Treatments for Deafness
By: Mark MonteiroTotal Views: 150, Word Count: 508,
Deafness is the incapability to hear and it could affect one or both ears, either completely or partly. Deafness could be present at birth (known as congenital deafness), or it might occur later, slowly or suddenly.
Deafness might be alleged if an individual fails to respond to sounds at various levels or speaks more loudly than necessary. A child who is partly deaf might give the feeling of being bored or uninterested and would have difficulty in learning to speak. Such a child might not progress well at school and it’s often a teacher’s report that first leads a parent to suspect that the child might have impaired hearing. Deafness in an older person could lead to a sense of separation, which could make the individual bad tempered. However, the degree of hearing loss depends on the kind of deafness involved.
Treatments for deafness must be carried on before it gets aggravated. There are normally two types of deafness: conductive deafness or sensor neural deafness. Some individuals however, suffer from a combination of the two.
Causes of Conductive and Sensor Neural Deafness
Conductive deafness is hearing loss, resulting from meddling with the transmission of sound waves through either the middle or the outer ear. This deafness could be either temporary or permanent. Conductive deafness could have several causes, possibly the most common of which is earwax (cerumen) which obstructs the ear canal and prevents sound waves from reaching the inner ear. Another common cause of conductive deafness is contagion of the middle ear (otitis media), which often arises from various childhood diseases, especially those involving the upper respiratory tract.
Sensor neural or nerve deafness arises from the incapability of nerve impulses to reach the auditory center of the brain due to nerve damage, either to the inner ear or to the brain. Diseases are general cause of sensor neural deafness. The diseases include chicken pox, arteriosclerosis, influenza, meningitis, mononucleosis, mumps, Rh disease and syphilis. Several kids born with sensor neural deafness have mothers who contracted rubella (German measles) during the first 3 months of pregnancy. Other causes of this deafness include tumors of the brain or the middle ear, blows to the ear, concussion and repeated loud sounds.
Treatments for Deafness
Treatments for deafness depend on the cause. For example, if earwax is the cause, elimination of the wax often restores hearing. However, this removal must be done only by a trained individual as an untrained individual might force the wax deeper into the ear or stab the eardrum. Other forms of treatment for conductive deafness might also include antibiotics as in the case of otitis media; draining the fluid builds up from the middle ear and surgery in the case of a punctured eardrum or a motionless stapes. Surgery in cases of otosclerosis, known as stapedioplasty and stapediolysis are common and highly successful procedures.
Most cases of sensor neural deafness cannot be treated. However, a surgery known as cochlear implant in which a minute electronic device is surgically implanted could be helpful.
About the Author
Dr. Mark Monteiro is graduated from the Hazard University and done his MBA from the he University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Currently he is working as general physician at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health. For over 15 years he has been a pioneer in the field of physician health. He has contributed to the treatment of many diseases like- ASTHMA, TUBERCULOSIS, HIV, HEPATITIS AND ITS TREATMENT.
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