Hearing And Cognitive Health
Studies have shown that older adults with hearing loss have a greater risk of developing dementia than older adults with normal hearing. Cognitive abilities decline faster in older adults with hearing loss than in older adults with normal hearing. Treating hearing problems may be important for cognitive health. See Whats the Connection Between Hearing and Cognitive Health?
Types Of Hearing Impairment
Your hearing is possible when soundwaves are collected, changed to vibrations, and conducted as impulses to the brain.
Each of the ears three partsthe external, middle, and inneris responsible for a part of that process.
The external ear includes the outer part we can see and the ear canal that leads to the eardrum. Its responsible for collecting and conducting the soundwaves.
The middle ear is a closed chamber behind the eardrum that includes bones called ossicles that transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear.
The inner ear contains sound receptors in the form of microscopic hair cells that are bathed in a fluid. Movement of the ossicles stimulates the hair cells, which in turn activate the hearing nerve endings that send an electrical impulse to the brain.
Hearing Loss Surgery Is Not For Everyone
Hopefully,;in the not-so-distant future, people with hearing loss will have more options for restoring lost hearing. Currently, surgeries for hearing loss can only correct very specific losses while people with the most common types still benefit the most from simply wearing hearing aids. If you have hearing loss, see a hearing healthcare professional near you for regular hearing evaluations.
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Which Is Best Treatment For Conductive Hearing Loss
Conductive Hearing Loss occurs when sound energy is not conducted well or effectively through your ear canal, by your eardrum or the middle ear bones to the inner ear. You may lose the ability to hear all sound levels or faint sounds. Variety of medical and surgical techniques can treat conductive hearing loss, depending on the cause of your particular hearing loss.
You can;purchase the latest hearing aids at a fair price;through;HearingSol, If you need more information or you have a query about Hearing Aid or Conductive Hearing Loss, just give us a call on;+91-9899437202. We are always here to help you.
Conductive hearing loss occurs when fluid caused by Eustachian tube dysfunctions, and occurs often in children but can also affect adults. And when there is a problem transmitting sound waves anywhere along the route through the outer ear, tympanic membrane , or middle ear . The ear infections of the middle ear, or otitis media, can also be major cause a buildup of fluid that results in conductive hearing loss. There is various type of hearing loss, this type of hearing loss may occur in conjunction with sensorineural hearing loss or alone.
Causes Of Conductive Hearing Loss
Can ear wax cause hearing loss? Yes, one of the most common causes of conductive hearing loss;is a blockage in the external ear canal, usually caused by wax . Other causes of conductive hearing loss can be infections of the ear canal, a perforated or ruptured eardrum , very small ears, cysts and tumours, or foreign objects in the ear canal. Otosclerosis, which is an abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear, can also cause a conductive hearing loss.In the middle ear conductive hearing loss occurs due to chronic middle ear infections or glue ear, where fluids fill up the middle ear, so that the eardrum cannot move. Conductive hearing loss can also be caused by diseases, damage and physical changes in the middle ear such as otosclerosis, cholesteatoma, tumours and otic barotrauma.
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Symptoms Of Sensorineural Hearing Loss
As with Conductive Hearing Loss, soft sounds may be difficult to hear, and loud noises may be muted or unclear. However, clear signs that hearing loss may be more of the SNHL variety versus Conductive Hearing Loss can exhibit the following:
- Speech may be difficult to hear or may appear muted in loud rooms, making it difficult to follow and understand
- The difficulty can differentiate conversation when more than one individual is speaking. Words may be jumbled and unclear.
- Consistent Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, may occur.
- High-pitched sounds and words, especially from women or children, maybe incomprehensible
- Soft-sounds in words such as th or an s sound may blur and be unclear.
- A sense of vertigo or lack of balance, dizziness
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Symptoms Of Conductive Hearing Loss
A conductive hearing loss reduces the ability to hear at a normal hearing level. The symptoms of a conductive hearing loss are therefore partial or full loss of hearing. The hearing loss can be in one ear or both ears. If a conductive hearing loss occurs suddenly or the hearing is reduced more and more over a short time, you should see a doctor to get your ears examined.
If you think that you might have a conductive hearing loss, we recommend that you get your hearing checked by a hearing professional.
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General Signs Of Hearing Loss
Early signs of hearing loss can include:
- difficulty hearing other people clearly and misunderstanding what they say, especially in group situations
- asking;people to repeat themselves
- listening to music or watching television with the volume higher than other people need
- difficulty hearing the telephone or doorbell
- finding it difficult to tell which direction noise is coming from
- regularly feeling tired or stressed,;from having to concentrate while listening
In some cases, you may;recognise signs of hearing loss in someone else before they;notice it themselves.;Research suggests it takes 10 years from the time someone notices they have hearing loss, before they do anything about it.
If you also hear a ringing, buzzing or whistling sound in your ears, this could be a sign of tinnitus, which is often associated with hearing loss.
