Types And Causes Of Deafness in Adults and Children

Deafness means a lack or loss of the sense of hearing, which may be partial or complete. Partial loss of hearing is often called hearing loss rather than deafness. Deafness can occur in one or both ears.

There are three primary types of hearing loss:

Conductive hearing loss caused by the inability of the sound to reach the inner ear. This can result from outer or middle ear problems, such as ear infection, excess wax, or swelling. This type of hearing loss is most likely to respond to medical or surgical treatment.

Sensorineural hearing loss caused by disorders of the inner ear or auditory nerve. This type of loss is usually permanent. It can be caused by heredity or congenital problems, excess noise, old age, medications, infections such as ear infections and meningitis , or from tumors compressing the nerve of hearing such as an acoustic neuroma .

Mixed hearing losses that are a combination of both conductive and sensorineural loss.

Symptoms:

Hearing loss usually comes on gradually, but may come on suddenly. Symptoms may include:

Difficulty hearing
Ringing in the ears ( tinnitus )
Dizziness
Ear pain in case of an infection
Feeling of ear fullness (as in earwax or fluid)

Symptoms of deafness in infants may be noted at these stages:

1 to 4 months: lack of response to sounds or voices

4 to 8 months: disinterest in musical toys, lack of verbalization, such as babbling, cooing, making sounds

8 to 12 months: lack of recognition of child’s own name

12 to 16 months: lack of speech

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, all children (including newborns) should be screened for hearing loss so that hearing loss occurring before birth can be uniformly detected prior to three months of age.

Causes/Diagnosis:

Though there are more than 100 possible causes of sudden deafness, it is rare for a specific cause to be precisely identified. Only 10 to 15 percent of patients with SSHL know what caused their loss. Normally, diagnosis is based on the patient’s medical history. Possible causes include the following:

Infectious diseases.
Trauma, such as a head injury.
Abnormal tissue growth.
Immunologic diseases such as Cogan’s syndrome.
Toxic causes, such as snake bites.
Ototoxic drugs (drugs that harm the ear).
Circulatory problems.
Neurologic causes such as multiple sclerosis.
Relation to disorders such as Mnire’s disease.

Treatment:

Treatment for deafness depends on the type of hearing loss. Options may include:

Medical treatment for example, removal of earwax or use of antibiotics to treat an ear infection
In selected cases of sudden hearing loss, medical treatment with Intratympanic steroids may be effective.
Hearing aids, small devices that are worn in or behind the ear to help amplify sounds.

Surgery in some cases, surgery may be recommended to help improve hearing; types of surgery include:

Stapedectomy for treatment of otosclerosis
Tympanoplasty for a perforated eardrum
Tympanoplasty tubes for persistent middle ear infections or fluid

Cochlear implanta surgically implanted electronic device that helps provide sound to a person with severe sensorineural hearing loss.

By: Franchis

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 Ear Ache Remedies For Home

Ear ache is caused when you get infection or bacteria buildup in your middle ear. There are so many home remedies for ear ache that you can easily try out at your home and all of your own. Try find out some here…

You can get ear ache when you get infection in the middle ear. This infection is caused due to some micro-organisms or germs or pressure build up in the middle ear. Swimming, allergies, bathing or even cleaning your ear with cotton buds can cause ear ache, but the common cause is due to plugging. Anybody and at any age can get ear ache, but it is usually common with children.

How you get Ear Ache
‘Eustachian Tubes’ is a small tube that connects the ear to the nose. This tube gets blocked usually because of bacteria buildup or some kind of infection. Once infected, there is formation of fluid near this place resulting in a painful ear ache. Increase in pressure on this part increases pain, loss in hearing ability, swelling in middle ear part and nearby and also itching. To avoid ear aches and infections, one should keep the Eustachian tube free of pollutants and irritants and regularly clean the nasal passage.

When can you guess that you have got ear infections? Some of the common symptoms that can be seen may be a sudden sharp pain or a constant dull pain, fullness in the ear, unclear hearing, stuffy nose, sore throat, high fever, nausea or diarrhea, or possibly sometimes pus or blood from the ear. Do you need to consult doctor all the time? The answer may be yes if it’s very much painful and bloods out from the ear frequently or else you can always try some of the home remedies for ear ache.

