IS DEAFNESS A NATURAL CONSEQUENCE OF AGING?

Many people develop some mild impairment of hearing as they grow older. Often it will not significantly interfere with your function, although in some instances it can be disabling. If you suffered from an injury to your eardrums many years ago and it was not properly treated, a decrease in hearing may persist and become worse with time. This might respond to surgical repair. Wax in the ears alone does not usually cause a significant decrease in hearing. However, if your ear canals are completely blocked by wax, you may experience some decrease in your hearing in addition to a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear. In this case a hearing aid may not work properly until the wax is removed.

One cause of decreased hearing is otosclerosis. Even though it is more common in younger people, it can progress throughout life. In this condition the small bones in the ear that help transmit sound become rigid and no longer vibrate properly, so the sound waves do not pass the middle ear to the inner ear.

There is some controversy as to whether older people might benefit from surgery to make the bones mobile again. There is good evidence that in some older individuals, this type of surgery may be very successful. In some instances the surgery alone restores hearing. In others surgery can improve the results of using a hearing aid, which may be needed after the operation.

A very common cause of hearing loss is the deterioration of the inner ear (nerve deafness). The exact cause is unknown, but it affects most older people to some degree. Some people seem to be able to hear with no problem until they are very old, whereas others begin to lose their hearing earlier. Although no special treatment will return hearing if you have this problem, some improvements can be made. In some instances a hearing aid may be of value, although it is less often helpful in this kind of deafness.

Aspirin, often prescribed for arthritic conditions, can interfere with hearing and may cause ringing of your ears. This improves when the aspirin is stopped or the dosage reduced. Some strong antibiotics used in serious infections may also interfere with hearing and with balance.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 5:36 am and is filed under Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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