There are a lot of things in this world that can cause hearing loss and the first step to treating it is detecting it in the first place. Some things that can cause hearing loss are diseases, illnesses and bing bumped on the head. Aside from the above, hearing impairment can be a disability a person is born with, as some parts of the body may have formed improperly. Since the ears, nose, mouth are all connected, getting sick with something that affects one of these can affect hearing too. Believe it or not, if a person doesn't lose their sense of hearing from some kind of sickness, they might lose it while taking medication instead. Another very common way of a person losing their sense of hearing is by injuring themselves. A person who is regularly in an environment where the noise is extremely loud can also be inflicted with hearing loss. Examples of this type of noise pollution are barking dogs, car alarms, industrial noise from factories and manufacturing plants. Types of noise pollution that are not encountered everyday but are very dangerous to the ears are fireworks or explosion sounds. There are possible treatments for hearing loss, but some can only work when the disorder is still in its early stages, so the best way is to detect it first. The importance of detecting hearing loss early is because some hearing disorders can be reversed. The real cause of hearing problems can only be found out through administering hearing tests on the person. An audiologist uses an audiometer to diagnose a person's hearing sensitivity to sounds at different frequencies. Tests with an audiometer involve a person sitting in a soundproof booth wearing headphones that are connected to an audiometer. The audiologist then operates the audiometer and makes the patient hear sounds at different levels and frequencies. The person inside the booth should respond at once and at first instance of hearing the sound. A plot of sound frequency against sound decibel levels is graphed by the technician. The resulting test will show which sound frequency and volume the person is having problems hearing. Besides hearing tests using the audiometer, there are also the Weber and Rinne tests which are almost always performed together to determine if the subject has Conductive hearing loss or Sensorineural hearing loss. Both tests involve the use of a tuning fork to determine the type of hearing loss. The Weber test quickly screens whether a person has hearing loss or not while the Rinne test specifically determines if the person has conductive or sensorineural hearing loss. With the Weber test, the tuning fork is placed in the exact middle of the forehead. The patient will either hear unequal sound in the ears, which means hearing loss in one of the ears or equal sound meaning no hearing loss or equal hearing loss. A person can be said to have asymmetric hearing loss if he or she does not hear the same level of sound in both ears. When the Rinne test is performed in connection with the Weber test, it is possible to detect whether the person has conductive hearing loss only or has sensorineural hearing loss as well. It is also possible with the two tests to determine which ear has what type of hearing loss. These tests are the easiest and fastest way of diagnosing hearing loss.
Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit
Hearing loss is best treated when it is still in its early stages, but in order to do this detection will have to be done first. One of the ways of getting hearing loss is by living in a noisy place like near an airport or a construction yard.
Visit this site for further information on hearing aids australia. A deeper insight relating to better hearing australia is found there.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 2 out of 5 1 out of 5
