One can have problem in hearing due to many reasons. Ears are very delicate part of our body and damage to one’s hearing abilities can be problem creating in day-to-day life. As stated, there can be many causes of losing one’s hearing abilities but they are treatable. With many types of surgeries and hearing aids available now, it has been quite a help to people who lost their hearing abilities due to many different reasons as well as to the people with hearing abilities from birth.
Hearing loss or also called hearing impairment is partial or total inability to hear. That means the person with hearing impairment may have a little to no hearing. And there are a wide range of causes for hearing impairment.
Before going to understand the cause and treatment of hearing loss, understanding of types of hearing loss on the basis of different aspects is necessary. On the basis of time of development of hearing impairment, Hearing loss present at the time of birth is called Congenital Deafness and the loss of hearing that occurs at some time during person’s life but was not present at birth is called Acquired Deafness. There are different reasons for each type of hearing loss and different treatments as required.
Another main basis of differentiating between different types of hearing loss is dependent on the damaged part which resulted in hearing loss. The following are three basic types of hearing loss:
- Conductive Hearing Loss
- Sensorineural Hearing Loss
- Combined or Mixed Hearing Loss
To understand these types of hearing loss, one needs to understand the working of ear. Simply, ear is made up of three parts- The outer, the middle, and the inner ear. The outer ear includes pinna and ear canal. At the end of ear canal there is eardrum and this is where the middle ear starts. Middle ear has three small bones called ossicles. And the last inner ear which has two functions- Hearing and Balance. The cochlea is the hearing part and the semicircular canals are part of balance system.
Depending upon which part of ear is damaged the above classification is made. When a person gets both outer and middle ear damaged then the conductive hearing loss happens. In this type of hearing loss, person is not able to hear soft sounds and the louder sounds may be muffled as there is problem in conducting of sound wave anywhere along the route through the outer ear or middle ear i.e. the sound is not transmitted to inner ear.
Sensorineural hearing loss, abbreviated as SNHL, happens due to inner ear damage. In this type of hearing loss, soft sounds as well as louder sounds can’t be heard and are unclear or muffled. This is the most common type of permanent hearing loss. Generally medicine or surgery cannot fix Sensorineural hearing loss, though hearing aids may help.
When Conductive hearing loss happens at the same time of Sensorineural hearing loss which means that there is damage in the outer or middle ear as well as in the inner ear then this type so hearing loss is known as Combined or Mixed hearing loss.
The causes of Conductive hearing loss:
- Fluid in middle ear due to cold or allergies.
- Otitis media i.e. middle ear infection.
- When working of the tube which connects middle ear and nose namely Eustachian tube is not correct then the fluid in middle ear can’t be drained which causes temporary hearing loss.
- Hole or perforation in eardrum.
- Earwax stuck in ear canal.
- External otitis i.e. infection in ear canal.
- Congenital hearing loss when no outer ear is there from birth or Acquired hearing loss when ear canal or ossicles is deformed or have some problem.
- Otosclerosis, a disease of middle ear bones.
The causes of Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL):
- Different illnesses.
- Drugs harmful to hearing.
- Hereditary hearing loss.
- Aging.
- A blow in the head.
- Congenital hearing loss when the formation of inner ear is not correct or is problematic.
- Exposure to loud noises or explosions.
- Damage to the cochlea or damage in auditory nerve pathway to the brain.
How The Hearing Room helps you with this:
To access all the help you want to get from the clinic just go to website thehearingroom.ca and get the best you can. The clinic helps one in first understanding the nature of problem and then presents with the best treatment available. According to the causes responsible for creating difficulty in hearing, the treatment is given. Like if the hearing loss is temporary and is caused by ear wax blockage or cerumen blockage then the audiologist or an ENT physician can help one with the issue. In case of temporary hearing loss if any surgery is required then the surgeons can help accordingly, for example a person with ear infection can be treated with minor surgery and a person in some severe cases may require a cochlea implant. As stated in case of permanent hearing loss i.e. Sensorineural hearing loss surgery or medicine cannot help. The permanent hearing loss cannot be treated or reversed but hearing aids can help to a lot of extent in such cases as well as in prevention of further sensory deprivation. The cochlear implants are also an option in case of total or permanent hearing loss. The cochlear implants are surgical implanted battery powered electronic medical devices which are implanted in the inner ear. These work differently than the hearing aids as hearing aids make the sound louder while the cochlear implants are designed to do the work of damaged part of the inner ear which provides the brain with signals.
There are many types of hearing aids provided by the clinic suitable to the needs, economy and choice. Smaller, compact, clinically proved, and user friendly hearing aids are available which are making the life of patients with hearing impairment better. The treatment of hearing inability makes the patient happier, less frustrated, and alert while increasing their confidence and emotional stability.
