Hearing Disorders and Deafness

It's frustrating to be unable to hear well enough to enjoy talking with friends or family. Hearing disorders make it hard, but not impossible, to hear. They can often be helped. Deafness can keep you from hearing sound at all.

What causes hearing loss? Some possibilities are

• Heredity
• Diseases such as ear infections and meningitis
• Trauma
• Certain medicines
• Long-term exposure to loud noise
• Aging

There are two main types of hearing loss. One happens when your inner ear or auditory nerve is damaged. This type is usually permanent. The other kind happens when sound waves cannot reach your inner ear. Earwax build-up, fluid, or a punctured eardrum can cause it. Treatment or surgery can often reverse this kind of hearing loss.

Untreated, hearing problems can get worse. If you have trouble hearing, you can get help. Possible treatments include hearing aids, cochlear implants, special training, certain medicines, and surgery. (NIH: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

Also called: Deafness, Hearing loss, Presbycusis

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Hearing Disorder

A disorder characterized by the partial or complete loss of the ability to detect sounds due to damage to the ear structures…

Hearing Aids

A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds…

Hearing

The auditory faculty, the perception of sound by the ear.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

A group of islands in the Indian Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica, southeast of the French Southern…

Healthy Volunteer Medical History Questionnaire

A predetermined set of questions designed to identify individuals without significant health related issues to participate in a research study.

Healthy Subject Indicator

Specifies whether an individual who is or becomes a participant in a research study and has no significant health-related issues including those…