Deafness - what is this disease? Symptoms, causes, consequences and treatment of deafness

2024 Author: Curtis Blomfield | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 20:44

Hearing loss is a serious problem as the perception and understanding of surrounding sounds is reduced. The disease is widespread. Deafness is a disease that affects about 5% of the population. Its symptoms and treatment are described in the article.

What is this?

Deafness is the absence of hearing, which can be complete or partial (hearing loss). With this pathology, a person may not hear anything at all, or this problem is so strong that he cannot perceive speech. This makes it difficult to communicate with other people.

Pathology is unilateral and bilateral. Complete deafness is a disease in which a person is generally unable to perceive surrounding sounds, whether it be human speech, music, or a car signal. Partial illness also reduces the quality of life.

Reasons

Why does deafness appear? This may be related to:

1. Injury to the ear or head. There is a conductive, and then neurosensory type of deafness. In this case, hearing can be restored either with healing of the damage, or after surgery.intervention.
2. Excessive noise. Prolonged loud music, industrial noise leads to damage to the hair cells, so neurosensory deafness develops.
3. A chronic infection of the ears that releases pus, blood, wax.
4. A foreign object or cerumen in the ear canal. In this case, the therapy is simple.
5. Chronic inflammation of the middle ear. The problem usually occurs in children.
6. Infectious diseases - mumps, meningitis, measles, toxoplasmosis. In this case, conductive deafness develops from excess fluid. As a result, the passage of sound becomes more difficult.
7. Using ototoxic drugs for treatment.
8. senile hearing loss. Hearing loss is explained by age-related features, when sensory cells degenerate and do not renew.
9. Congenital pathology.
10. Some autoimmune ailments that reduce hearing. For example, systemic lupus erythematosus.
11. Otosclerosis.
12. Presence of tumors.

Whatever the cause, deafness is a disease that complicates a person's life. In any case, the help of a specialist is needed, who, taking into account the patient's condition, will prescribe an effective treatment.

Views

There is a congenital and acquired form of hearing loss. The first usually develops in the womb under the influence of negative factors:

1. Infections during pregnancy.
2. Smoking, alcohol.
3. Taking drugs toxic to the auditory analyzer duringthe time of bearing the baby - "Levomycetin", "Aspirin", "Gentamicin".
4. Hemolytic disease of the newborn.
5. Birth trauma.

Acquired ailment occurs against the background of normal hearing - the latter decreases with negative factors. Such deafness is a disease that develops as a complication after infections, injuries, circulatory disorders, tumors, and long exposure to noise.

Other varieties

Depending on the damage to the auditory analyzer, the disease can be of the following types:

1. Sensory deafness is an ailment caused by a complex of pathologies. With this type of disease, a person can pick up sounds. But they cannot be perceived and recognized by the brain.
2. Conductive deafness is a disease in which a person cannot hear because the sounds do not reach the organ that can transmit them to the brain. Usually it is an acquired pathology. Congenital cases are rare, they are caused by genetic ailments.
3. Mixed hearing loss is an ailment that combines the above 2 pathologies.

There is a perceptual deafness. What it is? This is a disease that appears with vascular disorders. The disease can have a viral, allergic origin. The disease develops with trauma to the skull. A rare cause is thought to be a ruptured round window membrane.

Sensoneural deafness is a disease in which hearing is reduced. This is observed when the function of sound perception is impaired due to damage to the auditory nerve, pathology of the inner ear.

There is such a thing asmoral deafness. This is the lack of orientation to the other, the inability and unwillingness to hear him. This type is a form of manifestation of "deafness to response." Occurs with the loss of moral qualities due to any life circumstances.

There is also the concept of emotional deafness - a condition in which a person does not respond to any emotional impact. It occurs in the event that this pressure was carried out constantly.

Degrees

Deafness is a disability, because in this condition it is difficult for a person to interact with the outside world. In this case, there are several degrees of illness:

• The first one is the easiest. The auditory threshold, caught by the ear, is 26-40 dB. Hearing abilities are not greatly reduced. A person is able to hear speech at a distance of 5 meters. But if there are extraneous sounds or noises, then speech perception worsens.
• The second degree appears with the progression of the disease. The sound threshold is 41-55 dB. A person can hear for 2-4 meters. At this stage, he is aware that he has a hearing problem.
• Third. In this case, the threshold of sound perception is 56-79 dB. The patient can hear speech within 1-2 meters. With this lesion, full communication is complicated. A person is given a disability. He uses a hearing aid on a daily basis.
• Fourth. In this case, the sound threshold rises to 71-90 dB. A person is not able to hear even loud speech, but screams are an exception.

Whenthe hearing threshold is greater than 91 dB, we can talk about complete deafness. The sooner an ailment is detected, the easier it is to cure it.

Symptoms

Hearing loss is likely to cause the following symptoms:

• ear pain;
• discharge from ear canal;
• feeling of overflowing liquid and other noises;
• runny nose;
• nausea and vomiting;
• dizziness;
• nystagmus;
• high temperature;
• headache;
• weak mimic facial muscles;
• gait disturbance.

A hearing test is needed for the following symptoms:

1. Difficult to follow the conversation.
2. The interlocutor often repeats words.
3. There is a feeling that others are talking quietly.
4. Speech is incomprehensible in a noisy environment.
5. Have to turn up the TV volume.
6. There is ringing in my ears.

The emotional state of a person is tense. He wants to hear what they say to him, and also gets annoyed with the interlocutor.

Diagnosis

Thanks to diagnostic measures, the cause of hearing problems and the degree of impairment are established. More studies can reveal whether the disease is regressing or progressing. The examination is performed by an otolaryngologist. To assess the condition, the method of speech audiometry is used. If hearing loss is detected, the patient is referred to an audiologist.