Home Remedies for Ear Ache

Ear oils, the traditional and old way, is more effective way for ear ache. You can make a mixture of one garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped and half a fresh mullein leaf, finely cut. Mix them with 2/3 cup of olive oil in a clean glass pint jar. Seal the jar tightly and keep it in sunlight for at least about 10 days. This helps in extracting the active constituents into the oil from the ingredients. After you see slight yellowish-brown color for the oil, after 10 days, strain the oil through a fine mesh wire sieve. Then again, through clean cotton cloth or muslin. Take this oil in another different glass container and add few drops of melaleuca or tea tree oil. Put 3 to 4 drops of this mixture into the ear for at least 4 times a day and each time allow it to settle for minimum of 10 minutes.

You can also prepare garlic oil for ear ache. Garlic is a natural antibiotic. You just have to take bulb of garlic and crush it well. Put it in small jar and pour some olive oil in it and let the mixture settle for day or two. Before applying, warm up the oil for some time and then allow it to cool at room temperature. Apply in the affected ear with the help of a dropper and cover the ear hole with some cotton ball. Keep this for at least 20 minutes before washing. Try this for at least 3 to 4 times a day.

Another home remedy for ear ache that you can try is a fresh peppermint juice. It is first grinded a little and then poured in a cotton cloth, hold tightly to squeeze the juice out of it. This juice is used to relive your ear ache.

One of the most effective remedy is using hydrogen peroxide. Put two to three drops of hydrogen peroxide in ears and allow it to settle in for few minutes and then flush your ear carefully with warm water. This can help you in cleaning with the waxy build up in your ears. Dry your ear with soft dry cotton cloth after cleaning them.

The mixture of Bishop’s weed and Sesame oil is also an effective remedy for ear ache. Take some Bishop’s weed oil and add to it three times of sesame oil. Warm it for a while and allow it to cool at room temperature. Put this mixture of oils in the aching ear, four to five drops are enough at a time. Then wash it with clean warm water.

You can also try the mixture of ginger juice and sesame oil. Mix equal amount of fresh grated ginger juice with sesame oil. Drop 2 to 3 drops of this mixture in the aching ear and cover the ear with a cotton ball. Allow it to settle in the ear for at least 10 to 15 minutes. This also helps in relieving the pain.

For the people who practice swimming, best remedy is applying mineral oil. Before going into the water you can apply mineral oil extracted from natural resources such as petroleum and use earplugs also. Also applying heating pad or warm cloth near your ear.

Of course, the best and easiest way is to use heating pads or warm cloth near affected area. It is all time remedy and you can use it parallel with any of above home remedies for your ear ache.

When ever you are traveling through plane or any other means you usually get the feeling of fullness of ear. Sometimes you get a pain in your middle ear. The best way at the time you can do is chewing gum and yawning which helps in contracting the muscles and open Eustachian tube.

In spite, of these remedies you also have to take care of your diet. Do not eat food that may cause cold and cough to you as ear, nose and throat are interrelated. Avoid smoking and eat food that will provide you with Vitamin C. As ear ache is caused due to infection, vitamin C works on the infection by boosting your immunity strength.

Don’t allow the wax to get settle in your ear for longer period. Whenever you go for bath, go for hot shower. The stream of hot water will help the wax to soften and will be easy to remove.

Apart from everything you have to take care that you don’t put anything like cotton swabs, fingers, bobby pins, etc in your ears. This can cause damage to the eardrum and increase the chances of infection and bacteria buildup leading to ear ache.

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How to Cure Earache  

If ear gets infected it causes pain. Otitis extrema means outer ear and middle ear, otitis media, gets infected mainly causing earache.  

Home Remedies for Earache 

You can get ear ache when you get infection in the middle ear. This infection is caused due to some micro-organisms or germs or pressure build up in the middle ear.

