...The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to live with hearing loss and methods to cope with the emotional, psychological, and social effects of a hearing loss. The physical aspects of hearing impairment, including hearing mechanisms and how the ear functions are also discussed. The topic is important because understanding the various causes of hearing loss in addition to methods and resources to help with coping with a hearing loss will assist in improving communication with family members, friends, co-workers and complete strangers resulting in a better quality of life. This paper is organized into seven sections. Section one will discuss how hearing loss affect people in the U.S.; the physical parts of the human ear; how the ear functions, and different types of hearing loss. Section two will discuss the psychological, (i.e., social and emotional) effects of hearing loss. Section three will discuss how hearing loss can effect relationships. Section four will discuss where to seek medical help. Section five will discuss the pros and cons of hearing aids and associated cost. Section six will discuss tinnitus (ringing or roaring in the ear), and my personal experience coping with tinnitus and hearing loss. Section seven will present the conclusion. People of all ages suffer from hearing loss and in particular as a result of noise damage, whereby “many cases of hearing loss – at least 10 million of the 28 million total cases in the U.S. – are a result...
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...In spite of the importance of hearing in everyday life, hearing loss is often an unrecognized and under-treated health disorder. Even among people with hearing impairment, there may be a tendency to underreport hearing-related difficulties. (Cruickshanks, Nondahl, Tweed, Wiley, Klein. B, Klein. R, Chappell, Dalton & Nash, 2010) According to the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1986), hearing impairment is very common among elderly people and can seriously affect their quality of life, personal safety, and ability to function independently. Pure Tone average results for the First Study showed that nearly half of the participants were classified as having hearing loss (of all degrees) which was consistent with the third study,...
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...How hearing loss affects development of the mind James Garrett Excelsior College PSY235 Dr. Victoria Ferrara June 21, 2015 Abstract Hearing loss can have a tremendous effect on the cognitive development of human beings. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory can be connected to this issue. Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory can also be tied into the effects of hearing loss on development and the theory of mind is another theory that can help explain the why. Language development is one of the main reasons for a child’s mental growth and is also one of the main areas effected by a hearing deficit. There are many ways to combat the ill-effects of hearing loss including new technologies in hearing aids along with proactive parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals. How hearing loss affects development of the mind Pediatric hearing loss is not a low-incident disability with the educationally significant hearing loss being approximately 12 in 1000 children (Matkin & Wilcox, 1999). Anderson (2015) tells us that usually during the 24th week of pregnancy, an unborn baby begins to hear. Hearing is a vital means of interacting with the family and the world throughout life. A baby starts to distinguish sounds like human speech in the first months after birth. The foundations of language, both hearing and speaking, develop by age two. The development of language from the youngest age is directly tied to cognitive development, primarily affecting reading, learning...
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...DEAFNESS It refers to a hearing loss so severe that the individual cannot process spoken language even with amplification devices. HARD OF HEARING A person is considered hard of hearing if he/she generally with the use of a hearing aid, has *residual hearing sufficient to enable successful processing of linguistic information. TYPES OF HEARING LOSS * Pre-lingual deafness * Occurs before the child has acquired speech * Post-lingual deafness * Occurs after the child has acquired speech ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE EAR 3 Major parts of the ear * Outer ear * Middle ear * Inner ear * OUTER EAR -Consists of the Auricle (part of the ear that protrudes from the side of the head) until the tympanic membrane (eardrum). -Sound is “collected “ by the Auricle and is funneled through the external auditory canal to the eardrum, which vibrates sending sound waves to the middle ear. * MIDDLE EAR -Consists of the eardrum and 3 tiny bones * Malleus (Hammer) * Incus (Anvil) * Stapes (Stirrup) They are contained in an air-filed space. They conduct vibrations of the eardrum to the oval window which is the link between the middle ear and the inner ear. * INNER EAR -An intricate mechanism of thousand of moving parts. -Often called a “labyrinth” * Divided into 2 sections: * Vestibular mechanism * Responsible for sense of balance * Cochlea * Most important...
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...MUSIC INDUCED HEARING LOSS: IMPROVING LISTENING HABITS INTRODUCTION It is now a norm in Singapore to see young individuals listen to music through their earphones or headphones in many of their typical day to day activities. Technological advances in audio devices have improved its sound quality and battery life thereby influencing more people to purchase such devices. Though it is generally regarded as a socially acceptable behaviour, detrimental effects will arise to the individual once there is abuse of audio volume in these devices. Unbeknownst to these teenagers, their exposure to music is condemning their ears to harmful levels of sound which will result in irreversible music induced hearing loss. Music induced hearing loss by definition is the disorder in which a person has been exposed to high levels of music over a prolonged period of time (HealthBridges info, 2011). Data from Changi General Hospital states that in recent years, hearing loss cases amongst younger generations in Singapore have doubled (Ng, 2010). The higher incidence of hearing loss in the population stems from a combination of prolonged usage of audio devices at high levels which will deteriorate hearing ability over time (Faloon, 2010). Hence it is imperative that public ignorance be rectified as the problem will exacerbate if it remains unaddressed. Given the effectiveness of social media in Singapore and the relative ease of highlighting Singapore’s health issues to the level of public debate...
