Hearing Loss > Causes
Why do you experience hearing loss?
Experiencing hearing loss – whatever the cause or extent – isn’t pleasant, but there is good news: thanks to modern hearing aid technology, hearing loss is a treatable condition.
Hearing loss falls into two broad categories: the first is congenital, which is hearing loss that is present at birth and caused by factors like genetics or premature birth. The second is acquired, which is hearing loss that occurs after birth and is the result of factors like illness, loud noise, or damage to the ear.
Although we in fact “hear” with our brains, hearing loss happens when one part of the ear – the outer, middle, or inner ear – is damaged or unable to function properly, and cannot conduct sound signals to the brain normally.
One of the commonest causes of hearing loss is a build-up of compacted earwax. Attempting to remove earwax from the external auditory canal using Q-Tips often has the opposite effect: too much wax is removed, the sensitive skin – or even the eardrum – is damaged and earwax is pushed deeper into the auditory canal.
As a result, the self-cleaning mechanism is impaired and the earwax forms a plug that can ultimately block the auditory canal. However, retained fluid or foreign bodies can also lead to acute hearing loss.
Inflammations, build-up of fluid behind the eardrum, perforation of the eardrum, and otosclerosis (hardening of the tiny bones in the middle ear known as ossicles) are among the most common problems affecting the middle ear.
Babies and children are particularly susceptible to acute middle-ear infections – and infection will often make a person vulnerable to follow-on infections.
It is in the inner ear that the actual process of hearing takes place. The hearing organ, the cochlea, is the control center where incoming sound waves are processed and converted into nerve impulses. As we now know, the auditory system is extremely sensitive to loudness, whether this be sustained exposure to noise or a one-off blast of sound.
Repeated, intensive exposure or long-term exposure to sound impairs the function of the cochlea. In order to protect themselves from excessive volume, the sensitive hair cells inside the inner ear “mute” themselves, as it were – they reduce their activity.
They can regenerate for a while, assuming there is enough time for recovery. However, if the ears continue to be exposed to sustained loud sounds and noise, chronic hearing loss may ensue.