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The Formation of Ear Wax

Ear wax contains sebaceous material and the products of the ceruminous glands which line the outer one-third of the ear canal. It has a waxy consistency and varies in color from yellow to brown. Excessive buildup of ear wax also can cause problems…chronic ear-ache…..

Ear wax contains sebaceous material and the products of the ceruminous glands which line the outer one-third of the ear canal. These secretions combine with desquamated skin and hair to form wax, about which many patients develop an obsession. Wax varies in color and consistency, and its production appears to be partly controlled by circulating catecholamines. It is normal to have some cerumen in the ear canal. Wax provides protection to the skin and also possesses bactericidal activity. Ear canal epithelium migrates outwards, providing a natural cleaning mechanism for desquamated tissue and cerumen. Attempts to clean the ear by a patient invariably force the ear canal contents deeper into the meatus. Wax impaction therefore is a common cause of hearing loss. If water enters the ear, the desquamated keratin expands, often trapping fluid in the deep meatus. This may cause an otitis externa unless the plug is removed.

Ear wax can be secreted in one of two forms. Wet wax is produced by most people of African origin and is familiar as moist, sticky and honey colored. The dry type is more common in Mongoloid ethnic groups and tends to be greyer in color, less sticky, granular and brittle. The gene for wet wax is dominant. Regardless of type, ear wax tends to become drier with age as a result of reduced glandular numbers and activity. Wax is then normally loosened by transmission of movement from the temporomandibular joint from chewing or talking, allowing its passage out of the external auditory meatus. This natural process can be upset by a number of factors and cause ear wax impaction.

How Ear Wax is Formed?:

Ear wax, is formed on the concave side of the base of the auricle and in the external ear canal. It is a mixture of the secretions of the sebaceous and ceruminous glands. It has a waxy consistency and varies in color from yellow to brown. The secretion of the sebaceous glands being gray to white and that of the ceruminous glands being brown, the color of ear wax varies with the relative contribution of each. A thin layer of ear wax is normally present in the areas where the glands are located and sometimes small lumps are found at the base of the auricle at the entrance to the ear canal. The odor of ear wax is usually described as aromatic, but if the skin of the base of the auricle and the ear canal is inflamed, the production of ear wax can be increased and its composition can be changed. An increase and alteration in the bacterial flora can change the appearance of the ear wax and give it a more penetrating odor. When combined with pus and detritus, its appearance and odor may become overwhelming and repulsive.

Primary inflammatory disease of the middle ear mainly causes pain. It is usually unilateral and appears to be severe. The animal shuns petting of its head and loses alertness and appetite. Hearing loss is to be expected but is almost never mentioned by the owner. If the inflammation is ruptured, there can be purulent discharge from the external ear canal.

Problems with Excess Ear Wax:

Excessive buildup of ear wax also can cause problems. Some signs and symptoms of ear include:

• Dizziness
• Loss of hearing
• Nausea and vomiting
• Chronic ear ache
• Bleeding or discharge from the ear
• Swelling or redness
• An object visible in the ear

Removal of Ear Wax:

Meatal occlusion, impaction, irritation, hearing loss or otitis externa and clinical inspection of the eardrum are all indications for removing wax. The simplest method is to syringe the ear. Tap water at body temperature is used. The pinna is lifted to straighten the ear canal and the water jet aimed at the roof of the canal, never directly at the eardrum. The canal and drum head must be examined afterwards. Patients who have perforations should not have their ears syringed. Curetting wax from the canal requires a good light and a cerumen scoop or hoop. In difficult or refractory cases a microscope and sucker may be used in outpatients, or under general anesthesia. Hard impacted wax may need to be softened with topical ceruminolytic ear drops prior to removal.

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  Ear Wax - Ceruminous glands 

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Ear Tubes

Ear tubes are small cylindrical shaped tubes made of plastic, metal or Teflon, which are inserted into the eardrum in order to drain out fluid and ventilate the middle ear. It is sometimes necessary in cases of chronic ear infection.

