Loss of hearing (hearing impairment) can affect a person’s daily routine and in children it can lead to speech development problems. Hearing tests are important for both young and old and are often a part of a routine physical examination performed by a health care professional.
Hearing loss refers to the inability to transmit sound at some level of the mechanism. Sound is transmitted through either air or bone conduction. Air conduction is a process in which waves are taken in and sent through the different parts of the ear. Bone conduction is the point where the bones in the brain receive the impulses and transmit it into sound. Either of these may be damaged and thus result in hearing loss. There are three types of hearing loss: conductive, sensorineural or mixed hearing loss. Conductive loss is where air cannot be sent through the parts of the ear. Sensorineural loss occurs when there is damaged to the cochlea or the auditory nerve. Mixed hearing loss means a loss of both.
Various types of hearing tests can be conducted to determine the type and amount of hearing loss. The basic one is a test in which a person listens to sound frequencies at different levels; this determines whether their hearing threshold is at the level considered normal for their age group. If this level is found to be lower than what is considered normal, more in-depth testing may be conducted.
The causes of hearing loss vary and can include: Diseases (such as measles or mumps), chronic infections, injury (such as a perforated eardrum), and exposure to high levels of noise (working in a factory) and age-related hearing loss, which is known as “presybycusis”. A family physician can conduct a basic hearing test or a person may be referred to an audiologist (a hearing specialist) for more extensive testing.
Sat, Jun 12, 2010
Health