Read more about losing your hearing
Treatment For Conductive Hearing Loss
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Hearing aidsâ Depending on the state of your hearing nerve, hearing aids are one option. âPatients with conductive hearing loss are often excellent candidates for hearing aids when compared with patients who have sensorineural hearing loss,â Lilach Saperstein, AuD, tells WebMD Connect to Care. âWhen there is conductive hearing loss in the outer or middle ear,â Saperstein says, âthe patient generally requires sounds to be amplified to overcome the hearing loss, and then they are then able to clearly understand the sounds in their environment, and what was said to them.â
Hearing aids may be surgically inserted into the ear or taken on and off like a pair of glasses.
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Medicationâ According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, one potential cause of conductive hearing loss is an ear infection or fluid in the ear. To treat this, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics or antifungal medication.
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Surgery â ENT Health advises that, if the cause of the hearing loss is due to a damaged eardrum or damaged middle ear bones, surgery may be needed.
Signs of hearing loss may be obvious or subtle at first, which can make them easy to ignore until the damage is permanent.
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Different Types Of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can be experienced in varying degrees, such as mild, moderate, moderately-severe, severe or profound. Additionally, this loss can also vary depending on pitches or frequencies. A series of hearing tests can determine the amount of loss you experience compared to an average of many other adult listeners with typical hearing.
The volume of sounds you hear is measured in decibels , 15-20 dB being the softest whisper and 120 dB being a jet engine. The softest sounds one can hear are called thresholds. Normal hearing thresholds for adults are considered 0-25 dB across the range of frequencies tested. Speech testing is also conducted as a part of this series of evaluations and helps to assess the levels of particular words you can hear clearly. These tests can help determine the type of hearing loss youre experiencing, which can be categorized conductive, sensorineural or mixed.
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Can Conductive Hearing Loss Be Corrected
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Most cases of conductive hearing loss are temporary and are cured by means of appropriate medical treatment, so it is important to seek immediate medical assistance. Other types of conductive hearing losses can be treated with hearing aids or types of hearing implants.
Beside above, how can conductive hearing loss be prevented? Tips for Hearing Loss Prevention
Thereof, what is the most common cause of conductive hearing loss?
Fluid accumulation is the most common cause of conductive hearing loss in the middle ear, especially in children. Major causes are ear infections or conditions that block the eustachian tube, such as allergies or tumors.
What are 3 causes of conductive hearing loss?
Causes of Conductive Hearing Loss
- Fluid in your middle ear from colds or allergies.
- Ear infection, or otitis media.
- Poor Eustachian tube function.
- A hole in your eardrum.
- Benign tumors.
- Earwax , or cerumen, stuck in your ear canal.
- Infection in the ear canal, called external otitis.
- An object stuck in your outer ear.
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Surgery For Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Going under the knife for hearing loss isa major healthcare decision.
If youve been diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss, you’re in good company. Also sometimes called “nerve deafness,” this is the most common type of hearing loss affecting adults, and it can occur for a variety of reasonsold age , exposure to sudden or persistently loud noise, disease and infections, head or acoustic trauma, tumors or medications.
Sensorineural hearing loss means the hair cells of the inner ear or the nerve pathways that connect the inner ear to the brain are;damaged. These hair cells, located in the cochlea, are responsible for translating the noise your outer ear collects into electrical impulses and;then sending them along the auditory nerve for the brain to interpret as recognizable sound.
Sensorineural hearing loss is permanent. No surgery can repair damage to the sensory hair cells themselves, but there is a surgery that can bypass the damaged cells.
Can Conductive Hearing Loss Be Treated With Surgery
If you do have conductive hearing loss, the odds are good that it can be reversed through a surgical procedure.
Common surgeries for correcting conductive hearing loss include:
- PE tubes. Patients with chronic ear infectionsusually childrenmay be treated with pressure equalization tubes. These provide ventilation and allow fluid that has built up in the inner ear to drain. PE tubes are inserted surgically and should fall out on their own after 6-18 months.
- Stapedectomy. Patients whose hearing loss is caused by a hardening of bone tissue in the middle ear known as osteosclerosis often undergo a surgical procedure called a stapedectomy. This involves either partial or total removal of the stapes bone, letting sound waves pass through to the inner ear unimpeded. 90 percent of patients who have this procedure report a significant improvement in their hearing afterward.
While its great that surgery can, in some cases, reverse hearing loss, its important to note that the vast majority of patients have damage to the inner ear, which cannot be corrected.
