What Is Hearing Loss?

Understanding Hearing Loss

Hearing loss affects the ability to hear sounds in varying degrees, often starting mildly, but with time and without prompt treatment, can progress and result in more serious damage. It is important to realize how this happens and understand the importance of seeking hearing healthcare.

The anatomy of the ear is built of many small parts that work together to perceive sound and transmit these signals for interpretation and response. Damage to any one of these parts can result in hearing loss and affect your ability to understand speech, sounds, and to communicate effectively.

On average, by the time we reach 65 years of age, one in three of us will have a hearing impairment. It is important to understand the signs of hearing loss and the next steps for moving forward.

Hearing loss affects the ability to hear sounds in varying degrees, often starting mildly, but with time and without prompt treatment, can progress and result in more serious damage. It is important to realize how this happens and understand the importance of seeking hearing healthcare.

The anatomy of the ear is built of many small parts that work together to perceive sound and transmit these signals for interpretation and response. Damage to any one of these parts can result in hearing loss and affect your ability to understand speech, sounds, and to communicate effectively.

On average, by the time we reach 65 years of age, one in three of us will have a hearing impairment. It is important to understand the signs of hearing loss and the next steps for moving forward.

Types of Hearing Loss

Conductive hearing loss is typically the result of obstructions in the outer or middle ear — perhaps due to fluid, tumors, earwax or ear formation. This obstruction prevents sound from getting to the inner ear. Conductive hearing loss can often be treated surgically or with medicine. Possible causes of conductive hearing loss are:

• Infections of the ear canal or middle ear resulting in fluid or pus buildup
• Perforation or scarring of the eardrum
• Wax buildup
• Dislocation of the middle ear bones (ossicles)
• Foreign object in the ear canal
• Otosclerosis (an abnormal bone growth in the middle ear)
• Abnormal growths or tumors

Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss. It occurs when the inner ear nerves and hair cells are damaged — perhaps due to age or noise damage. Sensorineural hearing loss impacts the pathways from your inner ear to your brain. Most times, sensorineural hearing loss cannot be corrected medically or surgically, but can be treated and helped with the use of hearing aids. Possible causes of sensorineural hearing loss are:

Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.

Degrees of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is measured according to the softest sound you can hear. There are four clinically labeled degrees of hearing loss:

Mild: Individual may hear some speech with background noise, but you will have difficulty with soft sounds.

Moderate: Individual will struggle to hear/understand speech when someone is talking at a normal volume level. Speech is much harder to understand amidst background noise.

Severe: Individual will have trouble communicating with people individually, unless they are speaking very loudly. In group conversations, they would have a lot of trouble following the conversation without a hearing aid.

Profound: Individual may hear some very loud sounds/noises, but effective communication is likely not possible without a hearing aid.

How does hearing loss occur?

• Damage to the inner ear: the sensory hair cells of the cochlea in the inner ear transmit signals to the brain suffer from wear and tear caused by ageing, or constant exposure to loud noises. This results in higher-pitched tones becoming muffled and hard to detect against background noise.
• Earwax build-up: excess earwax blocks the ear canal and the flow of sound waves, resulting in a decreased or muffled sound quality.
• Ear infection, tumours, and abnormal bone growth: these can occur in the outer or middle ear and damage their parts, resulting in hearing loss.
• Ruptured eardrum: also known as tympanic membrane perforation. The eardrum can be damaged by constant exposure to loud noises, pressure changes, impact on the eardrum due to poking by foreign objects, and infections.

Hearing loss can also be triggered by risk factors that affect your ears and their everyday health such as:

• Ageing: just like the rest of the body, the structures of the ear degenerate over time.
• Loud noises: occupational hazards like exposure to loud noises in the workplace, as well as recreational noises from playing musical instruments, can damage the ear. Loud noises can also come in short blasts, such as a gunshot or explosion.
• Genes: hearing loss may be influenced by genetic factors, such as congenital hearing impairment in newborns, or work in combination with other risks, like ageing.
• Medication: certain drugs like antibiotics, sildenafil (Viagra), and some chemotherapy drugs can damage the inner ear. Also, extremely high doses of aspirin, painkillers, antimalarial drugs, and loop diuretics can trigger tinnitus — or ringing in the ears — and hearing loss.
• Illnesses: certain diseases or illnesses, like meningitis, can damage the cochlea of the inner ear following a bout of high fever and infection.

Get Tested for Hearing Loss at Living Sounds Hearing Centre

Early detection of hearing loss can prevent it from progressing and impacting your ability to understand speech and sounds. As sensory organs, the ears transmit signals to the brain, which interprets these into cues that tell us how to respond, whether it’s a traffic signal, alarm, conversation, or music.

Think of hearing as a skill or activity — it requires constant stimulation of the conscious mind for messages or signals to be understood. And just like any learned habit, it can be erased from memory when the mind is no longer “trained” to use it, as in the case of hearing loss.

Undetected and prolonged hearing loss causes nerve endings connecting the ears to the brain — and responsible for transmitting sounds — to deteriorate and the brain to age faster. As a result, the brain loses its ability to interpret sound, even if it is physically detected again with the help of a hearing aid.

To learn more about diagnosing hearing loss and treating it with the right hearing aid to restore your quality of life, call Living Sounds Hearing Centre at 780-488-8100 or book an appointment online.

Help someone with hearing loss

Hearing loss affects more than just the person with the loss, but it’s not always easy to help a loved one get the help they need. Getting help with a hearing loss can make all the difference in the life of the person experiencing hearing loss and those around them.

If you have a loved one experiencing a hearing loss you can:

• Talk to them about your concerns
• Point out the instances where they are demonstrating signs of a having a hearing loss
• Encourage them to visit a hearing health professional to help answer their questions and determine a course of treatment
• Offer to go with them to their appointment
• Direct them to an online source for information