How to Prevent and Treat Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Your odds of acquiring hearing loss at some point in your life are regrettably quite high, even more so as you age. In the US, 48 million people report some amount of hearing loss, including just about two-thirds of adults age 70 and older.

That’s why it’s crucial to understand hearing loss, so that you can detect the symptoms and take precautionary actions to avoid damage to your hearing. In this blog post, we’re going to concentrate on the most widespread form of hearing loss: sensorineural hearing loss.

The three types of hearing loss

Generally speaking, there are three forms of hearing loss:

1. Conductive hearing loss
2. Sensorineural hearing loss
3. Mixed hearing loss (a mix of sensorineural and conductive)

Conductive hearing loss is less common and is the result of some form of obstruction in the outer or middle ear. Typical causes of conductive hearing loss include ear infections, perforated eardrums, benign tumors, impacted earwax, and hereditary malformations of the ear.

However, sensorineural hearing loss is far more common.

Sensorineural hearing loss

This type of hearing loss is the most prevalent and makes up about 90 percent of all documented hearing loss. It is triggered by injury to the hair cells (nerves of hearing) of the inner ear or to the nerves running from the inner ear to the brain.

With sensorineural hearing loss, sound waves enter the external ear, strike the eardrum, and reach the inner ear (the cochlea and hair cells) as normal. However, as a result of damage to the hair cells (the very small nerve cells of hearing), the sound signal that is directed to the brain for processing is weakened.

This weakened signal is perceived as muffled or faint and normally has an effect on speech more than other kinds of lower-pitched sounds. Additionally, in contrast to conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss is typically permanent and cannot be remedied with medication or surgery.

Causes and symptoms

Sensorineural hearing loss has various potential causes, including:

• Genetic disorders
• Family history of hearing loss
• Meniere’s Disease or other disorders
• Head trauma
• Benign tumors
• Exposure to loud noise
• Aging (presbycusis)

The last two, exposure to loud noise and the aging process, account for the most widespread causes of sensorineural hearing loss, which is honestly good news since it suggests that the majority of cases of hearing loss can be prevented (you can’t avoid aging, obviously, but you can minimize the cumulative exposure to sound over your lifetime).

To understand the signs and symptoms of sensorineural hearing loss, you should always remember that damage to the nerve cells of hearing almost always comes about very gradually. Therefore, the symptoms progress so gradually that it can be virtually impossible to perceive.

A slight measure of hearing loss every year will not be very recognizable to you, but after a number of years it will be very apparent to your family and friends. So while you may think that everyone is mumbling, it could very well be that your hearing loss is catching up to you.

Here are a few of the signs and symptoms to watch for:

• Trouble understanding speech
• Trouble following conversions, particularly with more than one person
• Turning up the TV and radio volume to excess levels
• Consistently asking others to repeat themselves
• Experiencing muffled sounds or ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Becoming exceedingly tired at the end of the day

If you detect any of these symptoms, or have had people inform you that you might have hearing loss, it’s a good idea to arrange a hearing exam. Hearing tests are easy and pain-free, and the earlier you treat hearing loss the more hearing you’ll be able to retain.

Prevention and treatment

Sensorineural hearing loss is largely preventable, which is great news because it is by far the most common type of hearing loss. Millions of cases of hearing loss in the United States could be eliminated by implementing some simple precautionary measures.

Any sound higher than 80 decibels (the volume of city traffic inside your car) can potentially affect your hearing with extended exposure.

As the decibel level increases, the amount of time of safe exposure decreases. That means at 100 decibels (the volume of a rock concert), any exposure over 15 minutes could harm your hearing.

Here are a few tips on how you can protect against hearing loss:

• Apply the 60/60 rule – when listening to a mp3 player with headphones, listen for no more than 60 minutes at no more than 60 percent of the max volume. Also consider buying noise-canceling headphones, as these will require lower volumes.
• Safeguard your ears at live shows – concerts can range from 100-120 decibels, significantly above the threshold of safe volume (you could injure your hearing within 15 minutes). Limit the volume with the use of foam earplugs or with musician’s plugs that maintain the quality of the music.
• Protect your ears at your workplace – if you work in a high-volume profession, talk with your employer about its hearing protection program.
• Safeguard your hearing at home – a number of household and leisure activities generate high-decibel sounds, including power saws, motorcycles, and firework displays. Make sure that you always use ear protection during extended exposure.

If you currently have hearing loss, all hope is not lost. Hearing aids, while not able to completely restore your hearing, can dramatically improve your life. Hearing aids can improve your conversations and relationships and can forestall any additional consequences of hearing loss.

If you think you might have sensorineural hearing loss, schedule your quick and simple hearing test today!