The reasons for hearing loss essentially vary like any other medical problem. When it comes to losing hearing, sometimes the problem comes from the surrounding environment, genetics, and at times like any other problem, disease.
For now let us take a brief look at some of the causes of deafness, hearing loss or any problem of the ear for that matter:
1. Genetics: sometimes we have parents or grandparents who have a problem with deafness. However it may not be seen in the family for a few generations, and this would be a recessive gene in those situations. In this case, the cause of deafness is just hereditary.
2. Meniere’s Disease: This is a disorder in the inner ear where the inner ear area known as the labyrinth (the swirling tube in the ear). This is a rare but excruciating syndrome to have. One of its side effects is hearing loss unilaterally or in both ears, but also has other side effects such as sudden dizziness and falling. These symptoms come and go in an unpredictable manner; it can be as frequent as several times a day to once a year. Meniere’s Disease is not the only syndrome or disease that will cause hearing loss, there are a few that can do so.
3. Aging: With age, deafness can gradually arise with the weakening the tissue and the breaking the body. Now it does not mean that with aging, everyone will experience hearing loss; once again it can be a genetic variant and how an individual takes care of their health.
4. Trauma: Sometimes a sudden change in the pressure around the ear will cause hearing loss in the ears. Hearing loss trauma could also be from an injury to the head from an accident, a fight, etc. In any situation, something traumatic happened to the ear causing the hearing system to get damaged. Sometimes it is also a mental trauma where the ear still functions and the hearing is fine. here is however a psychological block making the mind think that ear no longer functions and the individual thinks they have a hearing loss problem or deaf.
5. Noise Pollution: Recently, this has been becoming one of the more common causes of deafness and hearing loss. When people are around high sound levels (90-95 decibels), this can cause damage to the ear. This is common when one works in a loud environment such as a construction zone, and in recent times with the popularity of Mp3 players–continually listening to too loud a setting (again, a common cause recently for hearing loss in younger groups).
So we can see that hearing loss like any medical problem has similar reasoning. The best ways to try to combat hearing loss is to maintain a healthy lifestyle, wear protection such as hearing plugs when needed and if you feel or detect any sign of hearing loss, immediately see an audiologist to resolve the problem sooner than later. Remember, hearing is a precious sense no one wants to lose.
Tags: age and hearing loss, Causes of Hearing Loss, Meniere's Disease, noise pollution
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