Hearing impairment: causes, classification, diagnosis and treatment. Help to the hearing impaired

Currently, in medicine, various forms of hearing impairment, provoked by genetic causes or acquired, are known. The opportunity to hear is affected by a huge number of factors. We will analyze them.

General view of

When considering what causes can cause hearing loss, special attention should be given to infectious pathologies. More often, these affect children, which leads to problems for life. The most dangerous are encephalitis, meningitis, but this list is not exhausted. Violation of the possibility to hear can be triggered by influenza, otitis, measles. In some cases, this problem is caused by the transferred scarlet fever.

There are a lot of cases when the weakening of the possibility to hear was triggered by injuries that affected the nervous system of the auditory organs, as well as the actual ear - not only the outside, but also inside, and also the middle one. Diagnosis of hearing impairment always begins with the definition of symptoms and the causes that provoked it. As is known from medical statistics, when the activity of the inner ear or nervous system is disrupted, a person becomes absolutely deaf. But in a situation where the middle ear has suffered, deafness is often partial, there is the possibility of compensating for the violation with the help of special devices and medical therapy.

Some features of

It is known that many causes of hearing impairment lie in wait for children, adolescents studying in general educational institutions. In many respects this is due to the fashion for loud music, the use of portable speakers, music centers and players. The limiting intensity of such a stimulus, which affects the auditory system for a long time, leads to a strong weakening of its functionality. Technical means deliver sound directly into the ear, without dissipating the wave, so the power is not lost, which forces the ear to face very high loads for a long time.

Its role is played by the fashion for loud music. Other children who do not aspire to this kind of pastime themselves are influenced by their peers, because having a player is "cool", "stylish", and the most popular music is sharp, loud, steep. This goes well with the rebelliousness of the adolescent period, but extremely badly - with a general state of health.

Reason: look at the root of

Recently, congenital deafness is increasingly being diagnosed. The reason for this problem is the peculiarities of pregnancy. As a rule, hearing impairments can cause viral illnesses borne by a pregnant woman in the first third of the term. The most dangerous are considered to be measles, rubella, and also an exceptionally widespread flu. The negative influence on the hearing system of the fetus is exerted by herpes, especially in the first trimester of gestation.

Some people from birth suffer from deformation of the ossicles of the auditory system. There are cases of underdevelopment of the nervous system of the auditory organs or atrophy of certain nerves. Among the causes of hearing loss is not the last place occupied by chemical poisoning, injuries received in the process of childbirth, as well as mechanical - stroke, bruise. A strong influence has a long-term effect of noise or super-strong sharp loads( hooters).

What else is possible?

Hearing loss can result in an explosion that causes concussion. There are cases when acute inflammatory processes have caused the loss of the ability to hear qualitatively. If a person suffers from chronic forms of pathologies of the nasopharynx, nose, in the course of time, there is also a decrease in the ability to hear.

As can be seen from the characteristics of hearing impairment, the most dangerous are the causes associated with childhood diseases, and it is extremely difficult, often impossible, to eliminate such negative consequences. Early age, infancy - at this time, many body systems are not yet formed, so aggressive external influence, infection, inflammation and invasion so significantly affect the quality of the whole future life. Danger and special medications used uncontrolled, without the advice of a doctor. Most characteristic is a number of antimicrobial drugs from the category of ototoxic.

What does Statistics say?

As medical research has shown, most often causes of hearing impairment are caught in the period of embryonic development and early childhood, then the corresponding function is violated. In 1959, studies were conducted to determine the quantitative factor. As it was found out by the scientist, about 70% of all cases of hearing loss first appear in the age of up to three years. As you grow up, the likelihood of hearing loss is gradually decreasing, and a new risk increase is associated with age-related changes - but this applies only to advanced age and in most cases is easily corrected by special devices.

General theory of

Under hearing impairment, it is customary to understand either a partial or total inability to notice, perceive sounds. Factors are not only biological, but also related to ecology. A similar problem can develop in absolutely any living organism, from nature endowed with the ability to listen. With respect to a person, deafness is said when there is no possibility to perceive speech, for certain problems in this area, hearing loss is diagnosed.

