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| Deafness: Causes, Impacts and Treatment | | | In the simple language the total
loss of hearing ability is deafness
but if it is partial called hearing loss and not deafness. Deafness is a degree of loss to such an extent that a person is unable to understand speech even in the presence of amplification. In such a case, the highest intensity sounds produced by an audiometer failed to detect. In hearing loss when the sound waves enter the ears and damage the sensitive tissues and its severity is measured or categorized as per the increase in intensity of sound above the usual level essential for the listener to detect it. It may be present at birth or gained at any point of time in life. In children, it can affect their ability to acquire spoken language, while in adults, normally it creates difficulty with social interaction and at work place. Deafness or hearing loss may be temporary or permanent and in one or both ears, however, when it is age-related, usually occurs in both ears due to cochlear hair cell loss. Particularly in older people it results in isolation and loneliness. As of 2013, the total number of affected people is about 1.1 billion leading to the disability in 466 million people, or 5% of the global population. For this, a number of factors are responsible which include: a. genetics, b. aging, c. exposure to noise, d. infections, e. birth complications and f. trauma to the ear or brain.
Kinds and symptoms
Both- deafness and loss of hearing bear multiple causes which include: a. known causes, b. unknown causes and c. acquired causes. The first kind of disease that comes with the age is called presbycusis. In men it starts at the age of 25and in women at 30. This genetic variable is the normal concomitant and separate from hearing losses due to noise exposure, toxins or disease agents. Commonly, the hear loss in elderly people is caused by high blood pressure, diabetes or the use of specific medicines which are harmful to the ear. The second is noise-induced hearing loss known as acoustic trauma which expresses as elevated hearing thresholds and is responsible for the half of all cases of hearing loss as its ratio is more than that of increasing age. The people at large are unaware of the environmental sounds, and their levels which becomes harmful. According to an estimate of the World Health Organisation (WHO) about half of those between 12 and 35 are at risk when they use personal audio devices on high voices. The third major cause of deafness or hear loss is inherited by recessive genes in which 20-25% are from the dominant genes, 1-2%by X-linked patterns and fewer than 1% come from mitochondrial inheritance. The next cause of hearing loss in infants amounts to 64% due to alcoholic mothers which has a direct effect on the developing fetus mixed with malnutrition during pregnancy. In the context, premature birth is closely associated with sensorineural hearing loss because of an increased risk of hypoxia. Generally, the hearing test of a new-born baby is done after 48 hours of birth as it is very important for a baby whose weight is below 15 grams at that time. The deafness and hearing loss contain several sign and symptoms classified as primary and secondary. While primary symptoms include: difficulty in using telephones, loss of sound hearing, problems in understanding speech, difficulty in hearing speech between background sound, pain or pressure in the ears, and a blocked feeling while the secondary sign and symptoms contain certain sensitivity to intensities and frequencies, tinnitus, ringing, and other sounds, abnormal hearing of one's own voice and disturbances of facial movements.
Larger Effects
First of all, the deafness or hearing loss is associated with two common diseases-Alzheimer's and Dementia and in both cases the risk increases with the degree of hearing loss. It is also linked to an increased risk of mild to severe cognitive problems which include the mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, although it is not related to an increased risk of vascular dementia. In fact, the deafness or hearing loss is responsible for thalamocortical dysrhythmia in the brain ultimately leading to the several neurological disorders including tinnitus and visual snow syndrome. Its special effect can be seen in the aging people which are above 40 years of age. Older people are also easy victim of cognitive decline whose further move will be to mild cognitive impairment and finally to dementia. Several studies have been conducted on the association of hearing loss and cognitive decline and their common findings confirmed a consistent association between the two. The people who are suffering from hearing loss are on the increased risk of falling as they have difficulty in postural control due to physiological, cognitive and behavioral factors. The risk of falling multiplied in aging population as they are venerable to injuries, because they have more bone fragility and poor protective reflexes. Any mishappening with them naturally lead to burden financially and an extra load on health care system. In addition, deafness or hearing loss can contribute to decrease in the quality of health and life leading to the social isolation and minimization of social business mainly because of developing depression. As we all are aware that depression or anxiety are a global concern which cause morbidity and morality with increasing cases of suicide.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Normally, the people having hearing problems are identified by a general practitioner like medical doctor, otolaryngologist, certified and licensed audiologist, school or industrial audio metrist or other audiometric technicians. It is done with the help of a generated or recorded sounds which determines whether the affected person can hear them or not. It fixes sensitivity according to the frequency of sounds. Recently, several hearing tests are also done with the help of mobile application or hearing aid application. This mobile application is also used tor adjusting the hear. Next to it in test is the method of quantifying a hearing loss in speech-in -noise which indicates how well one can understand speech in a noisy environment. According to an estimate about half of the cases of hearing loss (60%) are preventable especially in children who under the age of 15 by adopting several strategies. Related to it is the issue of workplace noise regulation, recognized in the US as an occupational hazard and a number of programmes/initiatives have begun in the country to control and eliminate such noises. However, its management depends on the specific cause if known as well as on the extent, type and configuration of the hearing loss.
Dr. Rajkumar Singh is a youth motivator, Professor and former University Head of Pol. Sc., Dean Social Sciences and Dean Students' Welfare (DSW) of the B.N. Mandal University, presently residing at Hajipur Bihar, India. He can be contacted at [email protected] |
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