Currently, various forms of hearing impairment are known in medicine, provoked by genetic causes or acquired. The ability to hear is influenced by a huge number of factors. Let's take them apart.
General view
Considering what causes hearing impairment, special attention should be paid to infectious pathologies. More often these affect children, which leads to problems for life. The most dangerous are encephalitis, meningitis, but this list is not exhausted. Violation of the ability to hear can be triggered by influenza, otitis, measles. In some cases, this problem is caused by scarlet fever.
Many cases are known when the weakening of the ability to hear was provoked by damage that affected the nervous system of the auditory organs, as well as the actual ear - not only the outer, but also inside, as well as the middle one. Diagnosis of hearing loss always begins with determining the symptoms and the causes that provoked it. As is known from medical statistics, when the activity of the inner ear or nervous system is disturbed, a person becomes completely deaf. But in the situationwhen the middle ear is affected, deafness is often partial, it is possible to compensate for the violation with the help of special devices and medical therapy.
Some Features
It is known that many causes of hearing loss lie in wait for children and adolescents studying in general education institutions. This is largely due to the fashion for loud music, the use of portable speakers, music centers and players. The extreme intensity of such a stimulus, which affects the auditory system for a long time, leads to a strong weakening of its functionality. The technology delivers sound directly to the ear without wave dispersion, so no power is lost, forcing the ear to face very high loads for a long time.
The fashion for loud music also plays its role. Other children, who themselves do not strive for such a pastime, are influenced by their peers, because having a player is “cool”, “stylish”, and the most popular music is sharp, loud, abrupt. This goes well with the rebelliousness of adolescence, but extremely badly with general he alth.
Reason: look at the root
Recently, congenital deafness has been increasingly diagnosed. The reason for this problem is the peculiarities of pregnancy. As a rule, hearing impairments can cause viral diseases suffered by a pregnant woman in the first third of her term. The most dangerous is considered to be measles, rubella, as well as extremely widespread influenza. Herpes has a negative effect on the auditory system of the fetus, especially in the first trimester.gestation.
Some people are born with a deformity of the ossicles of the auditory system. There are known cases of underdevelopment of the nervous system of the auditory organs or atrophy of some nerves. Among the causes of hearing impairment, not the last place is occupied by chemical poisoning, injuries received during childbirth, as well as mechanical ones - a blow, a bruise. A strong influence is long-term exposure to noise or super-strong sudden loads (beeps).
What else is possible?
Hearing loss can be caused by an explosion that provokes concussion. There are cases when acute inflammatory processes caused the loss of the ability to hear qualitatively. If a person suffers from chronic forms of pathologies of the nasopharynx, nose, over time, there is also a decrease in the ability to hear.
As can be seen from the characteristics of hearing impairment, the most dangerous causes are those associated with diseases suffered in childhood, and it is extremely difficult, often impossible, to eliminate such negative consequences. Early age, infancy - at this time, many body systems have not yet been formed, therefore, aggressive external influence, infection, inflammation and invasion so significantly affect the quality of all future life. The danger is also borne by special medications used uncontrollably, without the recommendations of a doctor. This is most characteristic of a number of antimicrobial drugs from the category of ototoxic.
What do the statistics say?
According to medical studies, most often the causes of hearing loss overtake during the periodembryonic development and early childhood, it is then that the corresponding function is disturbed. In 1959, studies were carried out to determine the quantitative factor. As scientists have found out, about 70% of all cases of hearing loss first appear before the age of three. As you grow older, the likelihood of hearing loss gradually decreases, and a new increase in risk is already associated with age-related changes - but this only applies to advanced age and in most cases can be easily corrected with special devices.
General theory
A hearing impairment is commonly understood as either a partial or complete inability to notice and perceive sounds. Factors are not only biological, but also related to the environment. A similar problem can develop in absolutely any living organism, naturally endowed with the ability to listen. In relation to a person, they say about deafness when there is no way to perceive speech, with certain problems in this area, hearing loss is diagnosed.
To classify hearing impairment, it is necessary to identify the hearing threshold of a particular person. This term refers to the smallest volume that he is able to perceive. In relation to humans and a number of mammals, it is permissible to resort to behavioral audiograms to identify the characteristics of the organism. The technique is as follows: sounds (quiet and loud) are recorded that provoke some reaction of the body, then the patient is tested with their help. Another option for identifying abilities is physiological,electrical tests. When implementing them, there is no need to analyze the behavioral response of the body.
