Hearing Loss Papers

The ear is an extraordinary human organ that many people take for granted until it doesn’t function. It is the only device that allows the human to hear sounds in their environment. The ear is made up of many parts that distinguish various sounds through different means. The ear anatomy and physiology along with how sound waves are transmitted into meaningful sounds will help one understand how hearing loss occurs.

Long-term noise exposure is an example; this is due to the damage that the noise exposure can have on the sensory hair cells. Sensory hair cells are what allow you to hear and if damaged the ability to hear is reduced and these hair cells do not grow back. As Colin was a car mechanic this meant he will have been in contact and close proximity to loud equipment and machinery daily, this could have had a detrimental effect to his hearing and prevented him from hearing Mary. Other environmental factors include ototoxic drugs, genetic factors and cell damage and neural degeneration which are common effects of aging. Ototoxic drugs can effect hearing as they can damage the inner ear including the hair cells and also the auditory nerve, this is important as it carries the sound information to the

Deafness can be the result of many different causes such as otitis media (middle ear infections), hereditary disorders, genetic mutations at birth, prenatal exposure to certain diseases such as meningitis, and trauma to the eardrum or auditory nerves. (Better Health Channel, 2013)

The ear is made up of three parts, the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The ability to hear is dependent on these three parts of the ear working together, and a problem with any part can cause hearing loss (heaing loss education centre, 2012). The inner ear consists of the cochlea, the auditory hearing nerve and the brain. These are the organs of hearing and balance and convert sound waves into nerve signals. These signals are sent to the brain using a nerve called the vestibulocochlear nerve. Nerve deafness occurs if there is damage to the inner ear and although it is possible to regain some hearing through the help of a hearing device, nerve deafness is often permanent. (deaf websites, 2013)

Getting older means losing a lot of things. (e.g., one’s hair, eye sight, or hearing). Hearing loss can effect a person’s life as a whole. Polku, Mikkola, Rantakokko, Portegijs, Törmäkangas, Rantanen, & Viljanen (2016) believes that when a person has hearing loss it affects their mobility in the world. They did a study questioning whether older adults with hearing impairment lose their ability to be mobile while they are out in the world. This is an interesting question because it is strange to think that having a minor deficiency such as hear loss can affect your ability to do regular things (Polku, Mikkola, Rantakokko, Portegijs, Törmäkangas, Rantanen, & Viljanen, 2016).

The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorder calculates that about 2 percent of older adults have disabling hearing loss. The NIDC uses the decible of hearing loss at 35 decibels or more in the better ear which is the level at which adults could generally benefit from hearing aids. The medical term for old age related hearing loss with no other causes is Presbycusis. As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) the term elderly or aged refers to persons aged 60 years or above. These statistic are ever changing and will continue to increase as people are living longer and will continue to live longer. As a person ages its normal to lose some of the perceptiveness of hearing. Presbycusis doesn’t remove hearing completely however this small deficiency can get worse over time. Most people with presbycusis just lose the ability to hear at a higher tone. This makes it harder to understand others speech. In order to understand how this affects people we must first understand how sound travels through the ear into the brain.

Age is the most common factor in increasing hearing loss. About 30 percent of people between 65 and 74 experience some difficulty in hearing. That percentage and the severity of the loss increase with age.

First I will explain how hearing loss works, So it may be no surprise that loud sounds can damage hearing, but what actually happens is that the pain is caused by damage to the nerves in your ear. For example, if you hear something really loud close to your ear the nerves get hit by a huge wave of sound that can damage your hearing. Furthermore, there is the question

The patient’s symptoms suggest a bilateral, symmetrical, severe degree of sensorineural hearing loss. The initial sign of this hearing loss was the two

Anyone of any age who has highly impaired hearing loss or suffers from being deaf could have a cochlear implant. Damage to the inner ear, Aging, prolonged exposure to loud noise and diseases such as rubella (German measles) or mumps may cause wear and tear on the hairs or nerve cells in the cochlea that send sound signals to the brain. When

About 10% of people with the disease develop noncancerous tumors in the ear which can lead to loss of hearing in the ear as well as ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and loss of balance. (Genetics Home Ref. Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome)

If you think you are losing your ability to hear, you should get screened by a medical professional. If you have to wait weeks for an appointment, you can use online tests in the meantime, since they tend to be free and fast. Find out what to expect when you take a hearing test online.

2). It can be a result of overstimulation of high intensity sounds over a prolonged period or can occur after a single incident, both of which can cause inner ear damage. Acoustic trauma is hearing loss caused by extremely intense sounds such as those related to gunshots or explosions and can affect the middle ear and/or the cochlear structures. (Department of the Army, 2015). Tinnitus is an abnormal perception of a ringing or buzzing in the ear that does not relate to an external stimulus (Schow & Nerbonne, 2103).

In conductive hearing loss there is a mechanical deficiency in sound waves from the external ear to the spiral organ. Other than the mechanical deficiency in sound waves, the spiral and neuronal pathways involved in hearing function normally. An example would be a blockage or deformity in the middle ear because it prevents ossicles from vibrating properly. A middle ear infection or a ruptured eardrum are common causes of hearing loss. This type of hearing loss can be treated with medication or surgery, but if it cannot be treated then the result is permanent hearing loss.

A conductive loss occurs because of something not working properly in the outer and/or middle ear, inhibiting sound waves from being conducted to the inner ear. This can include, but is not limited to, having issues with the tympanic membrane, with parts or all of the ossicular chain, which includes the mauls, incus, and stapes, or a mixture of both. This type of hearing loss can be caused by excessive ear infections, perforation of the tympanic membrane, having moisture and bacteria from the Eustachian tube fill the middle ear, or from malformation of the pinna, auditory meatus, or the ossicular chain, to name a few. A conductive loss may be fixed by surgery or improved by usage of a bone anchored hearing aid.