Your Hearing

Hearing loss impacts more than just your ability to hear and understand others. It can also contribute to other medical conditions that affect one’s health and wellness. The videos below share important information about the impacts of hearing loss, provide a basic overview of how hearing works, and go into a few of the most common causes of hearing loss.

First, The Facts
How Hearing Works
Causes of Hearing Loss

What Causes Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss is invisible and nearly always painless. It can also develop slowly over time. The number one cause of hearing loss is exposure to excessive noise. The normal aging process is a close second – and it starts much earlier than you might think. Changes in hearing begin at age 20, with significant decline in hearing ability occurring as early as 40 years of age.

There are two types of hearing loss: sensorineural and conductive. Here’s a quick overview of both: 

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Sensorineural is the most common type of hearing loss and is caused by withering of the hair cells in the inner ear due to age, noise damage, or medications. Without these tiny hair cells, the ear cannot detect sounds properly. The vast majority of people with this kind of hearing loss benefit greatly from amplification with hearing aids.

Conductive Hearing Loss

Conductive hearing loss is the result of structural damage to the ear. This kind of loss can be caused by:

  • Impacted wax
  • Perforated eardrum
  • Middle ear effusion
  • Otosclerosis
  • Cholesteatoma
  • Congenital anomalies

Other common causes for hearing loss include: Ototoxic drugs (certain antibiotics), Disturbances of fluid in the inner ear, and Viral and toxic illness

Effects of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss affects nearly every aspect of daily living. It can reduce your quality of life, making communication more difficult by:

  • Causing misunderstandings
  • Isolating you from society and loved ones
  • Straining relationships with your family and friends
  • Heightening stress
  • Triggering unnecessary fatigue

Hearing Loss and Alzheimer’s?

The National Council for Better Hearing warns that untreated hearing loss can have many symptomatic similarities to Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, unbeknownst to many, hearing loss may be a common cause. Recent studies conducted at the University of Washington’s Department of Medicine found that out of 100 patients with Alzheimer’s, 83 patients had a hearing loss. Once fit with hearing aids, a third of those patients were classified with a less severe case of dementia.

Hearing loss plays a large role in brain function. For those with untreated hearing losses, the reduced ability to hear every day sounds may lead to reduced sound processing activity by the brain. As the brain receives fewer sounds, it becomes less active in processing a person’s surroundings and recognizing speech. 

Symptom Assessment

Hearing loss is invisible and nearly always painless. It can also develop slowly over time. The number one cause of hearing loss is exposure to excessive noise. The normal aging process is a close second – and it starts much earlier than you might think. Changes in hearing begin at age 20, with significant decline in hearing ability occurring as early as 40 years of age.

  • Asking others to repeat themselves
  • Having trouble understanding conversation in noisy places
  • Having trouble hearing women’s and children’s voices
  • Turning up the television or radio volume to levels others find too loud
  • Feeling like other people are always mumbling
  • Feeling more irritable or depressed
  • Having trouble hearing on the telephone
  • Avoiding social situations that were once enjoyable
  • Having difficulty following a fast-moving conversation
  • Missing important information in meetings
  • Being told by others that you have hearing loss
  • Memory problems and other cognitive effects

If you experience any of the above, contact us to schedule a free hearing consultation. It’s quick, painless, and will give you the answers you are looking for. Once you know whether or not you have hearing loss, you can make decisions about how to get the most enjoyment out of your life and the relationships with people around you.

All About Hearing Loss

Hearing loss has been shown to negatively impact nearly every dimension of the human experience, including physical health, emotional and mental health, perceptions of mental acuity, social skills, family relationships, and self-esteem, as well as work and school performance.