What causes hearing loss?
The most common two types of hearing loss are:
Conductive Hearing Loss
Is when sounds are no longer able to pass freely to the inner ear.
This can be due to a blockage of a foreign object in the ear or even earwax.
Medical conditions like an ear infection, or ruptured eardrum are also causes.
Conductive hearing loss can be treated with medical management, or minor surgery.
Sensori-neural Hearing Loss
When the tiny sensory hair cells in the ear are damaged or destroyed, this is referred to as sensori-neural hearing loss
Dependent on the type and extent of the damage to these cells, different people experience different levels of hearing loss.
Sounds appear muffled to most people; some can hear in quiet but not in noise; whilst some struggle to hear particular sounds; or some no sounds at all.
This type of hearing loss is almost always permanent and, while it can’t be cured, it can often be treated with the use of a hearing aid.
Two main causes of this type of loss are:
- Age. As we get older the tiny hair cells in our ears are affected by gradual wear and tear. This means by the time most of us are 60 we’re likely to experience sensori-neural hearing loss (over 54% of UK adults over 60 do). Presbycusis is the term used to typically describe this loss.
- Noise. Being exposed to loud noises, like loud music, power tools, or machinery at work can damage the hair cells in the inner ear and affect your hearing. Sudden loud noises like gunfire can also have a damaging affect. If you’re exposed to noise on a regular basis you should take action to protect your hearing.
If you think you may have a hearing loss our advice would be to get it checked out with a hearing test at Wangaratta Audiology.