Gradual Hearing Loss Can Be Reversible Temporary or Permanent
Gradual Hearing Loss Can Be Reversible Temporary or Permanent but what we are going to talk about in this article is “gradual decrease in your hearing.”
Gradual hearing loss can affects people of all ages, but as Baby Boomers, it should be a concern as it is the third most common long term chronic health problem in older Americans. Gradual hearing loss drastically increases and affects up to 40% of people age 65 and older and up to 80% of people older than 85.
Many who have hearing loss, may not be aware of it, especially if it has developed gradually. Your family members or friends may be the first to notice. For me, my friends started complaining that they were having to repeat what they said to me. If they were not facing me I could not hear them properly. Especially when many people are talking at the same time or there was background noise.
For many, hearing loss can affect what and how much you do in the workplace and at home and most importantly, it can also affect your personal safety. Hearing loss may result in less social interaction, it may contribute to loneliness, depression, and loss of independence.
WHAT CAUSES HEARING LOSS?
The Most Common Causes For Adult Hearing Loss
NOISE
Noise induced hearing loss can affect people of all ages and most often develops gradually over many years. Over a long period of time, the noise you experience at work, during recreation, or even during common chores can lead to hearing loss.
AGE
Age related hearing loss or presbycusis…which are changes in the inner ear. These changes occur as we grow older and can cause a gradual but steady hearing loss. The loss can vary from mild to severe, but it is always permanent.
OTHER CAUSES
Other causes of hearing loss can include something as simple as earwax buildup, an object in the ear, injury to the ear or head, an ear infection, a ruptured eardrum, and of course there are numerous other symptoms that affect the inner ear.
Illness can cause gradual hearing loss as well. I have Lupus and have experienced a hearing loss because of that disease. Lupus hearing loss is just one disease that can affect your hearing.
WHAT COMMON SYMPTOMS OF GRADUAL HEARING LOSS CAN YOU EXPECT?
Muffled hearing.
Feeling that your ear is plugged.
Difficulty understanding what people are saying.
Listening to the television or radio at higher volume than in the past.
Avoiding conversation and interaction with other people.
Ringing, roaring, hissing, or buzzing in the ear.
Ear pain, itching, or irritation.
Fluid leaking from your ear.
Vertego or a feeling that you or your surroundings are moving when there is no movement.
HOW IS HEARING GRADUAL HEARING LOSS DIAGNOISED?
Your doctor can diagnose hearing loss by asking questions about your symptoms and past health and by doing a physical exam. If you do have a hearing loss, your doctor use a “whisper” test or tuning fork to test your hearing. There are also more complete hearing test called audiologic, which can assess whether you have hearing loss, how severe the loss is, and which part of the ear is affected.
HOW IS HEARING LOSS TREATED?
For treat noise induced or age related hearing loss use hearing devices, such as hearing aids and learning how to live with reduced hearing, such as paying attention to people’s gestures, facial expressions, posture, and tone of voice.
For other types of hearing loss, they will being treating the problem that caused the hearing loss. Removing earwax or taking medicine for an infection, usually results in the return of normal hearing.
HOW CAN YOU PREVENT HEARING LOSS?
For noise related hearing loss, avoiding loud noise such as that made by machines in the workplace, power tools, lawn mowers, very loud music, very loud motorcycles and always wear hearing protection, such as earplugs or earmuffs, when necessary.
For protection of hearing loss because of injury, avoid putting objects in your ear, do not let anyone hit you upside the head, wear your seat belts you’re driving, wear helmets when you bike, ski, or participate in similar activities in which there is the potential for head or ear injury.
Bottom line, Baby Boomers is that “Gradual Hearing Loss Can Be Reversible Temporary or Permanent” but the ticket is to prevent this gradual loss before it starts to claim your hearing.
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I lost my hearing due to secondary smoke and that is something I couldn’t avoid because when I was growing up there wasn’t education about the dangers of smoking around other people.
The worse part is my father and ex-husband smoked around me and I lost almost ninety percent of hearing in my right ear and approximately fivety percent in my left ear.
The reason why I even knew I was deaf was one day I cleared my ear by shaking it with my finger to the side of face because I couldn’t hear. I had a burning pain running down the side of face like it was on fire. I went to a specialist and he looked into my ear and saw a black substance it took him three (3) days to get it out before he pulled it out he warned me that I might lose a lot of hearing because it was lying on my ear drum and it will scatch my ear drum well when he pulled it out it was black and hard. The first thing he asked me if someone smokes around me? I said yes my husband at the time he said the black was the tar and nicotine that gathered around the wax that ear did to protect the drum.
But as he said I could lose my hearing and I did because of the years of taking in the secondary smoke. I could hear when he pulled the black wax out of ear and he told me to tell him if I were going to faint I didn’t have a chance to say anything I just fainted. The reason why was that had been the first time in a very long time that I had heard anything in that ear and my brain couldn’t handle the sounds in the room.
The thing is even up to this day when anyone is smoking around me or it could be across the room my ear closes and when it opens it pops and it hurts like something I can’t express. Even if someone is smoking in a car down from my car in traffic I can’t stand it and I get very nervous and my ear closes.
This happened to me over thirty-five (35) years ago and I am still suffering from that secondary smoke that I took in that long ago.
So if you have someone smoking around you you have to get away from them or tell them not to smoke around you and that is a fact.