Deafness, or hearing loss, is partial or total hearing loss, making it difficult for the affected person to understand and communicate. It can happen due to congenital causes, when the person is born with the disability, or acquired throughout life, due to a genetic predisposition, trauma or disease that affects this organ.
The cause will also determine the type of deafness, which is classified as:
- Conduction or transmission deafness: happens when something blocks the passage of sound to the inner ear, as it affects the outer or middle ear for causes that are generally treatable or curable, such as eardrum rupture, earwax accumulation, ear infections or tumors, for example. Learn more about this type of deafness; Sensorineural or perception deafness: it is the most common cause, and it arises due to the involvement of the inner ear, and the sound is not processed or transmitted to the brain, due to causes such as degeneration of the auditory cells by age, exposure to very loud sound, circulatory or metabolic diseases like high blood pressure or diabetes, tumors or genetic diseases, for example.
There is also mixed deafness, which occurs due to the combination of the 2 types of deafness, due to the involvement of both the middle and inner ear.
Main symptoms
Hearing impairment is characterized by a decrease in the ability to perceive sounds, partially, in which some degree of hearing, or total, may still persist. This hearing loss can be measured using a device called an audiometer, which measures hearing levels in decibels.
Thus, deafness can be classified by degrees:
- Light: when hearing loss is up to 40 decibels, it prevents hearing a weak or distant sound. The person may have difficulty understanding a conversation and ask for the phrase to be repeated frequently, always seeming to be distracted, but it does not usually cause serious changes in language; Moderate: it is the hearing loss between 40 and 70 decibels, in which only high intensity sounds are understood, causing difficulties in communication, such as language delay, and the need for lip reading skills for a better understanding; Severe: causes hearing loss between 70 and 90 decibels, which allows the understanding of some intense noises and voices, making visual perception and lip reading important for understanding; Deep: it is the most serious form, and happens when the hearing loss exceeds 90 decibels, preventing communication and speech comprehension.
In case of symptoms that indicate hearing loss, you should go to the consultation with the otorhinolaryngologist, who, in addition to the audiometry exam, will make the clinical evaluation to determine if it is bilateral or unilateral, what are the possible causes and the appropriate treatment. Find out what the audiometry exam consists of.
How the treatment is done
The treatment for deafness depends on its cause, such as cleaning or draining the ear when there is accumulation of wax or secretion, or performing surgery in cases of perforated eardrum or to correct any deformity, for example.
However, to recover your hearing, you can use hearing aids or implants of electronic devices. Find out more when it is necessary to use hearing aids and the main types. After indicating the hearing aid, the speech therapist will be the professional responsible for guiding the use, the type of device, in addition to adapting and monitoring the hearing aid for the user.
In addition, some patients may also benefit from some forms of rehabilitation that include lip reading or sign language, which improve the quality of communication and social interaction of these people.
Causes of hearing loss
Some of the main causes of deafness include causes acquired throughout life, whether sudden or gradual, such as:
- Wax in the middle ear, in great quantity; Presence of fluid, such as secretions, in the middle ear; Presence of a foreign object inside the ear, such as rice grain, for example, common in children; Otosclerosis, which is a disease where the stapes, which is a bone in the ear, stops vibrating and the sound cannot pass; Acute or chronic otitis, in the external or middle part of the ear; Effect of some medications such as chemotherapy, loop diuretics or aminoglycosides; Excessive noise, exceeding 85 decibels for long periods, such as from industrial machines, loud music, weapons or rockets, which cause damage to the nerves of sound conduction; Traumatic brain injury or stroke; Diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, Peget's disease, meningitis, Ménière's disease, high blood pressure or diabetes; ? Syndromes like Alport or Usher;
Tumor in the ear or brain tumors that affect the auditory part.
Congenital deafness cases happen when they are transmitted during pregnancy, as a consequence of alcohol and drug consumption, mother's malnutrition, diseases, such as diabetes, or even infections that arise during pregnancy, such as measles, rubella or toxoplasmosis. Learn more about how to identify hearing loss at: How to tell if you are losing hearing.
