcomes than treating later.
Signs Of Hearing Loss In Toddlers And School-Age Children
Older children sometimes develop hearing loss that wasn't present before. Here are some things to look for if you think your
toddler or preschool-age child might have hearing loss:
- Has difficulty understanding what people are saying.
- Speaks differently than other children her or his age.
- Doesn't reply when you call his or her name.
- Responds inappropriately to questions (misunderstands).
- Turns up the TV volume incredibly high or sits very close to the TV to hear.
- Has problems academically, especially if they weren't present before.
- Has speech or language delays or problems articulating things.
- Watches others in order to imitate their actions, at home or in school.
- Complains of ear pain, earaches or noises.
- Cannot understand over the phone or switches ears frequently while talking on the phone.
- Says "what?" or "huh?" several times a day.
- Watches a speaker's face very intently- many children's hearing loss escapes detection because they are very successful lip readers
What Caused Child's Hearing Loss?
When a child is born with hearing loss
Some babies are born with hearing loss, which is known as congenital hearing loss. Many different things can cause this type
of hearing loss, but it's not always possible to pinpoint the precise cause. In about half of all cases, the cause is geneticmeaning, inherited from a parent.
Genetic factors cause more than 50 percent of all hearing loss in children, whether present at birth or developed later in life.
Genetic factors that might cause congenital hearing loss include:
• Autosomal recessive hearing loss - This is the most common type of genetic congenital hearing loss, accounting for
about 70 percent of all genetic hearing loss cases. What this means is that neither parent has a hearing loss, but each
parent carries a recessive gene that gets passed to the child. Parents are usually surprised when their child is born with
this type of hearing loss because people typically aren't even aware, they have the recessive gene.
• Autosomal dominant hearing loss - In autosomal dominant hearing loss, one parent carrying a dominant gene for
hearing loss passes it to the offspring. This parent may or may not have hearing loss, but he or she might have other
symptoms or signs of a genetic syndrome.
• Genetic syndromes - These include Usher syndrome, Treacher Collins syndrome, Waardenburg syndrome, Down
syndrome, Crouzon syndrome and Alport syndrome.
Non-genetic factors that might cause congenital hearing loss include:
• Birth complications, including herpes, rubella cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis or another serious infection; lack of
oxygen; or the requirement of a blood transfusion for some reason.
• Premature birth. Babies that have less birth weight or that require certain life-sustaining drugs for breathing due to
prematurity are at increased risk for hearing loss
• A nervous system or brain disorder.
• The use of drugs that cause hearing loss by the mother during pregnancy. Known as ototoxic medications, these drugs
are usually prescribed medications, including antibiotics and some pain relievers. Ototoxic drugs potentially cause
damage to the auditory nerve or other hearing structures in a fetus.
• The mother had an infection during pregnancy, including diseases like toxoplasmosis, cytomegolavirus, herpes simplex
or German measles
• Maternal diabetes.
• Drug or alcohol abuse by the mother or smoking during pregnancy
When a child develops hearing loss later
Children can also be affected by acquired hearing loss, meaning it occurs at any point after birth. There are various causes of
acquired hearing loss, including:
Children can also be affected by acquired hearing loss, meaning it occurs at any point after birth. There are various causes of
acquired hearing loss, including:
• Infections like meningitis, measles, mumps or whooping cough
• Taking medications linked to hearing loss
• A serious head injury
• Exposure to loud noise, causing Noise induced hearing loss
• Untreated or frequent otitis media (ear infections)
Auditory processing disorder in kids with normal hearing
Some kids may pass traditional hearing tests, but still struggle to listen and understand speech, particularly in noisy
environments. They may ask you to repeat what you've said a lot, and struggle to differentiate similar sounding words. If this
sounds like your child, it's important to talk to your doctor, as it could be auditory processing disorder. This means the ears
can detect sound adequately, but the brain struggles to interpret the sound correctly.
Temporary hearing loss in children
Some children may experience hearing loss that comes and goes, known as temporary, transient or fluctuating hearing loss.
Even though it may not be lifelong, this kind of hearing loss is still harmful to speech and language development. Transient
hearing loss can be caused by otitis media, more commonly known as a middle ear infection. One out of every 4 kids have
had one episode of otitis media by the time they are three years old. This type of infection is very common in children because
of the Eustachian tube position during childhood. The Eustachian tube, which allows for air pressure equalization between the
middle ear and the nasopharynx, is smaller and more horizontal during development. Thus, it is very susceptible to blockage
by fluids or large adenoids (glands in the throat area).
A middle ear infection can cause transient hearing loss because excess fluids in the keep the tiny middle ear bones from
working properly. This type of hearing loss is usually temporary and resolves itself. However, frequent, untreated middle ear
infections can cause Auditory processing Disorder.
Treatments For Childhood Hearing Loss
Depending on the severity and cause of hearing loss in your child, hearing aids, cochlear implants and a combination of speech and
language therapy might be recommended forms of treatment. If you notice that your infant or child shows any of the above signs,
take him or her to an Audiologist to have your child's hearing tested. If a child has Wax build up, an ear infection or another problem
causing temporary hearing loss, the audiologist will take care of the problem or refer you to an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat
physician) to have the temporary hearing obstruction treated.
There has never been more hope for children with hearing loss, even those with severe hearing loss.
Audiologists can perform in-depth behavioural hearing examination for even very young children (as young as 6 months). There are
several objective tests that infants, toddlers and young children can undergo as well. These tests are painless and non-invasive. After
the exam, the audiologist will spend time talking with you about your child's hearing ability and recommend an appropriate treatment
plan or medical intervention.
Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are just one kind of device that can help children with hearing loss hear clearly again. There are many paediatric hearing
aids, including high-powered aids for children with profound hearing loss that offer high-quality hearing assistance. Many solutions
for children include special coverings and other accessories to ensure that young children don't remove or misplace their hearing
aids. There are several models of devices to choose from, including behind-the-ear hearing aids or those that are almost entirely in
the ear canal.
Cochlear Implants
Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that directly stimulate the auditory nerve in the inner ear with electrical
stimulation. Cochlear implants also have an external device, and many companies make kid-friendly devices that can be held on with
a soft headband. Cochlear implants work for infants and children who cannot benefit from hearing aids.
Bone-Anchored Hearing Systems
In some cases, a child may be a better candidate for a bone anchored hearing system. People who typically get the greatest benefit
from bone-anchored hearing systems include those who have severe outer or middle ear malformations, such as microtia and atresia
and those with single sided deafness.
Speech and language therapy
For children who have had hearing loss that has affected their speech, he or she might need speech-language therapy after getting
hearing aids or a cochlear implant to help him or her catch up on speech delays. Children with auditory processing disorder also can
receive therapy to strengthen the way your children understand and uses language.
School help
Parents aren’t the only ones with a responsibility to make sure certain children with hearing loss have an equal opportunity to learn;
schools have responsibilities as well. Most children with hearing loss can be mainstreamed into standard classrooms.