To determine the type of hearing loss, otoscopy is used, a comparative assessment of bone and air conduction. Withconductive hearing loss, tympanometry is used to identify the cause. With the help of electrocochleography, the activity of the cochlea and the auditory nerve is diagnosed.

Infants are diagnosed using the TEOAE and DPOAE methods. This procedure is simple and fast, it is carried out with a special device. Another method for determining the auditory threshold is the method of evoked potentials. It determines the state of auditory function.

Treatment

Deafness and hearing loss are ailments that require treatment. It is not worth delaying with this, since chronic pathologies are not easy to treat. Ear functions can be restored only in the initial stages of the disease.

According to research results, timely treatment can significantly improve hearing (80%) or completely cure the patient. This applies to acute and sudden deafness. And if the disease is chronic, then the treatment is not so effective - about 20%.

Deafness, which arose as a result of a hypertensive crisis, circulatory disorders in the auditory analyzer, and atherosclerosis, is almost not cured. In traditional medicine, 2 types of treatment are practiced: conservative and surgical. Each type of therapy has its own characteristics.

Conservative Therapy

Acute and sudden illness should be treated in a hospital. There, the patient is examined, the cause and severity of the disease are determined. Then a course of therapy will be prescribed. The following drugs are effective:

1. Broad antibiotics - Amoxiclav, Suprax, Cefixime.
2. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - Ibuprofen, Nurofen, Ketonal.
3. Nootropics – Piracetam, Nootropil, Glycine.
4. B vitamins.
5. Antiallergic drugs - "Suprastin", "Zyrtec".
6. Decongestants - Furosemide.

The main forms of medicine used are ear drops. In addition to drug treatment, it is effective to use:

1. Physiotherapy - treatment with current, laser radiation, microcurrents, phototherapy, iontophoresis, darsonvalization, UHF.
2. Massage.
3. Blowing out the ear.
4. Respiratory gymnastics.
5. Oxygenobarotherapy. Increased atmospheric pressure with oxygen positively affects the tissues of the body.

Surgical method

There are several types of interventions used to correct hearing loss:

1. Myringoplasty. It is carried out in violation of the eardrum.
2. Prosthetics of the auditory ossicles. This operation is performed in case of violation of their work.
3. Hearing Aid.
4. Cochlear implantation. During the operation, electrodes are implanted into the ear, which act on the auditory nerve and transmit signals to the brain. It cures congenital deafness and hearing loss. Hearing can be restored in whole or in part. But this is an expensive treatment.

In case of hearing loss in children, you need to contact several specialists: an audiologist, a speech therapist, a defectologist, a child psychologist. In infants, timely diagnosis and treatment will help prevent delays and speech impairment.development.

With a congenital ailment, treatment can be started from six months. From this age it is allowed to use:

1. Speech therapy. Specialists teach how to pronounce sounds and words correctly.
2. Learning sign language.
3. Cochlear implantation.
4. Drugs.
5. Non-drug treatment.
6. Surgical operations.

Complete deafness is an ailment for which doctors usually resort to surgery. In any case, the decision is made after the diagnosis.

Folk treatment

It is possible to improve hearing with folk remedies, which has been proven by many people. But before such treatment, it is important to consult an otolaryngologist. Only then will it be possible to successfully solve the problem using drug treatment and folk methods in combination.

Judging by the reviews, a product such as garlic helps. You can use the following recipes:

1. Drops. You will need a head of garlic, from which juice is made. Then it is mixed with corn oil (3 tablespoons). This remedy is instilled 3 drops into the affected ear for 3 weeks. Then a break of a week is required, and then the course is repeated.
2. Compresses. It will take 3 cloves, which are crushed and mixed with camphor alcohol (2 tablespoons). On the basis of this tool, compresses are made.

Used in folk medicine and propolis:

1. For children. To prepare the tincture, you will need vegetable oil (1 tablespoon), which is mixed with alcoholpropolis tincture 30% (2 tablespoons). We need cotton turundas, which are moistened in a solution and kept in the ears for 8 hours. Procedures are done every other day for 2 weeks.
2. For adults. The recipe is similar to the one above. The difference is only the number of components and the exposure time. Propolis tincture is mixed with vegetable oil in a ratio of 1:4. Swabs soaked in this agent are inserted into the ear passages. Procedures are performed for at least 36 hours.

Bay leaf is used, which improves blood circulation in the brain and hearing organs. This drug is used to treat sensorineural hearing loss. It will take a few dried leaves, which are crushed, pour hot water (1 cup). The drug is infused for 3 hours. Then you need to strain and instill 5 drops 3 times a day in a sore ear. The therapy lasts 2 weeks.

In folk medicine, honey with lemon is used. Once a day, you need to eat ¼ of a lemon with a peel, smeared with honey. Hearing usually returns within 7 days.

Consequences

The prognosis for hearing impairment is determined by the severity of the pathology, form and age of the person. With mechanical damage, hearing can almost always be restored. In case of genetic failures, conservative treatment will not work: usually the patient hears only tinnitus instead of sounds. need either a hearing aid or surgery.

Prevention

Many cases of deafness are preventable, doctors say. Prevention includes the following effective measures:

1. Immunization of children against certain childhood diseases - measles, rubella, meningitis, mumps.
2. Immunize adolescent girls and women of childbearing age against rubella.
3. Examination of pregnant women for infectious diseases.
4. Checking newborns (early detection of hearing when there is a high risk of impaired function).
5. Reducing the impact of loud noises on the organ of hearing.

Thus, with the help of modern prevention and adequate treatment, it will be possible to reduce the risk of pathology or achieve an improvement in the condition and a complete recovery. But any therapy should be prescribed by a doctor.