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A Stapedectomy Treats Otosclerosis
This procedure is used to treat otosclerosis, a condition that causes the bones and tissue of the middle ear to harden, causing the stapes bone to become stuck in place. The bone is unable to vibrate and send sound through the ear, resulting in hearing loss.;
A stapedectomy implants aprosthetic device designed to bypass the bones in the middle ear.;
In order to determine if surgery is right for you, your audiologist will need to determine your type and degree of hearing loss. Contact the experts at ENT of Athens to get started today.;
Degrees Of Hearing Loss
There are four clinically labeled degrees of hearing loss:
Mild
If you have mild hearing loss, you may hear some speech sounds, but will have difficulty with soft sounds.
Moderate
If you have moderate hearing loss, youll struggle to hear/understand speech when someone is talking at a normal level.
Severe
If you have severe hearing loss, you will hear little-to-no speech when spoken at normal levels, and hear only some loud sounds.
Profound
If you have profound hearing loss, you may only hear very loud sounds and no speech at all.
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Can Sshl Be Treated With Surgery
Most patients are prescribed hearing aids to help them hear better and communicate more effectively. Those with severe hearing loss or deafness may be candidates for cochlear implants.
This surgical procedure bypasses damaged portions of the inner ear to directly stimulate the auditory nerve.
How do cochlear implants work?
Cochlear implants contain an electronic device that is surgically implanted beneath the ear; it is connected to electrodes that are placed in the cochlea. An external portion includes a microphone that captures sound and a processor that converts the sound to electrical signals that are transmitted to the internal component and converted to sound. This isnt true hearing, however; cochlear implant patients must learn how to decode signals in order to understand speech and other sounds.
Medical Journals To Extend The Research
Advanced study in;Otorhinolaryngology to detect sound level differences;;Medical Study to determine prevalence of hearing loss in child with down syndrome-;Laryngoscope study ;to determine the hearing affects after procedures on the canal wall-;;
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Tips: How To Talk With Someone With Hearing Loss
Here are some tips you can use when talking with someone who has a hearing problem:
- In a group, include people with hearing loss in the conversation.
- Find a quiet place to talk to help reduce background noise, especially in restaurants and at social gatherings.
- Stand in good lighting and use facial expressions or gestures to give clues.
- Face the person and speak clearly. Maintain eye contact.
- Speak a little more loudly than normal, but dont shout. Try to speak slowly, but naturally.
- Speak at a reasonable speed.
- Do not hide your mouth, eat, or chew gum while speaking.
- Repeat yourself if necessary, using different words.
- Try to make sure only one person talks at a time.
- Be patient. Stay positive and relaxed.
- Ask how you can help.
Baha Bone Conduction Implant
The Baha System converts sound to vibrations that are sent to the sensory receptor through the bone, bypassing any blockage within the outer or bodily cavity. This can be a natural Treatment of hearing. Baha bone conduction implant is the best treatment for conductive hearing loss.
Parts of BAHA System
- A small titanium implant that is surgically inserted in the bone behind the ear
- An abutment or a magnet connection that connects the implant to the sound processor
- An external sound processor
How does BAHA System work?
Bone conduction hearing aids have a microphone that detects sound waves and transmitter to send these sound waves to the bone surrounding your inner ear. This allows for sound to bypass the outer and middle ear where there is a blockage causing hearing loss. Since this device needs to be inserted in the bone it requires a surgical procedure.
- The sound processor captures sounds in the air.
- The sound processor turns the sound into vibrations. Then sends them through the abutment or magnetic connection to the small implant.
- The implant transmits the vibrations through the bone directly to your inner ear.
Though treatment depends on the situations of the hearing loss. But BAHA is a natural way of treatment and is the best method for treating conductive hearing loss.
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The Correct Conductive Hearing Loss Treatment
You should always seek the advice of a medical professional to find out the root cause of a hearing loss problem and get the correct treatment. Unlike sensorineural hearing loss, conductive hearing loss can be reversed and effectively managed with the right form of treatments. Sometimes you may still need medical or surgical treatments to correct the condition. For instance, when infection or abnormal growths are present, then medical procedures may be necessary.
With care, you can treat Conductive Hearing Loss at home. Clearing excessive wax or fluids out of the ear canal can often solve the problem. In the case of wax build up, ear wax removal tools such as syringes, extractors or cleaners can help resolve the situation. Make sure you always use the right tool for the job to avoid damage to your ear canal or ear drum. That’s where we come in… At Hearing Direct, we are able to offer a number of key;ear hygiene products;such as ear cleansers and wax removers to help eradicate this type of hearing loss.
Earpal Wax Remover
The;Earpal ear wax remover;is one of the safest wax extraction tools on the market. Due to its expert design, the Earpal ear wax remover cannot touch or perforate the eardrum by accident. As a result, your ears and hearing will avoid damage during the ear cleaning process. It is also safer than Cotton Buds.
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Check Your Hearing Online For Free
We have created our very own online;hearing test;so you can check your hearing for free in the comfort of your own home. All you will need is a few free minutes and some ear or headphones. Once the test is complete, you will get your results instantly via email, and based on the outcome of the hearing test, you may be encouraged to take further action.
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