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...The Effects Of Unilateral Hearing Loss In Children: A Comparison Between Normal Hearing Children And Children With A Unilateral Loss The development of a child’s education and language skills is heavily reliant on on their ability to hear and process the material provided. A child with a unilateral or mild hearing loss will not have full access to the presented information putting them at a disadvantage compared to their typically hearing peers. José, Mondelli, Feniman and Lopes-Herrera (2014) indicate “without early identification and intervention, about one third of the children with mild bilateral or UHL [unilateral hearing loss] will present difficulties in different areas of communication” (p.199). Unilateral hearing loss is not often...
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...Hearing Loss: An Increasing Problem Today’s youth have adopted a lifestyle revolving around technology. More and more teens and young adults have their own laptop computers, video game systems, and digital music players. The latter of which is causing an outcry from many experts. Hearing loss is more common than ever before with about 16% of Americans affected (Blue). Cranking up to volume on a music player for too long can have undesired consequences, most notably being premature hearing loss. Hearing loss resulting from listening to MP3 players too loudly is becoming an increasing problem among young adults and teenagers. Listeners need to turn down the volume on their devices if they want to save their hearing. Hearing loss in relation to music is a relatively new condition. Declining prices of MP3 players and the huge success of Apple’s IPod has put earbuds in an increasing number of American’s pockets, making the number of potential people exposed to loud music higher than ever before. The IPod can be the most dangerous of all music devices due to the design of its earbuds. Since the bud is directly in the ear, it has a stronger effect on hearing. At 80% of the maximum volume, it is safe to listen to IPods for only just over an hour per day. Compare this to over the ear headphones which can be safely listened to for almost 5 hours at the same volume level. Special sound-isolating headphones are a rapidly growing technology as well. These headphones keep all background...
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...Merriam-Webster Dictionary hearing is the “process, function, or power of perceiving sound”; now imagine if that power were gone. Hearing loss is a continuing problem in the U.S. resulting in 28 million Americans having some degree of hearing loss (Noise-Induced 1). There is not just one simple cause to this complex problem; hearing loss can be caused by multiple things such as a disease, aging, or noise. In this paper, I will be discussing how diseases, medication, genetics, aging and noise levels all have an effect on a person’s ability to hear. When we normally think of people who have lost their hearing we tend to think of the elderly. Aging is most definitely a...
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...The effects of noise pollution (final draft) Noise pollution is a common phenomenon in our daily society. It is any sound that is interfere with human life. The noise is commonly produced by vehicular traffic, construction sites and other sources. It is the unpleasant sound that may affect nearly every aspect of life. It is unlikely produce the physical substances such as environmental pollution, but it will cause a lot of damages to both human and animals in many ways. Noise pollution has serious effects on human health. This is a matter of great concern to the society. Hearing loss is the most probable outcome to the people who are always under this type of pollution. The sustained and loud noise can cause hearing loss. We may suffer from hearing impairment if we are exposed to this excessive noise for a long time. Therefore, occupational hearing loss is one of the common problems among the industrial diseases. Construction workers are most likely to be influenced by the noise pollution among all other jobs. The noise is hazardous to hearing in the construction industry. They are exposed to the excessive noise pollution in a long period. By retirement, many of them are having a noticeable hearing loss problem. This type of permanent hearing loss can never be repaired. It is sadly that it is impossible to restore hearing. Hearing impairment may lead to some accidents, because the people cannot hear the waning signals from others clearly, they may ignore the dangerous. It...
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...studied ear problems among Army personnel who were exposed to multiple traumas during eight years of war in Iran. Hearing loss, tinnitus, ear discharge, vertigo, tympanic membrane perforation, audiologic findings and the type of trauma were considered. Bone Conduction threshold over 15dB was considered as hearing loss. In the sample population, 21.5% complained of audiologic problems. 94.6% had hearing loss, 83.6% tinnitus without hearing loss, but there was a hearing loss on the audiologic findings. 80% of hearing loss was bilateral, 10.9% only on the right and 9.1% only on the left side. 89% of hearing loss was sensorineural (88% in high frequency). 6.4% of them had tympanic membrane perforation and none had complained of vertigo 32. AUDIOMETRY Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) is the commonest test performed to assess hearing loss following exposure to noise from firearms. Standard technique for assessment of pure tone threshold at individual frequency is by modified Hughson-Westlake method33. Pure tone average is taken as average of pure tone thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000 Hz frequency. Degrees of hearing impairment as defined by WHO (World Health Organization) is given in table below. TABLE-...
