Home | Health | Health Care

Do You Love Your Ears?

By: Patricia Fields

Read More About Health Care

Purchase earplugs the next time you are in a store that carries them. You will discover that all you do is made more difficult when you cannot hear. A regular conversation is hard work. You would not be able to listen to the radio, and enjoying an evening of television is a monumental task. Different things going on in your home is difficult to sense. Hearing loss prevents you from catching the sounds of doors closing, timers ringing on stove, and air conditioners whirring.

This is the isolated world of hearing loss. Luckily, most people can stop hearing loss from ever occurring. Hearing loss fits into one of two categories. Conductive loss is defined as the situation where sounds are not reaching the inner ear, where they are interpreted.

The second is sensorineural hearing loss where the sound will make it to the inner ear, but once there the signal isn't received correctly due to damaged tiny fibers in that inner ear area, or the healing device, or it could even be the brain itself. When people are dealing with this kind of loss they often also have tinnitus, which is a buzzing or ringing noise that can be intermittent or all the time. This can be worse than actual hearing loss for most people. Physicians or a audiologist will look into your history and conduct specific exams to distinguish which form of hearing loss you have. Hearing tests will comfim a diagnosis.

A person with conductive hearing loss may simply have to have ear wax removed from the ear canal. However, it is possible that the only way to fix this loss is through surgery for otosclerosis, which affects the bones of the middle ear. Sensorineural loss can be treated with a digital hearing aid, which certain patients work extremely well, all the way to cochlear implants that are designed for people that have specific inner ear problems.

As a general rule, if you find yourself having to speak louder to be heard above whatever background noise there is, this is a strong sign to either leave the area of the background noise or use ear plugs (or headphones) to protect your own hearing. Baby boomers who loved their loud rock and roll are paying dearly for it now. Those of us who have been in the military, or grew up hunting and shooting guns for practice and not wearing ear protection, are now dealing with that kind of hearing loss. Permanent damage can occur from being too close to many motors, machines, munitions and even music. Twenty percent of people age 55 have some level of hearing loss; by age 65, the figure jumps to 33 percent. Hearing loss that is due to age, fortunately, will not result in total deafness.

If you have hearing loss in only one ear, you may have developed an acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor that can affect the healing nerve. These are generally slow growing tumors that can, over time, result in total loss of hearing, along with other problems. Surgery is the only treatment for this condition. Other people who have hearing loss are prone to chronic ear infections, including middle-ear infections, mumps, measles, scarlet fever and meningitis. These can all cause hearing loss and should be discussed with your doctor.

The flow of sound to the inner ear can be blocked by anything in the ear canal. Many people clean their ears with cotton swabs too aggressively, under the impression they're removing ear wax when they are really pushing it deeper in. It's not a problem if you use those swabs with a light touch. If your ears have a tendency to have substantial wax buildup, check with your physician for advice. there are time that the hearing loss is caused by hardening of the bones in the middle ear or build up of fluid from allergies or infections.

There are certain medications, including antibiotics, malaria drugs, anti-arrhythmic drugs, and aspirin, which are known to cause effect on hearing if they reach toxic levels in the blood. Your hearing can be damaged by trauma, as well. Holes poked in the eardrum, fractured skulls, as well as trauma from noise and water or air pressure can all hurt our sensitive hearing. To prevent hearing loss, wear earplugs anytime you are around loud noices. If you will be target shooting, playing video games, mowing the lawn, watching loud movies, or operating power tools, wearing earplugs will help you to protect your hearing.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

To get a closer look on hearing aid types visit this site. Learn more on the topic of hearing aid.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Health Care Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Health | Health Care
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard