What To Do If You’re Losing Your Hearing

Hearing loss is a natural effect of aging. Yet, there are other factors that contribute to hearing loss as well.

Christine Maddox, family nurse practitioner specializing in otolaryngology and ENT with Franciscan Physician Network in Michigan City, provides key insights for individuals who currently experience hearing loss or are concerned about age-related hearing loss in their future.

What Causes Hearing Loss?

Age-related hearing loss often has to do with the degeneration of hair cells inside the cochlea. These hairs are responsible for detecting sound and transmitting it to the brain. Another age-related cause is that the ear canal can narrow, which impacts the ability of sound waves to travel to the eardrum.

However, there are factors other than age that cause damage to the cells. Exposure to loud noises, such as at a worksite or concert, may also be at fault. Genetics play a role as well.

 “If your mom, dad, grandma, or grandpa had lost hearing at an early age, we look for that to travel along in families,” Maddox said.

What Are Signs Of Hearing Loss?

One key indicator of progressing hearing loss is the need to turn up sounds, such as the television or radio. Another is not being able to make out what people are saying in noisy environments, like a busy restaurant. Unfortunately, the latter can have a severe impact on individuals in regard to social situations.

“A lot of it has to do with quality of life. In the elderly, it can lead to social isolation, depression, anxiety. When it's hard to participate in conversations, that's one of the biggest things. You know, ‘Hey, the ladies aren't going out for a drink or we're going to play some cards,’ and it's a mess because nobody can hear each other,” Maddox said.

Can You Prevent Hearing Loss?

In one’s younger years, Maddox advises limiting exposure to extremely loud noises. Forty million adults in the United States have noise-induced hearing loss.

“If you know you're going to be exposed to loud noise, protect yourself with ear plugs,” Maddox said.

It’s also helpful to know about certain medications that have been connected to hearing loss. Maddox notes that there are approximately 200 different known medications that can contribute to and cause hearing loss and ringing in the ears.

Still, there are some events that just can’t be prevented. Maddox recalls a patient, a truck driver, who had a tire explode directly next to him.

“He lost his hearing on the side that the tire exploded. It was just such a damaging event to those little hair cells inside his cochlea,” Maddox said. “There was nothing he could do to prevent him from having that hearing loss. You know, you could say, ‘Go live in a bubble.’ But most of us can’t do that.”

How Is Hearing Loss Diagnosed?

To diagnose hearing loss, a good first step people can take is to visit with their primary care physician. Oftentimes, the cause of hearing loss could be as simple as excess ear wax or fluid in the ear.

If the cause isn’t evident, the next step is for individuals to undergo various types of hearing testing—under the advisement and supervision of an auditory professional.

“Testing is typically done by an audiologist, who has a master's degree or a doctorate,” Maddox said. “Or, there are licensed hearing aid professionals who don't necessarily have a degree, but they know what they're doing in terms of testing. Not all hearing testing companies are equal when it comes to performing the appropriate test your provider needs to be able to make a diagnosis.”

If a determination is made that hearing aids could be of help, Maddox urges individuals to really assess if they can commit to wearing them. Hearing aids are not “cheap,” some running upwards of $10,000.

“You need to at least say, ‘Hey, I'm going to commit to wearing them and commit to using them,’ because that's a lot of money,” Maddox said. “Ideally, your audiologist will get you fit for the type of hearing aid they think will work best for you.”

Typically, patients will attend follow-up visits over the next three to six months, just to make sure everything is going well with the hearing aids and patients aren’t experiencing any problems or pain. Maddox also wants people to know that hearing aids won’t get them back to the hearing capacity they had in their younger years. Yet, it’s often a good and viable alternative to the social and environmental impact hearing loss can inflict.