Collin County Living Well Magazine May/June 2019 | Page 19

UNDERSTANDING HEARING LOSS
By Elizabeth Brassine, Au.D.
L
Hearing Facts
et’s start with
some facts (NID-
CD, 2013): one in
five Americans 12
and older experi-
ences hearing loss se-
vere enough to hinder
communication. Nearly
50% of adults ages 75
and older have hearing impairments. Hearing loss is the
third most prevalent chronic condition in older Americans
after hypertension and arthritis. About 26 million Ameri-
cans between the ages of 20 and 69 have high frequency
hearing loss due to exposure to loud noises at work or in
leisure activities. Tinnitus (“ringing in the ears”) affects up to
50 million Americans. Tinnitus is currently the number one
service-connected disability for veterans from all service. If
you have hearing loss, you’re not alone. In fact, the World
Health Organization estimates that 360 million people
worldwide have “disabling hearing loss.”
How Hearing Works
When we become aware of a sound in our environment, it
is the result of a sequence of events. The outer ear-sound
travels through the pinna, what we see on the side of our
head, which collects and funnels sound into and down the
ear canal, striking the eardrum and causing it to vibrate.
The middle ear-vibrations from the eardrum cause the
ossicles (the three smallest bones in the body) to vibrate
which, in turn, send the information onto the inner ear. In
the inner ear, the movement of the hair cells sends elec-
trical impulses through the auditory nerve to the hearing
center of the brain, which translates them to sounds the
brain can recognize.
Causes of Hearing Loss
Something can go wrong along that whole auditory
pathway, therefore many things can cause our hearing
system to stop functioning properly. The main causes
are the aging process, noise exposure, infections, a va-
riety of diseases such as Meningitis, injuries to the head
or ear, birth defects, genetics, and ototoxic reaction to
drugs or cancer treatment (i.e. certain antibiotics, che-
motherapy, etc.).
How Hearing Loss Occurs
To understand why hearing loss is pervasive, it’s important
to understand how hearing loss happens. Hearing loss hap-
pens when any part of our delicate hearing system stops
working properly, whether it’s due to damage or deterio-
ration. The most susceptible and common parts to break
down are the microscopic stereocilia, the thousands of
tiny hair cells that detect and send sound impulses to the
brain. When these tiny hair cells become injured, diseased
or die naturally, the result is sensory hearing loss. This is
by far the most common type of hearing loss. When the
microscopic stereocilia (hair cells) in your cochlear (inner
ear) are damaged, they will not send complete signals to
your brain, causing you to be unable to understand the
consonants (more typical than vowels) within words. For
example, the word “TOOTHBRUSH” may sound like “OO-
BRU.” Healthy hair cells stand erect and are able to accu-
rately detect sound waves and send impulses to the brain
to correctly identify the word spoken. Damaged hair cells
are limp and will no longer stand erect. They are therefore
unable to properly detect sounds waves or send the correct
information to the brain to identify.
How Hearing Loss Can Impact Your Life
If you think you hearing loss is inconsequential, you should
know that studies have linked untreated hearing loss to
significant issues such as: diminished psychological and
overall health, impaired memory and ability to learn new
tasks, reduced alertness and increased risk to personal
safety, avoidance or withdrawal from social situations, so-
cial rejection and loneliness, fatigue, tension, stress and
depression, irritability, negativism and anger, reduced job
performance and earning power (from Better Hearing Insti-
tute, 2013).
What Hearing Loss is Like
You can’t recreate a hearing loss simply by plugging your
ears. A person with normal hearing can hear quiet, medi-
um and loud sounds that vary from low pitch (bass) to high
pitch (treble). But when you have hearing loss, you often
lose the ability to hear higher pitched sounds first, such as
certain consonants like T, K, S, F, SH and TH. Even though
you still may be able to hear the stronger, lower pitch vow-
el sounds, this is why “I hear, but cannot understand” is a
common complaint.
Help is Available
If you think you or someone you know has hearing loss,
the next step is an easy one––confirm it by seeing an Au-
diologist. Just as every person is unique, every hearing
loss and hearing need is unique too. Consult an Audiolo-
gist who is trained to inspect your ear canal, accurately
measure your hearing loss, assess your unique needs and
make a recommendation that takes all this personal infor-
mation into account.
Elizabeth Brassine is a Doctor of audiology and owner of Hearing Services of McKinney.
COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MAY/JUNE 2019
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