Hearing impairment or deafness.:

Hearing impairment or deafness.:

It refers to the individual’s inability to detect or receive at least some sound frequencies which can usually be heard by members of their species, hearing loss can be classified as mild, moderate to profound.

A deaf person uses vision as the primary mode for learning and communication.

Hearing loss Damage to any part of the external, middle, or inner ear can cause hearing loss which can range from being mild to profound. 

If someone is born with hearing loss, this is known as congenital deafness, whereas if hearing loss occurs after birth is it known as adventitious deafness.  The most common cause of adventitious deafness is noise.

Other causes of hearing loss can be quite varied and can include problems with the bones within the ear, damage to the cochlear nerve, genetic disorders, exposure to diseases in utero, age, trauma, and other diseases.

Causes of hearing loss and deafness

·        If one or both parents have greater risk of hearing loss the child is born deaf.

·        Hearing impairment is often caused by problems during pregnancy and childbirth.

·        Premature birth during labor conditions in which a baby does not have enough oxygen to breathe.

·        Rubella, syphilis or some other infections in a woman during pregnancy.

·        Inappropriate use of toxic drugs (a group of over 130 drugs, such as the antibiotic gentamicin) during pregnancy.

·        Jaundice, which can damage the auditory nerve in a newborn baby.

·        Other causes include infections such as meningitis, measles, mumps and chronic ear infections can lead to hearing impairment.

·        Wax or foreign bodies blocking the ear canal can cause hearing loss at any age. Excessive noise, including working with noisy machinery, exposure to loud music or other noises such as gunfire or explosions can damage the inner ear and weak hearing. As people age, accumulated exposure to noise and other factors can lead to deafness or hearing loss.

Hearing Loss Degrees

Hearing loss was originally defined in medical terms before the development of modern audiology. Today professionals use the consistent, research-based terminology of audiology, as well as less-defined educational and cultural descriptions. The following numerical values are based on the average of the hearing loss at three frequencies 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2000 Hz, in the better ear without amplification. The numerical values for the seven categories vary from author to author:

·        Normal hearing (-10 dB to 15 dB)

·        Slight loss (16 dB to 25 dB)

·        Mild loss (26 dB to 30 dB)

·        Moderate loss (31 dB to 50 dB)

·        Moderate/Severe (51 dB to 70 dB)

·        Severe loss (71 dB to 90 dB)

·        Profound loss (91 dB or more)

Prevention

Solutions to hearing impairment focus on prevention, early detection and treatment and rehabilitation.

Sensor neural hearing loss can be prevented by:

·        Meningitis, immunize children against childhood diseases like measles, meningitis, rubella and mumps.

·        Immunize women of childbearing age against rubella before pregnancy.

·        Detection and treatment of syphilis and certain other infections in pregnant women;

·        Improved prenatal and prenatal care.