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...were 4143 men aged 20-60 years who were evaluated for demographic variables, smoking/tobacco use and middle and internal ear diseases. Descriptive statistics and age adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Among the 4143 men, 1739 (42.0%) were smokers or used tobacco. In smokers/tobacco users compared to non-users the age adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for chronic suppurative otitis media were 1.13 (CI 0.96-1.34), acute otitis media 1.16 (CI 0.82-1.64), suppurative otitis media 1.21 (CI 0.79-1.84), otosclerosis 0.97 (CI 0.52-1.33) (p > 0.05) and for overall middle ear diseases was 1.15 (CI 0.99-1.33, p = 0.05). For internal ear diseases the age adjusted odds ratios were for sensorineural hearing loss 1.12 (CI 0.92-1.58), 0.12 (CI 0.42-0.93) for vertigo and tinnitus and overall internal ear diseases were 0.97 (CI 0.77-1.22, p = 0.81). Among men 40-60 years there was a significantly greater risk for both middle ear (OR 1.73, CI 1.29-2.30) and internal ear diseases (OR 1.94, CI 1.24-3.04) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Smoking/tobacco use is significantly associated with greater prevalence of middle and internal ear diseases among middle-aged men in...
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...Communications Hearing impairment: * Imagine not being able to hear your mother’s voice as a baby * Imagine not being able to listen to music * Imagine not being able to hear the wonders of bird song or the bang of thunder, or even the beep of a reversing truck * Think about how hard you find it when trying to communicate in a foreign country to people who don’t speak English. Types of hearing loss: Conductive hearing loss * Caused by problems in the outer or middle ear that prevent sounds being ‘conducted’ to the inner ear and hearing nerves. * Hearing may fluctuate and may affect often or both ears to varying degrees. * Conductive problems generally affect the loudness of the sound that is heard, e.g. middle ear infection Sensorineural hearing loss * Due to a problem in the cochlea (the sensory part of the ear) or the hearing nerve (the neural part) * Can be acquired or present at birth * Leads to a loss of clarity as well as loudness * Varies in type and severity * Extent to which a child is handicapped depends on the severity of the loss, what caused the loss, how early the loss is detected and at what age the loss has occurred. * The use of hearing aids and cochlear implants restore hearing ability * Even minor disruptions can lead to language problems * It is more common in boys. * Hearing loss due to ear infections is common in Australian indigenous children. Language development: * Hearing loss present...
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...present in the inner ear, this affects the ears hearing and balance mechanisms. Although research on Meniere’s disease is still under way, that endolymphatic hydrops (increased pressure in the ear) is the main cause of the symptoms, which are experienced. Furthermore the endolymphatic hydrops causes an imbalance in the fluid management of the ear, thus leading to an increase in accumulation of the endolymph as well as an increase in pressure, this is followed by the rupturing of membranes which line the emdolymphatic space. Because of this imbalance, the endolymph and perilymph fluids, which are ionically different, mix together thus intoxicating both the neural and sensory structures in the inner ear (Seikel,King & Drumwright, 2005). The physical imbalance caused by the increase of endolymph, leads to mechanical disturbances of the otolithic and auditory organs. The saccule may experience dilation which will later make it adherent to the footplate of the stapes. Furthermore the periodic shrinkage and dilation of the utricle, also offers plays a role. The disruption of these so called normal ear functions can cause the attacks, as well as a sense of unsteadiness even during remission periods. The distention also causes a mechanical disturbance in the organ of corti. The repetitive attacks causes the death of hair cells in the inner ear, this, along with the contortion of the basilar membrane is known to cause tinnitus and hearing loss. The hydrops tend to affect the lower frequencies...
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...Have you ever think if you loss of hearing someday, how do you feel? Because of being deaf is a handicap that afflicts millions of people around the world every year. In the U.S., hearing loss is the third most common health problem. In the newest report, nearly 36 million Americans lost hearing ("Hearing Loss: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment."). My best friend has become a deaf although she had the surgeries fifteen years ago. I have been diagnosed as hearing impaired for my ears. Likely, I feel worry about my disease because I understand that when hearing goes, it affects quality of work life, education and job opportunities, it causes concern for the health, and hearing loss is impacted on relationships with communication. Firstly, loss...
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...The Impact of Hearing Loss In today’s society, it is a well-known fact that the onset of hearing loss is occurring at an earlier age in an individual’s lifespan. In addition, the percentage of society who is experiencing hearing loss is rising as well. The culprit behind this major health concern is widely believed to be from external factors such as our overly loud environment. In the following essay, two main points will be addressed. The first will be regarding the long term consequences from a population growing up with premature hearing loss. And the second will be the challenges that will be faced when trying to change the behaviors of listeners. According to Oyler (n.d.), the impact of hearing loss has a large effect on an individual’s social life. What this means is that a person who is hard of hearing may be more socially withdrawn and reclusive than before they experienced hearing loss. This may occur for many reasons such as avoiding awkward interactions where it may be difficult to communicate effectively. Sometimes it may be due to the individual not being able to come to terms with the fact that they may need a hearing aid. Therefore, the individual shuns all interaction that may remind them of this health concern. If the rate of hearing loss increases in society, the quality of life that one may expect may decrease as a result. For example, lack of social interaction may lead to depression, lack of fulfillment, loneliness and many other related concerns. The...
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