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Deafness - Deafness symptom, treatment, causes

Deafness means partial or total loss of hearing. There are two main types- conductive and perceptive.

Deafness is the total or partial inability to hear sound in one or both ears. Deafness can range from mild to profound and is caused by many different events including injury, disease and genetic defects. There are various ways to categorise deafness. The two main types of deafness are conductive deafness and nerve deafness. Deafness is the result of damage to any part of the ear and the degree of hearing loss depends on the severity of that damage. The implications of a hearing loss vary from person to person and are related to the individual's circumstances, thus making it difficult to define and classify deafness. Deafness affect individuals of all ages and may occur at any time from infancy through old age. Children also develop hearing loss, which can be detrimental to language and social development. Every year, about 1 of 5,000 people develops sudden deafness. The most common cause of conductive hearing loss in the middle ear, especially in children, is an accumulation of fluid. Fluid can accumulate in the middle ear as a result of ear infections or conditions, such as allergies or tumors, that block the eustachian tube, which drains the middle ear. The distinction between acquired and congenital deafness specifies only the time that the deafness appears. It does not specify whether the cause of the deafness is genetic.

Deafness at birth is known as congenital deafness, while deafness that occurs after birth is called adventitious deafness. Another common cause of conductive deafness is the failure of the eardrum to vibrate in response to sound waves. Acquired deafness may or may not be genetic. For example, it may be a manifestation of a delayed-onset form of genetic deafness. Congenital deafness similarly may or may not be genetic. For example, it may be associated with a white forelock, and be caused by a genetic disease called waardenburg syndrome. Deafness also may be due to damage to the sensory structures (hair cells) of the inner ear, auditory nerve, or auditory nerve pathways in the brain (sensorineural hearing loss). Otosclerosis is a common cause of hearing loss. Although in the past people have thought that it was caused by diseases such as scarlet fever, measles, and ear infections, in fact these have nothing to do with its development. It is a hereditary disease in which portions of the middle ear or inner ear develop growths like bony sponges. Age-related hearing loss and most other causes of hearing loss are not preventable. Treatment will depend on your hearing problem, so some treatments will work better for you than others.

Causes of Deafness

The common causes and risk factor's of Deafness include the following:

• Ear infections.
• Certain drugs, including aminoglycosides and chloroquine, can cause temporary deafness in susceptible people.
• Mechanical problem in the external ear canal or middle ear that blocks the conduction of sound.
• Allergy.
• Blocked Eustachian tubes.
• Damage to the sensory structures (hair cells) of the inner ear, auditory nerve, or auditory nerve pathways in the brain.
• Injuries of the Ear: Certain injuries cause deafness as ear get affected by then and the eardrum is destroy or serious affected by them results in deafness.
• Heredity.

Symptoms of Deafness

Some sign and symptoms related to Deafness are as follows:

• Difficulty understanding words, especially against background noise or in a crowd of people
• Ear pain.
• Feeling of ear fullness.
• Asking others to speak more slowly, clearly and loudly.
• Ringing in the ears.
• Needing to turn up the volume of the television or radio.

Treatment of Deafness

Here is list of the methods to treat Deafness:

• An ear infection, such as a middle ear infection, often clears up on its own, but you may need antibiotics.
• An autoimmune problem is treated with corticosteroid medicines, generally prednisone.
• For occupational or firearm exposure, the use of hearing protectors, such as plastic or foam rubber plugs in the ear canals or glycerin-filled muffs over the ears, is essential.
• Earwax is treated by removing the wax. Do not use a cotton swab or a sharp object to try to remove the wax, since this may push the wax even deeper into the ear or may cause injury.
• Occasionally surgical procedures are necessary.

Conductive of Deafness

Conductive of Deafness results from inteference with the passage of sound waves to the acoustic (hearing) nerves in the inner ear. Causes include the following:

• anything blocking the ear canal, such as a plug of hard wax. a foreign body, or inflammatory swelling of the canal's lining
• disturbances of the middle ear such as infection, GLUEEAR. or conditions such as TONSILLITISor enlarged ADENOIDS that block the eustachian tubes. which link the middle ear with the throat, perforation or scarring of the eardrum
• OTOSClEROSIS (loss of movement in the tiny bones that transmit the vibration of sound waves from the eardrum to the acoustic nerves!.

Perceptive of Deafness

Perceptive of Deafness is the disorders of the inner ear and acoustic nerves are responsible for this. Thefollowing are among the causes

• congenital defects of the sound receptors of the acoustic nerves
• prenatal influences such as RUBElLA (German measles) during pregnancy
• birth injury or severe JAUNDICE soon after birth
• viral infections such as MUMPS
• MENIERE'S DISEASE (a progressive ear disorder resulting from distension of the inner ear with fluid, and associated with dizziness and ringing in the ears)
• prolonged exposure to loud noise (NOISE-INDUCED HEARING LOSS)
• acoustic nerve tumours and the effects on the nerve of certain poisons and drugs.

The organs of hearing also deteriorate with age, so that about I in 4 people needs a hearing aid after the age of 65.

It is important that partial or complete deafness in infants and hearing loss in adults are recognised early, and a specialist consulted so that all possible assistance may be given.