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What’s Causing Your Hearing Loss?

Whether you just noticed that you no longer can hear the clock ticking, or you experienced sudden hearing loss, the key to getting treatment is determining what caused it in the first place. Sometimes all you need is a little earwax removed.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Sensorineural hearing loss is fairly common and might explain why you can hear a pin drop, but not be able to make out what your partner is saying. You’re born with tiny hairs called cilia in your inner ear that move when sound waves are present. Nerves translate the movement of these tiny hairs into information that goes to your brain, where it gets interpreted into distinct sounds and frequencies.

The better the movements are interpreted, the more easily you’re able to hear distinctions between sounds such as “D” and “T” or hear letters like “S”, “H” and “F”. Unfortunately, cilia are extremely delicate and can be harmed by loud noise or other trauma.

Cilia also help your brain determine how loud a sound is, where it’s coming from, and how far away it is.

The most common causes of sensorineural hearing loss

Sensorineural hearing loss happens when these tiny hairs are damaged. Often, this type of hearing loss is gradual, which is why many people associate it with aging. It’s thought that animals are able to regrow these hairs and regain their hearing when their cilia get damaged, but humans don’t seem to have this ability naturally.

Common causes of sensorineural hearing loss are:

Loud sounds
Head injuries or other trauma
Diseases like diabetes or autoimmune disease
High blood pressure
Some medications

Treatments for sensorineural hearing loss

While there are no current medical treatments to heal cilia, you can successfully treat sensorineural hearing loss with hearing technology such as hearing aids.

Conductive hearing loss

Conductive hearing loss is caused by damage in the canal, in the eardrum, or caused by trouble with the bones in the middle ear. One of the most common causes of conductive hearing loss is compacted earwax.

The most common causes of conductive hearing loss

You can get conductive hearing loss from:

Obstructions in the ear canal
Ear infections
Abnormalities in the ear structure, including congenital conditions
Tumors or other growths
Fluid

Treatments for conductive hearing loss

Depending on what’s causing the issue, your hearing specialist might suggest:

Removing earwax or other obstructions
Surgery
Medicine to eliminate inflammation, fluids or infection

Combination hearing loss

You may also have a mix of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. For example, you may have some damage to the cilia in your ear and have an obstruction in the canal. A hearing test can help your hearing specialist determine how to best treat your hearing loss and regain your quality of life.

When should you worry about hearing loss?

If you experience hearing loss, particularly in one ear, this may be an infection or inflammation, which is easily treatable if dealt with right away. If you ignore it, it can lead to permanent damage.

If you have any kind of sudden hearing loss, see a hearing specialist or doctor immediately. Even if your hearing loss is caused by a sudden loud noise, your doctor may be able to limit the damage by controlling inflammation.

Do you or a loved one have hearing loss?

Why Should I Treat My Hearing Loss?

What are the long-term effects of ignoring your hearing loss? It’s worse than you think. At first hearing loss may be easy to ignore, especially if it’s gradual….you might think my ears are clogged today or it’ll get better when the allergy season is over. Maybe you think your wife is speaking too softly or that traffic was too loud to hear your phone on the street. Or maybe you keep telling yourself it just isn’t that bad. Whatever is keeping you from seeking treatment, you should know that not taking hearing loss seriously can have some seriously bad effects on your overall health.

Research links hearing loss with other negative health effects

Hearing loss is so easy to ignore, the average person waits seven years before they seek treatment. What does that kind of delay do to your overall health? Research has linked hearing loss with:

Fatigue
Anxiety and depression
Dementia and cognitive decline
Headaches

Studies have even shown an increased risk of accidents. Yet the most common effect of hearing loss is far more subtle. When you’re not completely part of the conversation, you feel left out. As time goes by you may even start to opt out of social gatherings because you can’t fully participate. Social isolation is not only a side effect of hearing loss, it can also amplify the other effects as social interaction is crucial for cognitive and mental health.

Reversing negative effects with hearing aids

While the negative health effects of hearing loss are scary, the good news is that treating hearing loss can reverse some of these issues. According to research at the University of Texas, participants who used hearing aids were able to significantly recover cognitive ability the longer they wore them. Other studies confirm that hearing aids help fight the side effects of hearing loss and are a good intervention for cognitive decline. Among the cognitive functions tested, hearing aids helped improve memory function, speech recognition, and speech processing.

Why suffer the effects of hearing loss? Get tested today and see what treatment options are available to you.

How to Prevent Hearing Loss

While hearing loss may seem like a normal part of aging, even “age-related” hearing loss is largely preventable. In fact, age-related hearing loss is often the product of damage, over time, to the cilia in your ear. Cilia are sensitive hairs that pick up sound waves and send sound information to the brain to be interpreted. Unfortunately, these tiny hairs can be damaged from loud noises, infections, compacted earwax or simply high blood pressure.

Avoid Exposure To Loud Sounds

Loud noises, especially high-pitched noises, are one of the most common causes of hearing loss. Preventing hearing loss starts with evaluating your daily life and determining whether you’re exposing your ears to damaging noise.

While it might not be feasible to completely avoid loud noises, anticipating situations where they might be damaging is the first step in preventing hearing loss. From gardening tools and heavy machinery to turning your earphones up past half-way, it’s surprisingly easy to overexpose your ears to loud noises. Even cruising with your windows down and your music up will affect your hearing over time. In general, you want to avoid being exposed to any noise 85 decibels or more for longer than an hour. Some intensities, like a gunshot or fireworks display, can cause hearing damage immediately.

Consider how loud these common sounds are:

Sirens – 110 dB
Concerts 110 – 115 dB
Garbage truck – 100 dB
The subway is 88 dB
Gunfire 130 dB
Average city traffic is 80 dB

Simple steps like using ear protection if you work in a noisy environment or wearing earplugs to a concert can make a big difference.

8 more unexpected ways to prevent hearing loss

Loud noise isn’t the only way to damage your hearing. Here are 8 additional things you can do to help prevent hearing loss.

Don’t put anything in your ears that doesn’t belong there.
Be careful cleaning your ears.
Treat head and ear injuries immediately. What you do in the hours immediately after head trauma can dramatically affect your ability to hear later. Seek medical attention immediately.
Quit smoking.
Avoid excessive drinking.
Get treated for high blood pressure.
Use ear protection for concerts, fireworks displays, hunting, and other times when you think you might be exposed to loud noises.
Maintain a heart-healthy diet. Diets designed to lower your blood pressure are also good for your ears.

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