Severe Hearing Loss
Severe Hearing Loss
Causes & Treatment
When audiologist speak of severe hearing loss or impairment they are referring to a condition in which a person, even with modern digital or analogue hearing aids is unable, or has difficulty discerning and understanding speech or hearing sounds. This can be very difficult, and provide hurdles in social situations, and in business and work environments.
It is an unfortunate situation as at this point most often these individuals are in essence borderline between "deaf" and "hearing"
- Treatment for severe hearing loss will depend on a few factors:
- Does the hearing loss affect both ears?
- At what age the hearing loss started?
- Was the hearing loss suddenly or gradual?
- Is it a result of an occupation or lifestyle?
What Type of Hearing Aid For Severe Hearing Loss?
Now , there’s a trend in the hearing help industry toward smaller and more discreet hearing helps, including the new technology that is called open fit hearing aids. Open fit hearing aids have one major limitation, however ; they are not suited for many individuals with a most severe hearing difficulties and are best for people with high frequency hearing impairment and ordinary low frequency hearing. This implies that those with serious hearing difficulties inquiring about this new technology might have either been guided toward more standard hearing assists ( which also have their benefits ) or been incorrectly fitted with open fit hearing helps.
However, there is good new an alteration to the open fit hearing aids, known as speaker-in-the-ear ( SIE ) hearing aids, can make these type of hearing aids usable in some situations for those with severe hearing difficulties.
For people who have a wider range of serious hearing difficulties, inferring there’s is usually a loss in the low frequencies as well as the high frequencies, having the receiver placed down in the ear canal will supply more gain and therefore fit a larger hearing difficulties than standard open fit hearing helps. As the speaker is placed in the ear canal, the sound does not have to travel down the acoustic tube, that means that these just about invisible hearing helps may be able to provide improved sound quality for those with this kind of serious hearing difficulties.
Another benefit of a speaker-in-the-ear hearing help is that it is far easier to insert into the ear than a custom hearing help, as the speaker-in-the-ear hearing aid is one in three the dimensions of a custom fitting.
This suggests that this hearing help can now be a choice for users with serious hearing impairment, limited mobility, or disorders such as arthritis of the hands.
This in the ear hearing aids are almost invisible and due to the fact that they are very powerful with a volume capability of 70 decibels, which is as loud as many TV sets, this little hearing aid may give give individuals with severe hearing another option.
Title: Types and Causes of Deafness
Author: Franchis Adam
Article:
Deafness means a lack or loss of the sense of hearing, which may
be partial or complete. Partial loss of hearing is often called
hearing loss rather than deafness. Deafness can occur in one or
both ears.
There are three primary types of hearing loss:
Conductive—hearing loss caused by the inability of the sound
to reach the inner ear. This can result from outer or middle ear
problems, such as ear infection, excess wax, or swelling. This
type of hearing loss is most likely to respond to medical or
surgical treatment.
Sensorineural—hearing loss caused by disorders of the inner
ear or auditory nerve. This type of loss is usually permanent.
It can be caused by heredity or congenital problems, excess
noise, old age, medications, infections such as ear infections
and meningitis , or from tumors compressing the nerve of hearing
such as an acoustic neuroma .
Mixed—hearing losses that are a combination of both conductive
and sensorineural loss.
Hearing loss usually comes on gradually, but may come on
suddenly. Symptoms may include:
Difficulty hearing
Ringing in the ears ( tinnitus )
Dizziness
Ear pain in case of an infection
Feeling of earfullness (as in earwax or fluid)
Symptoms of deafness in infants may be noted at these stages:
1 to 4 months: lack of response to sounds or voices
4 to 8 months: Disinterest in musical toys Lack of verbalization, such as babbling, cooing, making sounds
8 to 12 months: lack of recognition of child’s own name
12 to 16 months: lack of speech
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, all children
(including newborns) should be screened for hearing loss so that
hearing loss occurring before birth can be uniformly detected
prior to three months of age.
Though there are more than 100 possible causes of sudden
deafness, it is rare for a specific cause to be precisely
identified. Only 10 to 15 percent of patients with SSHL know
what caused their loss. Normally, diagnosis is based on the
patient’s medical history.
Possible causes include the following:
- Infectious diseases
- Trauma, such as a head injury
- Abnormal tissue growth.
- Immunologic diseases such as Cogan’s syndrome
- Toxic causes, such as snake bites.
- Ototoxic drugs
(drugs that harm the ear). - Circulatory problems.
- Neurologic
causes such as multiple sclerosis. - Relation to disorders such as Ménière’s disease.
Treatment for deafness depends on the type of hearing loss.
Options may include:
- Medical treatment—for example, removal of earwax or use of antibiotics to treat an ear infection
- In selected cases of sudden hearing loss, medical treatment with Intratympanic steroids may be effective.
- Hearing aids—small devices that are worn in or behind the ear to help amplify sounds
- Surgery—in some cases, surgery may be recommended to help improve hearing; types of surgery include:
- Stapedectomy—for treatment of otosclerosis
- Tympanoplasty—fora perforated eardrum o Tympanoplasty tubes—for persistent middle ear infections or fluid
- Cochlear implant—a surgically implanted electronic device that helps provide sound to a person with severe sensorineural hearing loss.
About the author: Franchis Adam
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