Hearing Loss: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Dr. Mohamed Mohy El-Din, ENT specialist. Hearing loss can occur suddenly or gradually, and sometimes it may have a medical cause, but in most cases, it is due to aging or continuous exposure to noise. There are three types of hearing loss. And it is:

  • Connector: It involves the outer or middle ear.
  • Sensitive nervous: involves the inner ear.
  • Mixed: combines both.

Symptoms:

  • The disappearance of speech and other sounds.
  • Difficulty in understanding the words, especially with background noise.
  • Tinnitus in the ear.
  • A problem in hearing the consonant sounds.
  • Repeatedly asking to speak more slowly, clearly, and louder than others.
  • The need to raise the volume of the television or radio.
  • Withdrawal from negotiations.
  • Avoid being in certain social environments.

Common causes of hearing loss:

  • Damage to the inner ear may result from aging and exposure to loud noises, which can harm the hair cells or the nerve cells present in the cochlea.
  • Gradual buildup of earwax. Earwax can block the ear canal and removing earwax can help restore your hearing.
  • Ear infections or abnormal growth of bone or tumors. Any of these conditions may cause hearing loss when they occur in the outer or middle ear.
  • The rupture of the eardrum (tympanic membrane perforation) can be caused by sudden loud noises, sudden changes in pressure, perforation of the eardrum by any object, and infections leading to eardrum rupture, which negatively affects your hearing.
  • Calcification in the auditory ossicles.

Risk factors for hearing loss:

  • Advancing age.
  • Loud noise: Exposure to loud noises can lead to damage to the inner ear cells.
  • Inheritance.
  • Some medications can harm the inner ear and cause temporary effects on hearing or hearing loss.
  • Some diseases may harm the cochlea in the ear, leading to fever, such as meningitis.

Diagnosis of hearing loss:

  • Physical examination: The doctor looks for a physical cause in the ear that may be the reason, such as earwax, some inflammation, or a certain tumor.
  • Tuning fork test.
  • Hearing test and ear pressure examination.

Treatment of hearing loss:

  • Removal of wax blockage.
  • Surgical procedures: Surgery may also be a necessary option sometimes if the patient suffers from repeated infections or small benign tumors or calcification in the auditory ossicles.
  • Assisted devices (medical hearing aids): Sometimes, the damage may target the inner ear, which makes supportive devices effective and essential.
  • Cochlear Implant: If the patient suffers from severe hearing loss, then cochlear implantation may be a good and beneficial procedure.

Prevention:

  • Protecting your ears represents the best preventive method by limiting the duration and intensity of your exposure to noise.
  • Wearing plastic earplugs or ear protectors helps to protect your ears from damaging noise.
  • Conduct a hearing test. Consider having regular hearing tests if you work in a noisy environment or if you have lost part of your hearing.
  • Avoid medications that impair hearing.