Hearing disorders affect not only the elderly, but also children and adolescents. Research shows that three-quarters of 70-year-olds are partially deaf. On the other hand, at school, hearing impairment affects 1/5 of the youngest. Find out what are the causes and types of hearing disorders.

Hearing impairmentis mainly a problem for the elderly. - Three-quarters of 70-year-olds are partially deaf. For people aged 80-100, this percentage is 80%. - says the news agency Newseria Biznes prof. extra dr hab. Henryk Skarżyński, director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing. However, hearing disorders more and more often affect children - 1/5 of first-graders in small towns and villages have hearing disorders. As emphasized by prof. Skarżyński, it is not deafness, but hearing disorders that affect their daily functioning and education.

Hearing impairment - causes

Hearing disorders may be congenital - it is usually related to the course of pregnancy, e.g. a mother's disease that damages the developing fetus (rubella, toxoplasmosis, venereal diseases, e.g. syphilis), taking medications (some antibiotics, aspirin) or serological conflict. Hearing impairment can also be caused by hypoxia or an injury suffered during the birth process. Genetic mutations play a role in the formation of a congenital hearing impairment.

Even people who come into the world with perfectly impaired hearing are exposed to many factors that can weaken it, such as:

  • bacterial, viral, fungal infections, e.g. complications of childhood or adulthood viral diseases (rubella, mumps, chickenpox, shingles, flu, Lyme disease), as well as meningitis or purulent inflammation of the inner ear
  • mechanical trauma, e.g. perforation of the eardrum (e.g. during improper cleaning of the ears) or pressure trauma caused during diving at great depths or parachuting jumps, as well as head trauma accompanied by shaking the labyrinth

If one or both of the parents cannot hear, it does not mean that their children will inherit deafness.

  • acoustic trauma, e.g. excessive exposure to noise, e.g. during rock concerts, listening to loud music, riding a motorcycle, lighting fireworks, etc.,causes micro-injuries of the auditory ossicles
  • drug poisoning - ototoxic, i.e. hearing damage, are some drugs: acetylsalicylic acid, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, aminoglycosides, vancomycin, cisplatin, furosemide, ethacrynic acid, quinine
  • circulatory disorders - hearing disorders may result from vascular diseases typical of diabetics and patients with atherosclerosis and arterial hypertension. These diseases lead to a thickening and stiffening of the walls of small blood vessels, and this impairs the flow of oxygen-rich and nutrient-rich blood. As a result, the hearing organ is not properly oxygenated and nourished, which hinders its functioning. In the case of circulatory disorders, it is important to first of all treat the primary disease, and only then to possible conservative treatment of the hearing organ
  • allergic, autoimmune and proliferative diseases
  • multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases in which the auditory nerve is damaged
  • other (e.g. neuritis VIII of unclear origin)

Hearing disorders - types

The types of hearing disorders can be divided according to the time of the onset of the disease. Then, prelingual hearing loss can be distinguished: congenital (developed in the prenatal period and present at birth) or acquired - (developed in the perinatal period or later in the first year of life). Hearing disorders may also become apparent during the development of speech (from 2 to 7 years of age) or after this stage of development.

Hearing disorders can also be divided according to the depth and extent of the hearing loss. Mild hearing loss is at the level of 21-40 dB, moderate - 41-70 dB, severe (severe) - 71-90 dB, deep - over 91 dB.

However, hearing disorders are most often divided according to their location:

1.Conductive hearing loss- is caused by damage to the structures involved in the conduction of sound waves (external auditory canal, eardrum, ossicular chain). Patients complain of deterioration of hearing in the area of ​​low sounds. The patient understands speech in noise better and has no hearing problems when talking on the phone. Accompanying symptoms are tinnitus (and tinnitus in the course of chronic otitis media).

2.Sensorineural hearing loss (sensorineural)- results from damage to the cochlea's auditory cells or surrounding structures. A sick person can hear the sound of a bell worse than knocking on the door. There may be tinnitus and a feeling of "fullness" in the ear.

3.Mixed hearing loss - is caused by simultaneous damage to the structures of the middle and inner ear.

A separate problem isfunctional hearing losswhich, due to the lack of organic changes in the hearing organ, has no place in this classification. In the case of functional hearing loss, the subjective level of hearing is inconsistent with the symptoms reported by him. It is distinguished by:

  • functional deafness (hysterical, reactive psychosis, negative hallucinations, e.g. in schizophrenia)
  • psychogenic deafness (the perception of the stimulus is blocked, the auditory stimulus is recorded at the diagnostic levels of the hearing organ, but the patient reports that he does not reach his consciousness)
  • neurotic deafness, when the auditory stimulus reaches the patient's consciousness, but is involuntarily negated. May coexist with autism and mental retardation.

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Source: biznes.newseria.pl

About the authorMonika Majewska A journalist specializing in he alth issues, especially in the areas of medicine, he alth protection and he althy eating. Author of news, guides, interviews with experts and reports. Participant of the largest Polish National Medical Conference "Polish woman in Europe", organized by the "Journalists for He alth" Association, as well as specialist workshops and seminars for journalists organized by the Association.

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