Prenatal infections, toxins consumed by the mother during pregnancy, prematurity, maternal diabetes, and lack of oxygen can all contribute to a child being born with hearing loss. Genetic factors amount to more than 50 percent of congenital hearing loss, in which genes that cause hearing loss are passed from parent to child. These children are said to have congenital hearing loss or hearing loss that was present at birth. Hearing loss in young peopleĪbout three out of 1,000 children born in the United States have hearing loss. While there is little a person can do to prevent age-related hearing loss, it is important to protect your hearing and avoid exposure to loud and prolonged noise- noise-induced hearing loss is a contributing factor in age-related hearing loss. Luckily there are new technologies and methods being researched and created that aim to make life with hearing loss as easy as possible. All these effects are serious issues that many older people deal with as they experience hearing loss. Older people with age-related hearing loss may experience a decline in their quality of life, difficulty in maintaining relationships due to communication barriers, or, simply, frustration, as the ability to hear decreases. Long-term exposure to loud noises, such as noise in the workplace, is an influential factor in hearing loss. Most people with presbycusis actually have a combination of age-related and noise-induced hearing loss. In addition, diabetes, poor circulation, medications, high blood pressure, and smoking can also contribute to age-related hearing loss. Damage to sensory receptors (hair cells) in the inner ear.Changes in the way the brain processes sound.But what exactly causes hearing loss in older people? A number of changes that occur as we age can cause presbycusis, such as: The American Academy of Audiology estimates that one-third of Americans over 60 experience this type of hearing loss. The vast majority is due to presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss. Who gets hearing loss?Īt least 48 million adults in America have hearing loss. Hearing loss can occur in a number of ways and they are almost all a result of a breakdown in this system. The process of hearing-from the ears picking up the sound, to the brain comprehending the converted electrical impulses-takes less than a second. These impulses are sent through the auditory nerve to the brain, which perceives them as sound. Thousands of hair cells grow along the cochlear duct and convert the sound vibrations from the middle ear into electrical impulses. The snail-shaped cochlea is the main component of the inner ear. The vibrations from the eardrum are amplified by these tiny bones and passed through to the inner ear. The middle ear is composed of three tiny bones called the ossicles (commonly known as hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that connect the eardrum to the inner ear. The function of the outer ear is to pick up sound vibrations and send them through the ear canal to make the eardrum vibrate. The outer ear consists of the auricle (also called the pinna), the ear canal, and the eardrum. T he ear is composed of three parts: the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. It detects sound and converts it into electrical impulses, which are then translated by the brain into meaningful information, such as speech or music. Normal hearing extends from -10 decibels to 20 decibels. This graph indicates the categories of hearing loss according to decibel range. Zero decibels are silence, while 140 decibels are the loudness of a jet engine or firecracker. Decibels represent the intensity, or loudness, of a sound. The volume sets our perceived loudness of any given tone, and it’s measured in decibels (dB). The icons on this diagram depict which sounds are heard at different frequencies: People with hearing loss most often have problems understanding the higher frequencies. Examples of low-frequency sounds are the growl of a tiger or the low rumble of an ocean liner. Typical high-frequency sounds are the chirping of birds, falling rain, or the voices of children. Hearing test frequencies range from 125 hertz (low-pitched sounds) to 8,000 hertz (high-pitched sounds). The faster sound waves vibrate, the higher the frequency and the higher the pitch.įrequency, in hertz (Hz), is the unit by which the depth of sound is measured (high or low). There are two fundamental characteristics of a sound wave: frequency and volume. Sound waves are essentially air vibrations.
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