Hearing impairment, deafness, or hearing loss refers to the inability to hear things, either totally or partially. Symptoms may be mild, moderate, severe or profound. A patient with mild hearing impairment may have problems understanding speech, especially if there is a lot of noise around, while those with moderate deafness may need
a hearing aid. Some people are severely deaf and depend on lip-reading when communicating with others.
People who are profoundly deaf can hear nothing at all. In order to communicate spontaneously and rapidly with people, they are totally reliant on lip-reading and/or sign language. People who are born deaf find lip-reading much harder to learn compared to those who became hearing impaired after their had learnt to communicate orally (with sounds).
Some diseases or circumstances can cause deafness, including:
Chicken pox
Cytomegalovirus
Mumps
Meningitis
Sickle cell disease
AIDS - offspring of mothers who had AIDS during pregnancy have a much higher risk of being deaf by the age of 16 years
Syphilis
Lyme disease
Diabetes - studies have shown that up to 40% of diabetes patients suffer from some kind of hearing loss
Tuberculosis (TB), experts believe that the medication, streptomycin, used to treat TB may be the key risk factor
Hypothyroidism - and underactive thyroid gland
Arthritis
Some cancers
Second hand smoke exposure can increase hearing loss risk in teenagers
Many people globally have untreated hearing loss. It is estimated that 23 million Americans live with untreated impaired hearing.
What is the difference between hearing loss and deafness?
Hearing loss refers to a diminished ability to hear sounds like other people do, while deafness refers to the inability to understand speech through hearing even when sound is amplified. Profound deafness means the person cannot hear anything at all; they are unable to detect sound, even at the highest volume possible.
Degree of hearing impairment - a person's severity of hearing impairment is categorized by how much louder than "usual levels" sound volumes need to be set at before they can detect a sound.
Degree of deafness - any degree of deafness means the person cannot understand speech through hearing at any level of amplification. If a person is profoundly deaf, they cannot detect sounds at any volume. Some people define profoundly deaf and totally deaf in the same way, while others say totally deaf is the end of the hearing spectrum.
What is the difference between hearing loss and deafness?
Hearing loss refers to a diminished ability to hear sounds like other people do, while deafness refers to the inability to understand speech through hearing even when sound is amplified. Profound deafness means the person cannot hear anything at all; they are unable to detect sound, even at the highest volume possible.
Degree of hearing impairment - a person's severity of hearing impairment is categorized by how much louder than "usual levels" sound volumes need to be set at before they can detect a sound.
Degree of deafness - any degree of deafness means the person cannot understand speech through hearing at any level of amplification. If a person is profoundly deaf, they cannot detect sounds at any volume. Some people define profoundly deaf and totally deaf in the same way, while others say totally deaf is the end of the hearing spectrum.
New Research- An Effective Low Cost Solution To Hearing Loss
Hearing loss affects millions in the U.S., but many are not covered by insurance or can't afford the high prices of custom hearing aids, says a researcher. The MD Hearing Aid line is shown to have a high rate of user satisfaction.
A study presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. shows that the MD Hearing Aid line offers a reasonable low-cost solution to those who are not using hearing aids or other amplification devices because of cost concerns.
In the study, researchers at the Michigan Ear Institute sought to evaluate a novel, inexpensive (under $200.) over- the-counter hearing aid regarding to its acoustic properties and also to test the hearing aid on patients with varying levels of hearing loss to evaluate their perceived benefit by using validated questionnaires.
Hearing loss affects approximately 34 million people in the United States, but hearing aid usage rates have historically remained at just 24%. One major reason for this low rate of use is that hearing aids are typically very expensive, with the average cost of a single hearing aid approximately $1,900. Medicare and most insurance companies do not cover this cost. Many medical studies have linked untreated hearing loss in the elderly with a higher risk of social isolation, depression, anxiety, and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's dementia. The MDHearingAid was evaluated using a Fonix 6500c Hearing Aid Analyzer, measured according to accepted standards. The measurements included saturated sound pressure level curve, high-frequency average full-on gain, frequency response, total harmonic distortion, equivalent input noise level, and input-output curve. Then the device was tested on a group of participants with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss who were unwilling or unable to purchase a custom hearing aid due to cost considerations. The participants were asked to wear the device for a minimum of 30 days and complete these self-reported surveys: "International Outcome Inventory - Hearing Aids" and "Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living".
Researcher Seilesh Babu, M.D. found that the MDHearingAid met the acoustic targets. All participants demonstrated user satisfaction scores that were within the standard range for patients with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss. The study found that the low-cost MDHearingAid is electroacoustically adequate and a reasonable low-cost solution to meet the needs of those value- and cost-conscious patients who were not using amplification via a custom hearing device. Dr. Babu stated that further development and investigation of these instruments is warranted, to provide a potential opportunity for greater numbers of persons with hearing loss to have access to hearing aids and reap the medical, social, and emotional benefits from improved communicative abilities.
(Source- American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C)
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