Hearing loss is common problem and a significant majority of people have faced with this.

Indeed from youngsters to elders there’s a lot of people who are having a hard time to hear.
According to studies it states that over 5% of the world’s population – or 466 million people –
has disabling hearing impairment (432 million adults and 34 million children) and estimated that
by 2050 over 900 million people – or one in every ten people – will have disabling hearing loss.
When hearing loss happens you may not notice it at first if it’s gradually happening and if it’s
happening suddenly there’s no way you won’t be aware of it.

A person who doesn’t have normal hearing to put it more specifically hearing thresholds of 25
dB or better in both ears are considered to have hearing loss. There is 7 degree of hearing
disorder. If it ranges from -10 db to 15 db it’s normal, 16 db to 25 db slight, 26 db to 40 db mild,
41 db to 55 db moderate, 56 db to 70 db moderately severe, 71 db to 90 db severe and if it’s
+90 it’s profound.

Then what causes hearing impairment? I assume the common cause of this is from loud nouses.
If you listen noisy sounds it will lead to noise-induced hearing loss, or NIHL. It’s safe to listen
sounds at 70 dBA or lower however sounds increasing from 85 dBA can be dangerous if you
listen it more than 8 hours a day. If the sound is 3dBA higher you have to lower the listening
time in half. For instance, If it’s safe to listen songs at 85 dBA for 8 hours then if it’s 88 dBA
listening time that is cut in half is 4 hours, If the sound is 91 dBA then the time is down in 2
hours.

The next type of threatening noise to ear is impulse noise or impact noise. It’s a single loud blast
or explosion that happens in short time and measured by dB peak pressure or dBP. The dBP of
the impact noise is higher than 140 dBP and it includes gunfire or fireworks. The result from this
type of sound have great impact on someone’s life it can cause permanent hearing loss and hurt
your hearing.

So how to know if the sound is too loud because definitely you don’t carry sound level meter
with you all the time. There are some signs that presents that the noise is too high. You must
raise your voice or you won’t be heard to other people. If the speaker is 3 feet away from you
and you can’t hear or understand and after the noise if there’s pain or ringing in your ears then
it means it’s dangerous sound for your ears.

The causes of deafness and hearing dusorder are often congenital or acquired.

Congenital causes may cause deafness being present at or acquired soon after birth. Hearing
loss are often caused by hereditary and non-hereditary genetic factors or by certain
complications during pregnancy and childbirth, including:Maternal rubella, syphilis or certain
other infections during pregnancy;Low birth weight;Birth asphyxia (a lack of oxygen at the time
of birth);Inappropriate use of particular drugs during pregnancy, such as aminoglycosides,
cytotoxic drugs, antimalarial drugs, and diuretics;Severe jaundice in the neonatal period, which
may damage the hearing nerve during a neonate .

Acquired causes can lead to hearing loss at any age, such as:Infectious diseases such as
meningitis, measles and mumps; chronic ear infections; accumulation of fluid in the ear (otitis
media); use of certain medications, like those wont to treat neonatal infections, malaria, drug-
resistant tuberculosis, and cancers; head or ear injuries; excessive noise, including occupational
noise like machinery and explosions; recreational exposure to loud sounds like using personal
audio devices at high volume and for prolonged periods of your time and regular attendance at
concerts, discos, bars and sporting events; aging, especially thanks to the degeneration of
sensory cells; and wax or foreign bodies blocking the auditory meatus .

How it does affect to your hearing? The sound is converted to sound waves and it directly goes
to your ears. The louder, the bigger sound waves will go to your ear drum through your ear
canal. The 3 middle ear bones transmit sounds to inner ear also known in cochlea which is filled
with fluid and has tiny hair cells. Healthy hair cells can send signals to brain, if it’s it dead it can’t
and it will never comeback. So you can only use hearing aids or other devices to help you hear
better.

One of the main impacts of hearing loss is the individual’s ability to communicate with others.
The development of spoken language is often delayed in children with untreated hearing loss.

Untreated hearing loss and ear diseases such as otitis media can have a significant adverse effect
on children’s academic performance. They often have higher grade failure rates and a greater
need for educational assistance. Access to suitable accommodation is important for optimal
learning experiences, but it is not always available.

Exclusion from communication can have a big impact on lifestyle , causing feelings of loneliness,
isolation and frustration, especially among older people with deafness .

Overall, it is suggested that half of all cases of hearing loss can be prevented by public health
measures.

In children under 15 years aged , 60% of deafness is due to preventable causes. This figure is
higher in low- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries. In general,
preventable causes of childhood hearing loss include:Infections such as mumps, measles,
rubella, meningitis, cytomegalovirus infections, and chronic otitis media, complications at birth,
such as asphyxia at birth, low birth weight, prematurity, and jaundiceo, ototoxic drugs in
pregnant women and babies and others.

To sum up it’s more important to prevent from loss of hearing because after you lose your hairy
cell it’s the same as crying over spilled milk.