Sound Advice for Aging Ears - Page 4
Problems with the Inner Ear
Damage to or death of the hair cells of the inner ear or the nerve pathways to the brain accounts for 90% of all hearing loss. Known as sensorineural hearing loss or nerve deafness, this is the most common cause of progressive hearing loss. Experts estimate that 23% of people over 65 suffer from sensorineural hearing loss.
Individuals with this impairment not only have trouble hearing faint sounds but also complain of difficulty understanding speech or hearing speech clearly. This type of hearing loss is usually permanent; human cochlea cannot regenerate the sensory receptor hair cells.
However, some people with this type of hearing loss benefit greatly from hearing aids. And adults with severe hearing loss due to cochlear problems or age-related disease may be considered candidates for a cochlear implant -- a small, complex electronic device that can be surgically implanted to help restore some hearing.
Also, scientists are currently exploring gene manipulation, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation as possible ways to repair or replace damaged cochlear hair cells in humans.
Causes of Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Age-Induced Hearing Loss
Cause: Most sensorineural hearing loss stems from age-related changes to the ear. As people grow older, changes to the inner or middle ear or to the nerve pathways leading from the ear to the brain cause a gradual but steady loss of hearing, known as presbycusis. There is some debate over why these inner ear changes happen with age, but it may be because the structures within the ear gradually lose blood flow over time.
Symptoms of Age-Related Hearing Loss:
- Others' speech sounds mumbled, slurred
- High-pitched sounds are harder to understand
- Background noise makes listening difficult
- Certain sounds seem overly loud or annoying
- There is ringing, hissing, or roaring in the ears (tinnitus)
Treatment/prevention: Although there is no way to prevent or slow down age-related hearing loss, you can avoid compounding the problem by taking good care of your ears, treating wax buildup properly, and protecting your ears from further damage, such as from excessive noise. Also, certain chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure, can provoke changes in the blood supply to the ear and potentially lead to hearing loss. So managing these conditions or preventing them with a healthy lifestyle will help protect your hearing as well.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Cause: Excessively loud noise can cause irreparable damage to the hair cells of the inner ear. Noise-induced hearing loss can result from one-time exposure to a sudden loud noise, like a gunshot or an explosion, or from long-term exposure to raised noise levels in the home or workplace.
Treatment/prevention: In order to protect your ears from noise, you should know when they’re in danger. Loudness or intensity of sound is measured in units called decibels (dB). A normal conversation falls somewhere near 60 dB, while city traffic chimes in at about 80 dB. Anything over 85–90 dB could damage your ears. Prolonged exposure to sound levels above 90dB can lead to permanent hearing loss.
Protect your ears with earplugs or earmuffs during noisy activities, and turn down the volume on the stereo and television to the lowest level necessary.
Medication-Induced Hearing Loss
Cause: Certain medications, including antibiotics, chemotherapy medications, anesthetics, heart medications, and mood-altering drugs, are known to be damaging, or ototoxic, to the ears. Problems caused by an ototoxic medication tend to develop quickly. Ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and vertigo are usually the first signs.
Treatment/prevention: Usually the symptoms of medication-induced hearing loss are temporary, and hearing returns to normal once the person stops taking the medication. However, some medications can cause permanent damage to the inner ear, resulting in permanent hearing loss even if you stop taking the medication, so speak with your healthcare provider about alternative medications if you are concerned about ototoxicity.
Researchers are now exploring whether administering antioxidant drugs along with certain medications can protect the inner ear from medication-induced hearing loss. If you have concerns about your hearing, or you experience hearing loss due to a medication, discuss your prescription and over-the-counter medications with your physician or pharmacist.
Listen Up!
The longer you live, the greater the chances you will experience some reduction in your ability to hear. One in three people over 60 and half of people over 85 have hearing loss.
If you or the people who love you suspect you may have developed a hearing problem, don’t let it diminish your quality of life by failing to seek treatment. Ignoring a potential problem could lead to irreversible damage to your ears and take a toll on your RealAge. Research shows that an untreated hearing condition can disrupt family life, reduce your productivity in the workplace and at home, and cause a wide range of social and emotional problems, all of which could contribute to isolation, feelings of depression, or other conditions that make your RealAge older. Failing to address hearing loss can also impact your personal safety and your earning potential.
If you believe that sounds are not as loud as you need them to be, or if speech sounds muffled to you and you have difficulty understanding others, following conversations, finding the source of a sound, or distinguishing sounds in your everyday environment, have your ears checked by your primary care provider or by a medical ear specialist, such as an otologist or otolaryngologist.
He or she can check for wax in the ear canals, infection, or other treatable conditions. If hearing loss is suspected, your health professional may do initial screening tests in the office. If these initial tests suggest or reveal hearing loss, a more thorough hearing test or audiologic evaluation may be done to assess whether you have hearing loss and how to treat it.
Help is Available
If you already have a diagnosed hearing problem, help is available. There are hearing aids and assistive listening devices to fit every lifestyle, and there are surgical procedures, such as cochlear implants, to treat severe losses.
Also, comprehensive treatment programs such as individual or group aural rehabilitation can improve daily life by helping people cope with every facet of living with a hearing loss. These programs teach people how to make productive use of residual hearing, how to improve communications, and how to use hearing aids and cochlear implants most effectively.
With proper training, instruction, and treatment, people can live full, productive, and engaged lives, regardless of the degree of their hearing loss.
