Acquired Hearing Loss

Acquired hearing loss encompasses those hearing conditions that come about during life instead of at birth. Anything “acquired,” then, is non-congenital and usually non-hereditary. Around 75% of all adults acquire some degree of deafness their 19th year. An estimated 1 out of every 150 people will develop some form of hearing problem in life.

Examples of acquired hearing loss would be a perforated eardrum; earwax impaction; arthritic ossicles bones; Cholesteatoma; hearing problems due to Ostosclerosis, Meningitis, Measles, Mumps, Encephalitis, or Chicken Pox; damaged auditory nerve; and infective middle-ear processes.

Since acquired hearing loss isn’t genetic or congenital, it would natural have causes. These causes range anywhere from head trauma, such as a baseball bat, to diseases like respiratory disorders or viral attacks, such as is the case of Mumps, Measles, and Meningitis, all of which are painful and contagious. An example of how a viral disease could cause hearing loss would be that viral intruders attack the nervous system and incapacitate neural pathways so impulses cannot be transmitted. Nerves, such as the main auditory nerve, are infected so they cannot function, and sensory performance is reduced to the point vagueness. Such causes can be treated an overcome in a variety of means. This adds another dimension to the definition of acquired hearing loss, and that is that anything acquired can also be eliminated. Hereditary and congenital hearing loss typically cannot; acquired hearing loss can be.

Treatment for acquired hearing loss can take the form of medication, injection, or surgery, depending on the particular cause. Hearing loss due to a perforated eardrum, for example, can be decreased through a procedure called a Tympanotomy, during which the otolaryngologist literally “patches” up the rupture in the tympanic membrane (or eardrum) with the use of a microscope and the application of chemical adhesive and paper. Although many perforated eardrums can and do heal on their own, many can and do not, so surgery must be performed. Antibiotics can restore hearing, too, but consuming the infection that is causing the hearing in the first place. Hearing loss brought on as a result of Meningitis or Measles can be overcome through a strict, and usually heavy, regimen of antibiotics, although—depending on the severity of the disease—the medication might be accompanied by an injection to facilitate the healing process and the dissipation of symptoms associated with hearing loss.

Plenty of information on acquired hearing loss, as well as those types of hearing loss that comprise the category of acquired hearing loss (e.g. conductive and sensorineural), can be found on the Internet. Being well-informed will help researchers know when they should get a check-up and why. If hearing is less than perfect, even if one is elderly, a check-up is always a good idea.