Causes of hearing loss

Hearing is one of the basic feelings that allow a person to adequately cognize the surrounding reality. But sometimes this feeling is reduced, or even completely lost. The reasons for hearing loss can be different. Most often this phenomenon is associated with age-related changes in the body. However, this is not always the case: in young people, a partial or total loss of hearing is possible.

Hearing loss may well be the result of external and internal effects. For example, problems often appear after infectious and viral pathologies that pass to auditory organs, as well as vascular diseases, ear traumas (including acoustic ones), after antibiotic therapy. By the way, long-term use of such drugs as streptomycin, gentamicin and some others, can strongly and negatively affect the hearing. In addition to antibiotic drugs, hearing loss can provoke lead or mercury compounds, carbon monoxide, certain diuretics and even cigarette smoke that, in the presence of a constant presence, is ototoxic.

Age-related hearing loss is a fairly common phenomenon that can be observed in 35% of patients aged 70 years, and almost 50% after 75 years.

However, age changes are not the only possible cause of hearing loss, there are a lot of such factors known:

• damage to the inner ear or changes in the receptor system in the cochlea;
• long-term impact on the hearing of sounds with a high volume, as well as a short, but very strong impact of sound;
• hereditary deafness, as well as congenital anomalies of the hearing aid;
• infectious diseases with ototoxic effect;
• trauma affecting the integrity of the tympanic membrane;
• strong pressure drops (when submerging under water, flying, with a sharp rise or descent);
• taking certain medications, in particular antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
• meningitis and other infectious diseases that occur with an increase in body temperature.

Often the loss of hearing is related to professional activity: it is work on noisy production, with mechanisms and apparatus emitting loud noises.

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The causes of hearing loss in children

Children sometimes suffer from congenital deafness, which can be transmitted genetically. According to statistics, for every 10 thousand children 10 of them are born deaf. Genetics found a list of genes responsible for the development of deafness. However, this phenomenon has not yet been fully investigated.

In some cases, children can be born with defects in the organ of hearing - this is an anomaly of the development of the membrane, auditory ossicles, which interferes with the normal passage of sound.

As for older children, here the decrease in hearing is often associated with the impact of loud music and other sound effects. Loud noise is reproduced in headphones, distributed in clubs, at concerts and discos. Such a load on the auditory organs is called excessive sound stimulation. Again, according to statistics, nearly 17 million US residents have problems with this kind of stimulation.

It is proved that even a half-minute of the sound effect of the order of 140 decibels causes dangerous changes in the auditory hairs involved in the transmission of the sound wave.

Very often, noise in the ears and hearing loss occur with prolonged listening to loud music in headphones, especially vacuum ones. By the way, the French government in the 60s of the last century approved the law, according to which the sound intensity in players is limited to 100 decibels. In addition, all sound devices sold in France always indicate that loud and prolonged listening is a danger to the auditory organs. Needless to say, constant noise has a negative impact not only on the ears, but also on the mental state of a person.

The cause of noise in the ears and hearing loss

The human auditory system is very sensitive. Therefore, excessive short-term sound, or prolonged, but unintentional noise (for example, in the workplace) can cause permanent noise in the ears and hearing loss.

In addition, there may be other reasons:

• viral diseases, or rather, their complications (the consequence of tonsillitis, influenza, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, etc.);
• defeat of chlamydia;
• inflammatory processes affecting the auditory organs (eg, otitis media);
• general intoxication of the body (exposure to lead or mercury preparations);
• craniocerebral trauma, damage to the tympanic membrane or auditory nerve (for example, with deep diving or mechanical influence);
• high blood pressure, vascular disease (impaired blood supply to the internal organ of hearing);
• drug therapy with ototoxic drugs.

If the problem is noticed on time, in most cases this will help preserve and restore the auditory function. Often the issue is solved by the usual washing of the ear locks from the sulfur plug, which is the cause of No.1 of the appearance of noise in the ears and the deterioration of hearing.

The causes of hearing loss in one ear

Not always the deafness develops on a bilateral type: sometimes only one ear suffers, and this variant meets more often than the first. In a large number of cases, the problem is solved by removing the accumulation of sulfur in the ear, or by treating the inflammatory process. In some situations, the reason to find out is quite difficult.

Nevertheless, among the main factors of hearing loss in one ear are:

• sharp high-intensity loud sound near the ear (for example, a shot);
• presbyacusis (a disorder associated with age-related changes);
• the effect of infection ( otitis );
• damage to the ear, or severe head injury (eg, fracture of the temporal bone);
• hit of a foreign object in the ear passage, or the presence of a sulfur plug;
• otosclerotic changes;
• a tumor process next to the auditory nerve.

Depression of hearing is very often not an independent disease, but only a symptom arising from any pathology. The change in the acuity of sound perception can be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause of hearing loss. It is important to discover this cause, for which today there are a lot of effective diagnostic techniques.