To classify hearing impairments, it is necessary to identify the hearing threshold of a particular person. This term denotes the smallest volume that it can perceive. With respect to a person and a number of mammals, it is permissible to resort to behavioral audiograms to reveal the characteristics of the organism. The technique is as follows: sounds are recorded( quiet and loud), provoking some reaction of the body, then the patient is tested with their help. Another option to identify abilities - physiological, electrical tests. With their implementation, there is no need for an analysis of the behavioral response of the organism.

And what should be done?

There is no universal threshold of audibility for different frequencies: for each species this value is unique. As shown by experiments, if you run successively on one amplitude the sound of a different frequency, some moments will be perceived quiet, others, on the contrary, loud, but something is impossible to hear at all. Increasing the amplitude or increasing the volume makes the sound more clearly perceived by the auditory system.

Most living organisms that use sounds to interact with their species use frequencies that are optimally perceived by the auditory system of this particular species of creatures. This adjustment is provided by the structure of the ear, the features of the nervous system, and also by the brain areas processing the information that has arrived.

Some features of the human ear

Hearing impairment in humans is classified in degrees, while evaluating how loud the sound should be so that a person can distinguish it. For a correct analysis of the situation use a special device - an audiometer. If the deafness is deep, then even the most powerful sound waves are not perceived by the listener.

In some cases, hearing impairment manifests itself in relation to quality. To make a diagnosis it is necessary to test for the ability to recognize speech. If the perception of the quality component is impaired, a person can hear sounds, but can not separate them into separate words. During testing, find out how much the interlocutor understood the information. In practice, the inability to recognize sound almost never occurs separately from the weakening of the functioning of the auditory system as a whole.

Conductive hearing loss

This term is used to refer to a situation where auditory problems are associated with the inability to carry information from the outer ear to the middle ear. Only if the body has a formal auditory passage, a person can hear what is happening around him. Also a prerequisite is the presence of a tympanic membrane, bones, from the nature assumed in the structure of the auditory system. With improper construction or injuries of this part of the body, there is a partial or total loss of the ability to perceive the sounds of the environment.

Conductive hearing loss is not associated with speech recognition problems. If a person can hear what he has said, he understands exactly what was said. Most often, the problem develops against the background of an abnormal development of the abovementioned elements of the auditory system, as well as in the obstruction of the passage.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Such a problem with hearing is more often provoked by the malfunctioning of the ear snail or the nervous system that provides ear functionality. These causes of hearing loss provoke deafness of varying degrees - from a weak form to a complete loss of hearing ability.

The sensorosensory problem is often caused by the following incorrect natural structure of the cochlea: pathologies of the cells of the hairs present in the corti element of the system are observed. In some cases, it can be hearing loss caused by diseases of the nervous system of the brain or those parts of this body that are responsible for the possibility of hearing. There are cases when in a similar situation there was a central hearing impairment, in which a person can normally hear, but the quality of the information perceived by him is too low to be able to benefit from it. In particular, it is impossible to make out what other people are saying.

Causes and effects of

Predominantly, problems are provoked by pathologies of hair cells. This is not only the acquired deviations, but also the genetic hearing impairments with which the child lives since birth. Sometimes the cause is a noise injury or hereditary factor. Especially dangerous are people who are forced to live near the airfields, since the load level is about 70 dB daily, which is too much for the human ear. It is impossible to be in such a noisy situation on the street, and houses have to keep windows closed all the time, but this can not save you from hearing impairment.

A hearing-impaired child may be born due to genetic characteristics. The reason is not only in the dominant, but sometimes in the recessive gene. Manifestations of problems range from fairly insignificant to very serious ones. If the gene is dominant, in every new generation people will suffer from auditory weakness. When recessive, it does not appear so often.

Rumor is important

Currently, people with very weak hearing can use sign languages ​​for communication, but this, unfortunately, does not solve the whole problem. Hearing is necessary for a person to live safely in our world, to perceive the surrounding space. Of course, communication such problems are limited very much. Hearing impairment significantly affects the quality of life, provokes distraction. Such people find it difficult to concentrate, it is even more difficult to apply efforts to master new skills and knowledge. When interacting with others with a weak, moderate form of hearing loss, we constantly have to ask again what has been said, and this undermines self-confidence and provokes withdrawal from the society, the development of depressive states.

