Hearing loss that comes on little by little as you age, also known as presbycusis, is common.
There are three types of hearing loss:
• Conductive, which involves the outer or middle ear.
• Sensorineural, which involves the inner ear.
• Mixed, which is a mix of the two.
Aging and being around loud noises both can cause hearing loss. Other factors, such as too much earwax, can lower how well ears work for a time.
You usually can't get hearing back. But there are ways to improve what you hear.
Symptoms
Symptoms of hearing loss may include:
• Muffling of speech and other sounds.
• Trouble understanding words, especially when in a crowd or a noisy place.
• Trouble hearing the letters of the alphabet that aren't vowels.
• Often asking others to speak more slowly, clearly and loudly.
• Needing to turn up the volume of the television or radio.
• Staying clear of some social settings.
• Being bothered by background noise.
• Ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus.
When to see a doctor
If you have a sudden loss of hearing, particularly in one ear, seek medical attention right away.
Talk to your health care provider if loss of hearing is causing you trouble. Age-related hearing loss happens little by little. So you may not notice it at first.
Causes
To understand how hearing loss happens, it can be helpful to understand how hearing works.
How you hear
The ear has three main parts: the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. Sound waves pass through the outer ear and cause the eardrum to vibrate. The eardrum and three small bones of the middle ear make the vibrations bigger as they travel to the inner ear. There, the vibrations pass through fluid in a snail-shaped part of the inner ear, known as the cochlea.
Attached to nerve cells in the cochlea are thousands of tiny hairs that help turn sound vibrations into electrical signals. The electrical signals are transmitted to the brain. The brain turns these signals into sound.
How hearing loss can occur
Causes of hearing loss include:
• Damage to the inner ear. Aging and loud noise can cause wear and tear on the hairs or nerve cells in the cochlea that send sound signals to the brain. Damaged or missing hairs or nerve cells don't send electrical signals well. This causes hearing loss.
Higher pitched tones may seem muffled. It may be hard to pick out words against background noise.
• Buildup of earwax. Over time, earwax can block the ear canal and keep sound waves from passing through. Earwax removal can help restore hearing.
• Ear infection or unusual bone growths or tumors. In the outer or middle ear, any of these can cause hearing loss.
• Ruptured eardrum, also known as tympanic membrane perforation. Loud blasts of noise, sudden changes in pressure, poking an eardrum with an object and infection can cause the eardrum to burst.
