What Can Be Done for Hearing Loss?

QUESTION: I guess my advancing age is the reason I am losing the edge on some
of my senses. The eyes are just a bit worse, things don't smell as they once
did, and now the hearing is going. It is such an important sense that I
wonder if there is anything new to help people who lose their ability to hear.
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ANSWER: How right you are! The sad part is that we can lose some of our
hearing acuity from so many causes. But there is good news. Thanks to
advances in medicine, surgery, and technology over the past 30 years, nearly
all can improve their hearing. The most significant advances have been for
disorders of the middle ear. One of the most common problems is middle ear
effusion which has typically been treated medically with one or more drugs,
including antihistamines, decongestants, steroids, and antibiotics. Not all
patients, however, respond to such treatment. Now, some of these patients,
particularly those with chronic otitis media, can be treated surgically. The
procedure involves inserting a ventilation tube into the ear to relieve
symptoms as well as prevent permanent ear damage, until the eustachian tube
can function completely.
Researchers are beginning to make progress in managing problems of the
inner ear, as well. One of the most exciting and promising developments in
this area is the cochlea implant. A small, self-contained device is
surgically placed in the portion of the ear called the cochlea. The patient
wears another device which transmits sound through electrical impulses to the
implant. The use of this procedure is generally limited to those who once had
normal hearing but are now totally deaf and cannot benefit from a conventional
hearing aid. Although the procedure cannot restore normal or near normal
hearing, it can restore some degree of usable hearing.
Progress has also been made in the treatment of sensorineural hearing
loss, caused by aging, genetics, infections, and injuries, particularly loud
noises. Currently, only a limited degree of medical and surgical treatments
are available. However, improvements in technology have resulted in new,
high-fidelity hearing aids that can substantially improve the hearing of
nearly all patients.
With all these new and exciting developments, and the many causes of
deafness or hearing loss, it's important to have the right diagnosis for your
particular problem, so just the right remedy may be applied to help you.