As can be seen from the medical statistics, more than 10,000,000 children and adults who are hard of hearing in our country are among them. One in ten of them are still patients who have not reached the age of majority. The most difficult cases, as already mentioned above, are the situations when pathologies are triggered by the course of pregnancy or by traumas obtained at birth or right after it. A distinctive feature of this situation is the fact that children in principle have not yet heard any sounds, so they can not even imagine what it is. Such a child will find it extremely difficult to explain what a speech is.

Responsibility Today - Happiness in the Future

Doctors pay attention: although recently, among state programs, the help of hard of hearing people occupies an important place, it is not worth counting too much on its capabilities. The fact is that no external assistance will not be a full-fledged replacement for the natural hearing. Save it - not a simple task, especially quality, to the full as given by nature.

As specialists draw attention, with primary problems, you should immediately contact the doctor without delaying this moment. The sooner it turns out to ask for help from a professional, the higher the probability of quickly finding the cause and taking measures to prevent the deterioration of the situation and restore the quality of functioning of the hearing organs. Do not try to choose for yourself a treatment or choose a hearing aid to compensate for the abilities lost over time. The fact is that such an unprofessional approach can significantly worsen your own situation and provoke further progress in pathology. In order not to harm yourself, you must first turn to the doctor, only after that take some steps.

Features of different forms of hearing loss

The problem can only spread to one ear or both. Depending on the case, one-sided, bilateral deafness is spoken. From medical statistics it follows that most often there is a sensoro-neural form of hearing loss. In some cases, features are observed simultaneously, and conductive deafness is the so-called mixed form, which is considered to be the most complex form. If such a diagnosis is made, a prolonged therapeutic course, surgical intervention is usually prescribed, and by results, it may be necessary to use the hearing aid for the rest of your life.

There are also cases when absolutely nothing can be done, it only remains to learn the sign languages ​​and use them to communicate with the surrounding people, and to be extremely careful if there is a need to go out into the world filled with dangers that other people are warned throughorgans of hearing. It so happened that medicine does not yet have all possible means and tools that would help to fix hearing problems in any situation, situation, regardless of the cause.

Classification of hearing loss

There are four categories:

• is light, in which a person hears sounds from a distance of up to six meters, the threshold of audibility is up to 30 dB;
• average, when the threshold is shifted to 50 dB, and the sound can be heard at a distance from the source no more than 4 meters;
• heavy, at which the conversation can be heard if the interlocutor is a meter from the listener, with the threshold reaching 70 dB;
• deep( threshold of audibility - up to 90 dB).

If the indicator is above 90 dB, diagnose deafness.

The speed of decrease in the perception of sound in some is rather slow, in others the process proceeds swiftly.

The first symptoms of the disease

Suspected hearing loss can be on the following grounds:

• to hear what was said by others, we have to ask again;
• at the dialogue with several interlocutors the ability to concentrate is reduced, the thread of the narrative is constantly lost;
• does not leave a feeling that the surrounding people specifically say quieter than normal;
• is difficult to communicate in a noisy, crowded place;
• is difficult to perceive children's speech;
• has to increase the volume of the TV speakers above average;
• for itself is seen by the mechanical observation of the lips of the interlocutor for a more accurate perception of information;
• in silence it seems as if it rings in your ears.

Many people under the influence of such changes in their lives become aggressive and irritable, anxious and depressed. Self-esteem is greatly affected. As soon as disturbing symptoms begin to appear, one should immediately turn to a professional. The doctor examines the ear and determines for what reason the hearing deteriorates, what can be done to prevent the development of the process.

Age features of

It is known that the danger of hearing deterioration with the years is high. In the risk group - all people older than fifty years of age. This is explained as follows: by the age of 50, the elements responsible for the perception of sound waves are heavily worn, hence, the receptors can not function normally. The official name for such a violation is presbybicusis. It is observed really often, as a rule, they do not practice specific treatment, but they recommend the use of special devices to enhance the function of hearing.

This is important

Many brain, skull or ear injuries can provoke hearing problems. This is not only mechanical damage, but also acoustic. Inflammatory, infectious and tumor processes worsen the quality of the system of perception of sounds. To the loss of hearing can cause injuries associated with a violation of atmospheric pressure.

It is known that some drugs can play their role. The greatest danger is associated with the uncontrolled use of antimicrobial agents that act poisonously on tissues and cells of the hearing organs and provoke a gradual decrease in their function up to complete deafness.