What is it supposed to be?
There is no universal hearing threshold for different frequencies: for each species this value is unique. As experiments have shown, if you run the sound of different frequencies sequentially at the same amplitude, some moments will be perceived as quiet, others, on the contrary, loud, but something is completely impossible to hear. Increasing the amplitude or increasing the volume makes the sound more clearly perceived by the auditory system.
Most living organisms that use sounds to interact with members of their species use frequencies that are optimally perceived by the auditory system of this particular species of creatures. This setting is provided by the structure of the ear, the characteristics of the nervous system, as well as the brain areas that process the information received.
Some features of the human ear
Hearing impairment in a person is classified by degrees, while assessing to what extent the sound must be louder in order for a person to be able to distinguish it. For a correct analysis of the situation, a special device is used - an audiometer. If the deafness is profound, then even the most powerful sound waves are not perceived by the listener.
In some cases, hearing impairment is manifested in relation to quality. To make a diagnosis, you need to test your ability to recognize speech. If the perception of the qualitative component is impaired, a person can hear sounds, but cannot separate them.into individual words. During testing, they find out how much the interlocutor understood the information. In practice, the inability to recognize sound almost never occurs separately from the weakening of the functioning of the auditory system as a whole.
Conductive hearing loss
This term is used to denote a situation where hearing problems are associated with the impossibility of carrying information from the outer ear to the middle. Only in the case when the body formally has an auditory canal, a person can hear what is happening around him. Also a prerequisite is the presence of the tympanic membrane, bones, naturally assumed in the structure of the auditory system. With improper construction or injuries of this part of the body, there is a partial or complete loss of the ability to perceive the sounds of the environment.
Conductive hearing loss is not related to speech recognition problems. If a person can hear what was said, he understands what exactly was said. Most often, the problem develops against the background of the abnormal development of the above elements of the auditory system, as well as when the passage is obstructed.
Sensory hearing loss
Such a hearing problem is often provoked by improper functioning of the cochlea or the nervous system that provides the ear with performance. These causes of hearing impairment provoke deafness of varying degrees - from a mild form to a complete loss of the ability to hear.
Neurosensory problem is often caused by the following incorrect natural structuresnails: pathologies of hair cells present in the Corti element of the system are observed. In some cases, these may be hearing loss caused by diseases of the nervous system of the brain or those parts of this organ that are responsible for the ability to hear. There are cases when, in a similar situation, a central hearing impairment was observed, in which a person can hear normally, but the quality of the information he perceives is too low to be useful. In particular, it is completely impossible to make out what other people are saying.
Causes and consequences
Mostly problems are provoked by pathologies of hair cells. These are not only acquired deviations, but also genetic hearing impairments with which the child lives from birth. Sometimes the cause is noise trauma or a hereditary factor. People who are forced to live near airfields are in particular danger, since the daily load level is about 70 dB, which is too much for the human ear. It is impossible to be outside with such noise, and at home you have to keep the windows closed all the time, but this may not save you from hearing loss.
Hearing-impaired baby may be born due to genetic characteristics. The reason is not only in the dominant, but sometimes in the recessive gene. Manifestations of problems range from fairly minor to very serious. If the gene is dominant, in each new generation people will suffer from hearing loss. With a recessive, this does not appear so often.
Hearing is important
BCurrently, people with very poor hearing can use sign languages to communicate, but this, unfortunately, does not solve the whole problem. Hearing is necessary for a person to live safely in our world, the ability to perceive the surrounding space. Of course, such problems limit communication very much. Hearing impairment significantly affects the quality of life, provokes absent-mindedness. It is difficult for such people to concentrate, it is even more difficult to make efforts to master new skills and knowledge. When interacting with others with a weak, moderate form of hearing loss, you constantly have to ask again what was said, and this undermines self-confidence and provokes removal from society, the development of depressive states.