Ear infections are usually painful, and are a common occurrence in childhood. Although, ear infections largely clear up on their own, if they are viral, or can be treated effectively with antibiotics, if bacterial, however, they can sometimes become a persistent problem, along with the build up of fluid in the middle ear, which in turn can lead to other problems like frequent ear infections, loss of hearing, speech problems, behavioral problems, and so on. When that’s the case, an ear, nose, and throat doctor, also referred to as an otolaryngologist, may be able to alleviate the problem by inserting an ear tube.

What Exactly is an Ear Tube?

As is apparent from the term, ear tubes are basically cylindrical shaped hollow tubes, which are also referred to as pressure equalization tubes, ventilation tubes, myringotomy tubes, or tympanostomy tubes. This is inserted into the tympanic membrane, or the eardrum, to enable air to get into the middle ear. Ear tubes are generally made of plastic, Teflon, or metal, and could be coated in order to lessen the chances of infection. Since ear tubes are inserted in the eardrum, they are not visible externally.

Ear tubes also are categorized into two types: one, short-term ear tubes, and second, long-term ear tubes. The tubes that are meant for short-term use are smaller in size and are meant to be kept in place for a period of six months, when they fall out by themselves. The ear tubes that are meant for long-term use larger in size, containing flanges, which help in securing them for a longer period of time. They usually have to be removed by the doctor, although they can also fall out by themselves.

Why is the Ear Tube Insertion Procedure Performed?

One of the usual reasons for this surgical procedure to be performed is the build up of fluid behind the eardrum, particularly in children, which persists for four months, or more, with accompanying loss of hearing or the chances of developmental problems occurring. Sometimes, if required, the procedure may also be carried out earlier than the four months.

Given below are some of the conditions ear tubes may be used for:

• Severe infections of the ear.
• For people affected by complications due to acute ear infection, like paralysis of the facial nerves, meningitis, brain infection, or mastoiditis.
• For people who undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
• For people affected by barotraumas due to deep sea diving or flying.

Ear tubes alleviate the symptoms of ear infections because of the following reasons:

• They enable air to get into the middle ear.
• The accumulated fluid drains out into the ear canal from the middle ear through the ear tube.
• Thus, they help in clearing the fluid from the middle ear, therefore resulting in the restoration of hearing.
• They also help in preventing further fluid buildup in the middle ear, as long as they are in place.
• They help in decreasing the pressure in the ears caused by the fluid buildup, thus reducing the pain.

How is the Ear Tube Surgical Procedure Performed?

The ear tube insertion procedure, which is known as a myringotomy, is usually performed in an outpatient surgery clinic. Young children are usually administered a light general anesthetic, while older children or adults may forgo this if they are able to tolerate it without anesthetic. The myringotomy involves an incision made in eardrum with the help of a tiny scalpel or a laser, under a surgical microscope. Then the accumulated fluid is suctioned out. Next, the ear tube is inserted into this hole in order to ventilate the middle ear. In case the ear tube is not used, the surgical incision heals and closes in a few days, therefore the requirement for the insertion of the ear tube. Once the ear tube is in place, antibiotic eardrops are usually administered, which may be continued for the following few days. The whole procedure does not take more than 15 minutes, with the patient coming out of the anesthetic effect quickly.

In order to prevent bacteria form getting into the middle ear through the ear tube, it is recommended to use earplugs to keep the ears dry while bathing, or swimming, or any other activity involving water. The physician should be consulted about what ear protection measures should be undertaken after the surgery.

What are the Risks Involved in an Ear Tube Surgical Procedure?

Some of the complications that can occur are:

• Pus being discharged from the ear, known as otorrhea, which is a common problem and sometimes becomes persistent in a few children.
• The eardrum becoming thickened over time, which can lead to hearing problems.
• The blockage of the ear tube, resulting in the recurrence of ear fluid buildup and infections.
• The possibility of the ear tube slipping out and getting into the middle ear, which is rare.
• The occurrence of cholesteatoma, which is a tissue that forms in the middle ear, behind the eardrum. This is also rare.

Stop Ear Pain In Seconds : The EARDOC is the only efficient non invasive device that reduces the pain and edema for ear pain.

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