Earlyface

       Hearing loss can make conversations fade
into whispers and music a faint hum.
The key is to see your doctor as soon as you notice
you’re having trouble hearing. The earlier you get a
diagnosis and treatment, the more you can stay
involved in the world around you.
Symptoms of Hearing Loss
If you lose hearing, either suddenly or over time,
you'll have trouble making out details of
conversations. Sounds will become muffled and
gradually fade.
Depending on the cause of your hearing loss, you
might also have:
Pain in one or both ears
Dizziness or vertigo
Ringing in the ears, called tinnitus
Pressure or fullness in one or both ears
Often, people with severe hearing loss withdraw
from their social lives because they're embarrassed
to ask family and friends to repeat themselves over
and over again. They might be afraid they'll
misunderstand a conversation and answer with
wrong or embarrassing comments.
Degrees of Hearing Impairment
To find out how impaired your hearing is, your
doctor may order a formal hearing test also known
as an audiogram. It can show the degree of your
hearing loss by looking at the range of decibels -- a
measure of sound intensity -- you can hear.
Normal hearing is in the range of 0 to 25 decibels.
People with normal hearing are able to make out
sounds as faint as human breathing, which
measures about 10 decibels. Mild hearing loss
ranges from 26 to 40 decibels, and moderate
hearing loss from 41 to 55 decibels. Moderately
severe hearing loss ranges from 56 to 70 decibels,
and severe hearing loss is in the range of 71 to 90
decibels. Profound hearing loss is greater than 90
decibels. People will have trouble hearing speech,
although they can make out loud sounds like a
truck that backfires or an airplane taking off.
Types of Hearing Loss
There are three main types of hearing loss:
Conductive hearing loss happens because of a
problem in the ear canal, eardrum, or the middle ear
that prevents sound from carrying well to the inner
ear. An ear infection, trauma, a tumor, or fluid or an
object in the ear (such as wax buildup) can cause
it.

Sensorineural hearing loss happens most often
from damage to the hair cells in the inner ear. Other
causes include damage to the nerve for hearing,
called the auditory nerve, or the brain. It’s usually
happens as you get older, but it also can happen
because of noise exposure, chemotherapy,
radiation, trauma, and your genes.
Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive
and sensorineural hearing loss, meaning that there
may be a problem in the outer or middle ear and in
the inner ear or auditory nerve. Mixed hearing loss
can happen after a head injury, long-term infection,
or because of a disorder that runs in your family.
Hearing loss can affect one or both ears. It can
happen suddenly or gradually get worse over time.
If you notice sudden hearing loss, you should see
an ear, nose, and throat specialist as soon as
possible.
Hearing Loss Causes
When your hearing is normal, sound waves enter
your outer ear and cause your eardrum and middle
ear bones to vibrate. The sound waves then travel
through your inner ear, which is a shell-shaped,
fluid-filled tube called the cochlea. As the fluid
moves, it sets in motion thousands of tiny hairs that
convert the sound vibrations into nerve impulses.
Those impulses go to your brain where they are
processed into sounds you can recognize.
Hearing loss happens when there's a problem with
the structures of the ear that process sound. Any of
these conditions can lead to hearing loss:
Age. As people get older, the structures in the ear
become less elastic. The tiny hairs get damaged
and can’t respond to sound waves as well. Hearing
loss can get worse over several years.
Loud noise. The blare of power tools, airplanes, or
loud music on headphones, for example, can
damage the hair cells in the cochlea. How much
hearing you lose depends on the volume of the
sound and how long you were around it.
Ear infections. They can make fluid build up in the
middle ear. Usually the hearing loss from an ear
infection is mild and goes away shortly. But if you
don’t treat them, they can lead to serious long-term
problems.
Perforated eardrum. An ear infection, loud sounds,
head trauma, or intense pressure in the ear from
flying in an airplane or scuba diving can damage the
eardrum, leaving a hole that may or may not heal.
Depending on the size of the hole, there may be mild
or moderate hearing loss.
Cholesteatoma . This is a collection of skin that you
can get in the middle ear when the eardrum
collapses or when skin grows through a hole in the
eardrum. Cholesteatomas grow over time and can
lead to hearing loss by destroying the middle ear
bones or, rarely, the inner ear.
Illnesses or infections. Measles, mumps, tertiary
syphilis, and meningitis are just a few of the
conditions that can cause hearing loss.
Meniere’s disease. Symptoms of this inner ear
disorder include dizziness, hearing loss that comes
and goes, ringing in the ear, or fullness in the ear.
Hearing loss in Meniere’s disease usually gets
worse but only involves one ear.
Tumors. Cancer or benign tumors can cause severe
hearing loss. This includes acoustic neuroma
(vestibular schwannoma), paraganglioma, and
meningioma. People who have one might also have
numbness in their face or weakness and ringing in
their ear.
An object stuck in the ear. When something’s in
your ear that shouldn’t be, it can block hearing.
Earwax can sometimes build up and harden, which
can make it hard to hear.
Malformed ear. Some people are born with poorly
formed ears.
Trauma. Injuries such as a skull fracture or a
punctured eardrum can cause severe hearing loss.
Medications. Some types of drugs -- including
some antibiotics (erythromycin, kanamycin,
neomycin, streptomycin), large amounts of aspirin,
chemotherapy drugs (carboplatin, cisplatin), and
Vicodin (in large amounts) -- can cause hearing
loss. Sometimes hearing will return once you stop
taking the drug. In most cases the hearing loss is
permanent.
Genes. Scientists have found genes that make
people more prone to severe hearing loss,
particularly as they age. Most of the time, genetic
hearing loss is diagnosed at birth, but it can show
up later.
Autoimmune disorders. Lupus and rheumatoid
arthritis, for example, may affect hearing. It’s one of
the main features of several autoimmune disorders,
including Cogan’s syndrome, Wegener’s
granulomatosis, and Behcet’s disease.