What is Deafness? Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

What is Deafness?

Deafness is a condition in which a person loses their hearing in whole or in part. Deafness can be congenital or acquired. Congenital deafness is usually accompanied by speech impairments.

Hearing loss and deafness are variants of a hearing disorder in which a person loses the ability to hear various sounds. Depending on the severity of hearing loss, a person can hear a greater or lesser range of sounds, and with deafness, there is a complete inability to hear any sounds.

In general, deafness can be considered as the last stage of hearing loss, in which complete hearing loss occurs. The term “hearing loss” usually means hearing impairment of varying severity, in which a person can hear at least very loud speech. And deafness is a condition in which a person is no longer able to hear even very loud speech.

Hearing loss or deafness can affect one or both ears, and the degree of its severity can be different in the right and left ear. Since the mechanisms of development, causes, and methods of therapy for hearing loss and deafness are the same, they are combined into one nosology, considering as successive stages of one pathological process of a person’s hearing loss.

Deafness Symptoms

When people are mildly deaf, the average person may not be aware of the possibility of deafness. Therefore, we can only judge from some subtle symptoms.

Infancy: No response to sound, not knowing how to find the source of sound.
School-age children: When listening to others, they often ask for repetition. They tend to get tired of listening to long dictation or speech, and learn new things more slowly than other children.
Adults: often turn up the volume of the TV or radio too high, often can not hear others calling from behind, and often ignore the phone ring and door ring.

Causes of Deafness

1. hearing loss can be divided into congenital and acquired.
   
2. Congenital hearing loss is hearing impairment that occurs when a baby is born or shortly after birth.
3. It is mainly due to genetic and chromosomal abnormalities that cause hereditary hearing loss. 
4. In addition, it is also possible that the mother took drugs during pregnancy that affected the fetus.
   
5. Acquired deafness, mainly due to diseases such as inner otitis, auditory neuritis, or suffering from acold, frequent ear digging, and water in the ears while swimming, may lead to deafness.

Handling by yourself is not appropriate. If you suspect hearing problems, you should consult a doctor immediately.

Deafness Treatment

If it is permanent hearing loss, there is no treatment, only hearing aids can help hearing. Blue Angels Hearing is one of the top brands offering high-quality hearing aids at affordable prices. If you are aware of mild deafness as early as possible, you can seek help from a doctor and receive relevant treatment, which can reduce the chance of developing permanent deafness.

Prevention of Peafness

• Women who are preparing to become pregnant need to be prepared for pregnancy, such as a German measles vaccination. In addition, pregnant women should also be careful not to take medicine without a doctor’s instructions.
• If you must be exposed to harmful noise for a long time, you can use protective devices such as earplugs, earmuffs or helmets. Of course, it is best to avoid contact with Excessive sound.
• Try to use a Walkman or Earphones as little as possible to avoid unconscious hearing degradation due to long-term exposure to high volume.
• The baby’s regular health check and the development of listening and speaking ability after birth should be closely monitored, and the habit of consulting with medical institutions should be established. Once the baby’s auditory response is found to be slow or unusual in the development of oral language, further identification is required immediately. Intervene in early treatment as soon as possible to minimize the impact of hearing loss.
• To prevent hereditary hearing loss, it is best to determine the possibility of fetal inheritance before marriage and conception, and to avoid infections that endanger hearing during pregnancy and delivery.
• Pay attention to ear hygiene. If you use cotton swabs to clean your ears, you must immediately remove any water in your ears.