Hearing Loss Due To Functional Causes

By: Arooba Asmat Dev

BSSLP02143004

Hearing Loss

• The ability to receive and process acoustic stimuli is hearing.

• The decreased ability to receive or process acoustic stimuli is called hearing loss.

Functional Hearing loss

• Functional hearing loss hearing loss that lacks any organic lesion

• Also called hysterical deafness and nonorganic hearing loss.

Division

• Presbycusis hearing loss

• Ototoxicity

• Noise induced hearing loss

Why Do People Lose Their Hearing When They Grow Older?

• Conditions, which are common in the older people like diabetes or high blood pressure, may contribute to the hearing loss.

• The medications, which are toxic to sensory cells in the ears, may even cause the problem to occur.

• Hardly age related hearing loss happens due to abnormalities of middle ear or outer ear.

Abnormalities Related to Hearing Loss

The abnormalities include :

• Reduced utility of tympanic membrane

• Reduced function of three tiny bones in middle ear, which carry the sound waves from tympanic membrane to inner ear.

Treatment

• Other than advanced hearing aids and telephone amplifiers that are often used for improving the condition of hearing among old people, speech reading and sign language are also used.

• A cochlear implant is recommended for people having severe hearing loss. Surgery is done for placing the implant. This surgery doesn’t restore normal hearing but the person can detect sounds and understand speech.

Ototoxic drugs

There are some drugs that are particularly toxic to the ear. • ASPIRIN • ERYTHROMYCIN • KANAMYCIN • NEOMYCIN • STREPTOMYCIN • FENOPROFEN • INDOMETHACIN • DIURETICFUROSEMIDE (LASIX)

Medications causing temporary damage

• Salycilates: for pain relief and heart conditions (e.g. Aspirin, Acetaminophen)

• Anti-inflammatory drugs: for arthritis and other pain relief (e.g. Advil, Voltarin)

• Quinine: used for Malaria treatment

• Loop Diuretics: for certain heart and kidney conditions

• Sildenafil: for erectile disfuntion (e.g. Viagra)

Medications causing permanent damage

• Aminoglycosides: powerful antibiotics (e.g. Gentamicin, Streptomycin)

• Chemotherapy drugs: for cancer treatment (e.g. Cisplatin, Carboplatin)

• Strong pain relievers: e.g. Hydrocodone in conjunction with Acetaminophen

Signs of Drug-Induced Hearing Loss

• A large part of the danger of ototoxic medications is that people either fail to recognize the symptoms right away, or else attribute them to something else.

• Ototoxic symptoms can occur even in those who have had no previous hearing problems.

• They are usually worse for people already suffering from Sensorineural hearing loss.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss

• Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by prolonged exposure to loud noise.

Causes

• Traffic

• Construction work

• Noisy office environments

• Loud music

• Impulsive noise

• Explosions

• Gunfire

• Very high sound level > 140 dB

Nature of NIHL

• Temporary in nature, repeated overexposure to loud music damages inner ear hair cells, causing hearing loss to deteriorate over time and become permanent.

Prevention of NIHL

Individuals can lower their risk of noise-induced hearing loss by :

• Limiting their exposure to loud noises

• Utilizing earplugs when saturated in noisy environments

• Turning down the volume of music or sound on personal music device

• Using a volume-limiter device when using personal audio equipment.

References

• Zhu M, Yang S, Dewan AT, et al. (2003) Mutation of the g-Actine gene (ACTG1) are associated with dominant progressive deafness (DFNA 20\26). American Journal of Human Genetics 73: 1082–1091.

• Fishel-Godsian N, Bykhovskaya Y, Taylor K, et al. (1997) Temporal bone analysis of patients with presbycusis reveals high frequency of mitochondrial mutations. Hearing Research 110(1–2): 147–154.

• Burt CW and Schappert SM (2004) Ambulatory care visits to physician offices, hospital outpatient departments, and emergency departments: United States, 1999–2000. Vital and Health Statistics 13: 1–70.

• lmbaud-Genieys S (2007) Vertigo, dizziness and falls in the elderly. Annales d’oto-laryngologie et de chirurgie cervico faciale 124: 189–196.

• Schuknecht HF and Gacek MR (1993) Cochlearpathology in presbycusis. Annals of Otology