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from: An Explanation of Hearing Loss Due to Aging
Steve Evans
Hearing and balance are the two main functions of our ears. As we get older we have to accept that our ability to hear deteriorates, and the deterioration will usually be in our perception of audible range and the ability to hear quiet sounds. Hearing reduction is very common. All of us must accept that figures show half of all seventy five year olds to have at least a slight deafness, and even at ten years younger the risk of hearing impairment runs at about thirty percent. Such loss is commonly due to over-exposure to noise, heredity or both.
Hearing loss affects us in different ways but usually exhibits as one or more of the following symptoms:-
1) If you find yourself constantly asking for people to speak clearly and sounds are fuzzy or muffled
2) The words you think you have heard make no or little sense
3) You find that most of the time things have to be said again for you before you can hear/understand
4) You find yourself continually turning up volume controls when others say they can hear them OK
Should you have answered yes to one or more of the above, we suspect that you will also be tending not to seek to engage in discussions when a number of people are involved in the way you did once. If so, and both are true, then there is a very high possibility that you have a hearing impediment. Most hearing loss results from damage to the cochlea (a coiled structure in the inner ear responsible for hearing). This loss is usually a result of prolonged exposure to loud noises of 85 decibel or higher. A decibel is the unit used to measure degrees of loudness and is often abbreviated to dB.
Poor hearing may also result from:-
1) Diseases of the ear, such as can be during child illnesses
2) Growths occuring on the bones of the ear
3) Cancer within the ear
4) Ear drums which have ruptured.
Other non-age related causes for deafness include Auditory Neuropathy, Meniere's Disease, Noise Ostosclerosis and Usher's Syndrome.
Only 3 generic types of hearing reduction result from the above, as below:-
A) Conductive Hearing Loss
In this type of hearing failure such problems as excess fluid build-up, earwax, disease, foreign particles or lack of proper formation of the middle or outer-ear parts all may take place, and the result is an inability of the outer ear to pass the sound vibrations into the sensing pint in the cochlea.
B) Hearing Loss Sensorineural
Anything defective in a persons inner ear itself is the cause of this type of hearing problem.
A person suffering from this type of hearing loss may exhibit a lack of speech comprehension.
C) Combination of Hearing Problems
A) and B) can occur for some people, simultaneously, resulting in this final category of hearing loss.
We have now completed our list of the three forms of hearing loss, with discussion of each.
Loss of the ability to hear may be unique to one ear or may be present in both ears. It may be long term, or may be rapidly amicable to being cured. Ear infections may cause conductive hearing impairment which develops quickly into a problem but also reverts rapidly when the infection clears.
This article must not be used as a substitute for expert advice obtained from qualified medical experts. If you think after reading this that you have an impairment make an appointement with your Doctor/advisor.
There is always the option of buying one of the new 'up-to-the-minute' hearing aid models, and these can represent great value and also really help the older (retired) population.
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