Archive for November, 2009
There are four main types of hearing loss; conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, central hearing loss and mixed hearing loss. Hearing loss and deafness can affect anyone at any age with some people being born deaf while for others hearing loss is a gradual or sudden occurrence depending on the circumstances which brought about the deafness or hearing loss. Deafness or hearing loss can also occur for many different reasons ranging from ear infections to trauma of the ear drum.
Conductive hearing loss
Conductive hearing loss is usually associated with obstructions to the outer or middle ear and can also be caused by certain diseases, this type of hearing loss will affect all frequencies and the loss usually isn’t severe. The person suffering from conductive hearing loss will usually be able to be helped surgically or has great success when using a hearing aid.
It can be very difficult to determine if a child under the age of 19 months has a problem with their hearing because very young children and babies will respond to their environment by touch more than sound. Listed below are a number of questions of signs that you should watch out for in your child and ask yourself if they apply to your child. If you answer no to any of them then it might be wise to visit your doctor or mention to your health visitor that you think there may be a problem with your child’s hearing.
From birth to 4 months of age
At this stage your baby should:
- Be startled when they hear a sudden loud noise such as a shout, hand clap or dog barking nearby?
- When asleep does your baby wake up at the sound of loud noises?
- If your baby is crying does he/she stop crying if they hear your voice while you’re still out of site, or quieten down if you play music?
- By the time your baby is around 4 months old he/she should be turning their head towards sounds they hear.
Acoustic neuroma is a very slow growing benign tumour that gradually causes deafness the bigger it grows, it usually will grow on the eighth cranial nerve and this is the nerve that affects the hearing and balance. It isn’t life threatening and it doesn’t spread to other parts of the body as it is non cancerous, it can be removed through surgery and it usually wont grow back.
What causes the condition?
It is a very rare condition with almost 95% of all reported cases being spontaneous but experts don’t really know what causes the condition and the condition is more common in people between the ages of 30 and 60. a very small percentage of the cases reported are thought to be caused by a hereditary disease called Neurofibromatosis Type II, people affected this way are normally younger people who may also be affected by other types of neuroma.
A bone conductive hearing aid is designed for those who for one reason or another cannot wear the traditional style hearing aid.
How the conventional hearing aid works
The difference between this type and the conventional type is that the conventional type will normally fit into the ear canal and works by delivering sounds through a process known as air conduction. This is achieved by sounds passing through the ear canal to the ear drum which then vibrates, this is what the term air conduction means.
Vibrations are then passed onto three small bones in the middle ear which in turn carries them to the cochlea, fluid that surrounds the cochlea then affects the tiny hair cells that run along the length of the cochlea which generates signals in the auditory nerve. The signals that travel along the nerve go to the brain and the brain interprets them as the sound we hear.
Once you have been diagnosed as hard of hearing and the doctor or ENT specialist have determined that you can benefit from the use of a hearing aid then you have to decided if you are going to have your hearing aid on the NHS service or go private and purchase your own. If you choose to go with the NHS then they will usually provide you with a high quality digital hearing aid though there will usually be a long waiting list. If you choose to go private then there are more choices open to you, if you go privately then a hearing aid will cost anything from £600 to £3,500.
A cochlear implant is something that you could be offered if you are profoundly deaf but it is very important that you fully understand what is involved before you consider if this might be the right option for you. A cochlear implant is a device that is made up of two parts, an internal and an external part and can give the deaf person the sensation of hearing.
The external part is very similar to a hearing aid and can be worn either clipped onto the clothing or worn on the head; sound then translates into electronic signals and is then sent to the internal part. The internal part is something which is implanted into the ear, into the cochlea, it picks up the electrical signals from the sound processor to the auditory nerve, and these signals are then recognised as sounds by your brain.
Our ears are very complex organs which can easily become damaged; sometimes this damage can lead to deafness while in others it leads to only temporary hearing loss, here are some of the common problems which can have an affect on the hearing.
Problems with the outer ear
Any blockage in the external ear canal can cause deafness or hard of hearing, the most common of these is a build up of wax. The healthy ear needs wax to keep it healthy and this is normally when under control, however sometimes for various reasons the wax can build up and then it can cause hearing loss. You should never try to remove stubborn wax yourself but instead see your doctor who can syringe them for you to remove the wax.
Genes determine what we look like and we inherit them from our parents, just as we can inherit blue or brown eyes from them we can also inherit genes which cause problems with our health and some forms of deafness can be inherited from our parents through mutated genes.
How do genes cause problems?
Sometimes genes can change and this is called mutation, when a gene mutates it doesn’t function as it should, genes can cause deafness by altering the protein needed for hearing and when this happens it causes deafness.
Genes are very complex but put simply the chances of deafness being caused by genes depends on if the mutation of the gene is dominant or recessive. If a dominant mutation occurs to a single copy of a gene then this will cause deafness and the affected gene can either come from the mother or the father.
The range of deafness can vary greatly from mild deafness to profound deafness or it might even not be noticeable but the person will carry it. A recessive gene will only cause deafness if both the mother and father have passed on the gene and this is the most common type of genetic deafness.
Hearing aids have advanced greatly over the last few years in both look and technology with digital hearing aids now almost making the analogue type virtually extinct. There are many different types to choose from and they vary greatly in price with the more advanced ones costing thousands of pounds.
Behind the ear hearing aids
This type will normally sit behind the ear and have an ear mould which fits inside your ear, they are connected by a plastic tube. This is a very common type of hearing aid and the one which is widely used and available on the NHS. For those people who have only very mild hearing loss there is a newer version of the behind the ear hearing aid called an open ear fitting and they use a small earpiece instead of the ear mould.
Ear wax is essential to keeping the ears clean and healthy, however it can cause problems if there is an excessive build-up and one of the signs that you have a problem is the onset of hearing loss. While the amount of hearing loss will depend on how much excess wax you have, it can be very uncomfortable.
What is earwax and why is it important?
The correct name for earwax is cerumen and it consists of oil and sweat being secreted from the glands in the outer ear canal. Ear wax is both antifungal and antibacterial and it is essential in keeping the ears clean and healthy, however some people feel they should poke out the wax but this can lead to problems and can result in a perforated eardrum should you poke too deep or making the situation worse by pushing the wax further down the ear canal onto the ear drum.