The sense of hearing, which is indispensable for maintaining verbal communication, has a very important impact on quality of life. Stating that various tests are applied to patients with hearing complaints to determine hearing loss, degree of loss and type of loss, experts draw attention to the importance of taking measures to prevent hearing loss and warn against inserting foreign objects into the ear, keeping children away from cigarette smoke and listening to loud music.
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Every year, March 3 is commemorated as World Ear and Hearing Day. Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Otolaryngology Specialist Prof. Dr. Murat Topak made important evaluations about hearing health.
"Human beings have to utilize the sense of hearing to communicate. The sense of hearing that we use during verbal communication is the process of perception of sound by the cochlea and auditory nervous system," said Murat Topak,
"Hearing is an indispensable sense for humans to acquire the mother tongue, learn to speak and maintain verbal communication. A mild hearing loss can negatively affect children's success at school."
Health status is determined with hearing tests
Stating that babies with congenital hearing loss can be detected in newborn hearing screening tests, Prof. Dr. Murat Topak,
"A patient with a complaint of hearing loss should first have a complete ENT examination, then various tests can be applied to determine whether there is hearing loss, and if so, its degree and type. These tests include diapozone tests, pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, otoacoustic emission tests, acoustic reflex tests, auditory evoked brainstem potentials (ABR) tests."
What are the causes and risk factors of hearing loss?
Stating that many diseases affecting the outer, middle and inner ear can cause hearing loss, Prof. Dr. Murat Topak,
"Hearing losses;
1.Conduction type hearing losses
2.Sensorineural hearing loss
3. We can classify them as combined hearing losses," he said and continued his words as follows:
'Conduction Type' hearing losses are hearing losses that occur in diseases of the external auditory canal, eardrum and middle ear. These include:
- Congenital anomalies affecting the auricle and external auditory canal
-Serumen plug (buşon)
- External ear canal foreign bodies
- External ear canal infections
- Tumors affecting the external auditory canal
- Eardrum tears (perforation)
- Acute otitis media
- Middle ear infections with effusion (middle ear catarrh)
- Chronic otitis media
- Calcification between the middle ear ossicles
- Otosclerosis (calcification in the middle ear-inner ear connection).
Congenital hearing loss is divided into 2 types
'Sensorineural' hearing loss occurs in diseases that damage the inner ear structures and the auditory nerve. Congenital sensorineural hearing loss in children is a separate group in terms of its importance. The incidence is 1-3 per 1000 babies.
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Congenital hearing loss is divided into genetic and non-genetic hearing loss. Causes of non-genetic hearing loss include:
-Infections that the mother had during pregnancy (rubella, measles, toxoplasma, mumps, etc.)
-The mother's use of ototoxic drugs (damaging the inner ear structures) during pregnancy
-Premature birth
-Development of anoxia-hypoxia during labor (oxygen deprivation of the baby)
-Hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice due to blood incompatibility).
Other causes of sensorineural hearing loss include:
-Anisensorineural hearing loss
-Presbiacusis (hearing loss due to aging)
Noise-induced hearing loss
-Meniere's Disease
-Hearing loss due to ototoxic drugs (aminoglycosidantibiotics, salicylates, cisplatin, some diuretics). Conductive, sensorineural or combined hearing loss can also be seen after head trauma in which the ear bone is damaged. Once the disease causing the hearing loss is identified, a treatment program is determined according to the situation."
Keep your child away from cigarette smoke!
"Considering the causative factors, preventive measures are useful in many cases," said Prof. Dr. Murat Topak, "For example; not to insert any objects into the external auditory canal and try to clean them, to prevent children from inserting foreign objects into the external auditory canal, to prevent middle ear infections and ear catarrh, especially to ensure that children are not exposed to cigarette smoke, to treat middle ear infections in a timely and effective manner, not to use ototoxic drugs, not to listen to music loudly and with headphones."
Can hearing loss be treated?
Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Otorhinolaryngology Specialist Prof. Dr. Murat Topak said, "Very simply, if the buşon that has blocked the external auditory canal is cleaned, hearing loss improves, and similarly, hearing loss can improve with effective treatment of treatable diseases that cause hearing loss." and concluded his words as follows:
"For example, treatment of otitis media, insertion of a ventilation tube in otitis media with effusion lasting more than 3 months, repair of perforation in the eardrum with surgical intervention, removal of inflammation with surgery in chronic otitis media and repair of damaged ossicles, if any, and insertion of a suitable prosthesis instead of the calcified ossicle in otosclerosis can improve hearing loss. In addition, sudden hearing loss can be improved with effective treatment at an early stage. In diseases affecting the inner ear and auditory nerve, rehabilitation is possible with hearing aids, and in congenital hearing loss, hearing can be restored with hearing aids depending on the degree of hearing loss and, if necessary, with cochlear implants."