As can be seen from medical statistics, there are more than 10,000,000 hearing-impaired children and adults in our country. One tenth of them are patients who have not yet reached the age of majority. The most difficult cases, as already mentioned above, are situations when pathologies are provoked by the course of pregnancy or injuries received during birth or immediately after it. A distinctive feature of this situation is the fact that children, in principle, have not yet heard any sounds, therefore they cannot even imagine and understand what it is. It will be extremely difficult for such a child to explain what speech is.
Responsibility today - happiness in the future
Doctors pay attention: although recently among government programs, assistance to the hearing impaired has taken a rather important place, toodon't rely on its capabilities. The fact is that no external help will be a full-fledged replacement for natural hearing. Preserving it is not an easy task, especially if it is of high quality, fully the same as given by nature.
As experts pay attention, in case of primary problems, you should immediately consult a doctor, without delaying this moment. The sooner you can ask for help from a professional, the higher the likelihood of quickly discovering the cause and taking measures to prevent the situation from worsening and restore the quality of the functioning of the hearing organs. Do not try to find treatment for yourself or choose a hearing aid to compensate for abilities lost over time. The fact is that such an unprofessional approach can significantly worsen one's own situation and provoke further progress in pathology. In order not to harm yourself, you must first consult a doctor, only after that take some steps.
Features of different forms of hearing loss
The problem can only affect one ear or both. Depending on the specific case, they speak of unilateral, bilateral hearing loss. From medical statistics it follows that the most common form of sensorineural hearing loss. In some cases, features of both such and conductive hearing loss are observed at the same time - this is the so-called mixed form, which is considered the most complex. If such a diagnosis is made, a long therapeutic course, surgical intervention is usually prescribed, and according to the results, it is quiteyou may have to wear a hearing aid for the rest of your life.
There are also cases when absolutely nothing can be done, it remains only to learn sign languages and use them to communicate with other people, and also to be extremely careful if there is a need to go out into the world around, filled with dangers, about which other people are warned through the organs of hearing. It so happened that medicine does not yet have all the possible means and tools that would allow correcting hearing problems in any situation, environment, regardless of the cause.
Classification of hearing loss
There are four categories:
- easy, in which a person hears sounds from a distance of up to six meters, the hearing threshold is up to 30 dB;
- medium, when the threshold is shifted to 50 dB, and the sound can be heard at a distance of no more than 4 meters from the source;
- heavy, in which the conversation can be heard if the interlocutor is a meter from the listener, while the threshold reaches 70 dB;
- deep (threshold of hearing - up to 90 dB).
If the reading is above 90 dB, deafness is diagnosed.
The rate of decline in sound perception is quite slow for some, for others the process is rapid.
First symptoms of the disease
Hearing loss can be suspected by the following signs:
- to hear what others say, you have to ask again;
- in a dialogue with several interlocutors, the ability to concentratedecreases, the thread of the story is constantly lost;
- does not leave the feeling that others are deliberately talking quieter than the norm;
- difficult to communicate in a noisy, crowded place;
- difficult to understand children's speech;
- have to turn up the volume of the TV speakers above average;
- there is a mechanical observation of the interlocutor's lips for a more accurate perception of information;
- in the silence it seems like it's ringing in the ears.
Many people become aggressive and irritable, anxious and depressive under the influence of such changes in their lives. Self-confidence and self-esteem suffer greatly. As soon as disturbing manifestations begin to be observed, you should immediately contact a professional. The doctor examines the ear and determines why hearing is deteriorating, what can be done to prevent the development of the process.
Age features
It is known that there is a high risk of hearing loss over the years. At risk are all people over the age of fifty. This is explained as follows: already by the age of 50, the elements responsible for the perception of sound waves wear out, therefore, the receptors cannot work normally. The official name for this disorder is presbycusis. It is observed really often, as a rule, no specific treatment is practiced, but it is recommended to use special devices to enhance hearing function.
This is important
A variety of injuries can provoke hearing problemsbrain, skull or ear. This is not only mechanical damage, but also acoustic. Inflammatory, infectious and tumor processes worsen the quality of the sound perception system. Pressure-related injuries can lead to hearing loss.
It is known that certain medications can play a role. The greatest danger is associated with the uncontrolled use of antimicrobial agents, which are poisonous to the tissues and cells of the hearing organs and provoke a gradual decrease in their function up to complete deafness.
