Mr. Lovedeep Kholia

While most noise is just in the background for us, loud noises, either in small spurts or prolonged exposure, can cause hearing loss. This has been happening more frequently as the levels of noise in an industrialized society go further up.

Noise induced hearing loss explained
Loud noises may damage the sensitive structure of your ear, which process the sound waves into information. They eventually become nonfunctional, resulting in a loss of hearing in that range. If exposure to loud noises continues, then this might extend to the entire range of hearing and may cause total hearing loss.

What may cause noise induced hearing loss?
Some of the scenarios which may cause noise induced hearing loss are as follows:
1. Listening to music on high volume: If you constantly listen to music or watch movies at your home on very loud levels, then it may result in noise induced hearing loss. In fact, listening to music or watching movies with headphones in your ears is one of the leading causes for hearing loss. Headphones have deceptively loud levels and may result in damaged hearing overtime.

2. Noise of household tools: Household tools such as drills, mixers, grinders, mowers, and saws can expose you to loud levels of noise. Even a quick exposure for a few seconds could temporarily damage your hearing. 

3. Occupational problems: Occupations such as construction, factory work and military that require the use of power tools on a constant basis can also cause hearing loss. The sound from the resulting friction might damage your hearing very quickly. Explosions and impacts are also causes of hearing loss in the military and law enforcement departments.

Prevention and treatment
Treatment: It is difficult to treat hearing loss as in most cases; it may be permanent, except sudden shocks, when your hearing might come back to normal. The only treatments for hearing loss are hearing aids or cochlear implantswhich can restore hearing partially.

Prevention: Prevention is the best method to avoid hearing loss and in most cases, you should wear ear protection such as mufflers or sound level reduction devices to protect your hearing. Also, practice listening to music, watching TV or movies at lower levels, especially if you are on the headphones.

For someone suffering from Tinnitus, a perpetual sense of ringing in the ears is the main complaint. It’s annoying, to say the least. But more importantly, it is a sign of hearing loss. This is why people need to see an audiologist if he/she has a sense of tinnitus for some time. An audiologist can treat this problem in different ways.

Diagnosis

The first step in treating tinnitus like any other disease involves determining the cause. The doctor may perform different tests such as-Hearing:

• Hearing exam

During this test, one needs to sit in a soundproof room and wear earphones. Specific sounds will be played into the ears, one at a time, through these earphones. People have to indicate when they hear different intensities of sound. The results are compared with empirical results for comparable age. This helps the audiologist identify possible or rule out specific causes.

• Movement

One may need to clench the jaw, move the eyes or neck, or even move the arms and legs as part of the test. If tinnitus symptoms get better or worse at any of these postures, the audiologist can identify the underlying disorder.

• Imaging Tests

The doctor may suggest an MRI or CT depending on his suspicions.

TreatmentRetraining

 Treatment involves identifying an underlying problem, if any. If the tinnitus symptoms are due to some health conditions, the audiologist may take the following steps:

• Clearing the Earwax

Impacted earwax can cause a variety of problems, including tinnitus symptoms. An audiologist can remove the ear wax.

• Treating Vascular Conditions

Underlying vascular problems that require surgery or any other treatment may treat the condition.

• Changing Medication

Tinnitus can also be a side effect of medication. If the doctor suspects that he may recommend reducing or stopping the drug completely. He may also recommend a different medication.

Noise Suppression

If there is no underlying health condition or medication responsible for tinnitus, the doctor may take recourse to noise suppression.  The patient may need to wear an electronic noise suppression device. These devices include:

• White Noise Devices

These machines produce simulated sounds such as those of ocean waves, falling rain etc. This is often found to be effective in treating tinnitus. He may also recommend using pillow speakers, fans, dehumidifiers, air conditioners and humidifiers to suppress internal noise at night.

• Hearing Aids

If a hearing problem is associated with tinnitus, the audiologist may prescribe hearing aid.

• Masking Devices

Such devices mask the internal sounds of tinnitus and are worn in the ear in a similar fashion as hearing aids.

• Retraining

This device delivers programmed music to mask the sound of tinnitus. This technique usually helps the patient get accustomed to the sound of tinnitus.

 Depending on diagnosis and findings, audiologists may also recommend medicines. Audiologists use medicines usually for severe tinnitus only, since these may have side effects. It may also help reduce symptoms.

Ever wondered why you are not getting good benefit in the understanding of speech despite using good hearing aids. The answer may be AUDITORY DEPRIVATION.

What is auditory deprivation?

• Auditory Deprivation is a condition that occurs in individuals suffering from hearing loss where their brain loses the ability to interpret words due to a lack of stimulation over an extended period of time.
• Our brain receives all signal from our auditory senses (i.e. our ears) through auditory nerves but when our hearing sensitivity reduces our brain also starts to function differently. It gives more importance to visual cues rather than auditory cues. 
• With the passage of time, our brain is more dependent on visual cues rather than auditory signals for understanding verbal information. 

How to avoid Auditory deprivation?

1. Early Identification of Hearing Loss:

Look for the signs and symptoms of hearing loss such as

• People seem to mumble more frequently.
• You experience ringing in your ears.
• You often ask people to repeat themselves.
• Your family complains that you play the radio or TV too loudly.
• You no longer hear normal household sounds, such as the dripping of a faucet or the ringing of a doorbell.
• You have difficulty understanding a conversation when in a large group or crowd.
• You have trouble understanding all the words in a conversation.
• You find telephone conversation increasingly difficult.
• You have trouble hearing when your back is turned to the speaker.
• You have been told you speak too loudly.

As you feel that you are having any of these symptoms, please show to an audiologist nearby. It is recommended to have regular hearing screening done by your ENT or Audiologist after the age of 50 years.

2. Early Intervention of Hearing Loss:

As soon as you find that you are having hearing loss, start using proper intervention technique. In most cases, it is using amplification devices i.e. Hearing Aids.

Don't ignore even mild degree of hearing loss as it is proven that our brain re-organization occurs even with a mild hearing loss.

Next question that comes to our mind is, 'should I have to use hearing aids in both ears or can I manage with only one?'

The answer is NO, you have to use hearing aids in both ears if you are having a loss in both ears because our brain is habitual of using both ears.

There are some listed advantages of using two hearing aids rather than one:

• Better understanding of speech
• Better understanding of group and noisy situations
• Better ability to tell the direction of sound
• Better sound quality
• Smoother tone quality
• Wider hearing range
• Better sound identification
• Hearing is less tiring and listening more pleasant
• Feeling of balanced hearing
• Greater comfort when loud noises occur
• Reduced feedback and whistling
• Tinnitus Masking

And the most important thing, you can avoid auditory deprivation to occur in both ears.