Healthy Times Magazine

Dr. Mark Hon Wah Ignatius

Your friends are surprised. You’ve been keeping yourself away from social gatherings lately. And you’ve avoided answering your mobile phone. Even you family have noticed you to be more withdrawn than usual.  You need to turn up the volume of the TV to enjoy your favorite show. At work, it takes so much effort to understand what people say. If this is occurring in your life, it’s about time you have to see an otorhinolaryngologist or a specialist in ear, nose and throat diseases (or an ENT specialist).

Usually, you’ll experience muffled speech and you’ll have a difficult time understanding words especially in a noisy room or traffic. You’ll hear the noise but wouldn’t understand what is being said. Then, gradually withdraw into yourself as your hearing loss becomes worse. Consequently, the things that have given you pleasure in the past such as listening to music, watching television, or a movie wouldn’t mean anything now.

From age 60, the keenness of your hearing diminishes. This condition is called presbycusis. Continuous exposure to loud noises for prolonged periods of time and hereditary factors are other causes of hearing loss. It can be irreversible but your doctor can help you so you can gain back that confidence, enjoy social gatherings once again, and be alert in your work.

Most cases of hearing loss maybe due to a blocked ear canal due to the build-up of cerumen. This is temporary and easy to treat. Your ENT specialist would give you some ear drops then flushes out the impacted cerumen. Your hearing would be easily restored. However, if your inner ear – where the cells of the cochlea send signals to the brain are destroyed- you’ll end up having what is termed as sensory neural deafness. This condition is irreversible. Some cases of hearing loss are due to infections and tumor.

Occupational and recreational noises like firearms, fireworks, motorcycling, snowmobiling and even listening to loud music can injure the sensitive cells of your cochlea. Medications can damage your inner ear like gentamicin, aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inlfammmatory drugs, lop diuretics, streptomycin – an anti-tuberculosis drug- and even anti-malarial drugs. Illnesses can destroy the cochlea, and cause hearing loss such as high fever or meningitis.

Apart from being embarrassing, hearing loss affects the quality of your life. It makes you depressed and anxious. You can’t take part in activities that needs a lot of instructions.

If you’ve been denying your hearing loss, or withdrawing from people, there’s help for you. Usually, a hearing aid can do wonders for mild to moderate hearing loss. Cochlear implants are reserved for serious cases. Seek treatment of a skilled ENT specialist and discuss these options.

Hearing aids and cochlear implants can dramatically improve your condition. You’ll just be too happy to understand what people are saying. You’ll interact better and get back you self-confidence, improve your relationship with your loved ones, and improve your over-all perspective on life.