Hearing Loss
Understanding Hearing Loss
Poor listening and Auditory Processing Disorders can associated with hearing losses in childhood. For this reason it is important to obtain a diagnosis and appropriate treatment if you suspect there is a hearing loss.
Conductive hearing loss erects a physical obstacle to the collection of sound. Many conductive losses can be reduced or resolved by the removal of excessive wax and dietary changes involving the removal of dietary allergens. Most common causes of conductive loss in children include:
- Environmental (pollen)
- Food intolerances (dairy, wheat)
- Chronic upper respiratory infections
- Blockage or closure of the external ear canal by wax
Other causes include:
- Outer ear infection (otitis externa) – can be caused by swimming
- Glue ear (otitis media) – often seen in younger children causes a fluid build-up in the middle ear
- Scarred, damaged or perforated eardrum
- Poorly formed or damaged ossicles in the middle ear
Sensorineural hearing loss is also called nerve deafness and involves damage to the hair cells in the inner ear or the acoustic nerve. Causes include:
- Process of ageing, loud noise exposure, head trauma, mumps, measles, meningitis or Meniéres disease, some medications (high-dose aspirin, strong diuretics) and immune disorders.
- Loss of the hair cells in the cochlea or inner ear (sensory hearing loss)
- Loss of signal between these cells and the brain (neural hearing loss)
- Mixed hearing loss involve a combination of a conductive and a sensorineural hearing loss.
Relay stations to the brain
Listening therapy is able to deliver measurable improvements in hearing to some 20% of clients as measures my otoacoustic emissions testing. However the evidence suggests that the auditory by re-training the muscles in the middle ear are not as substantial as Tomatis suggested.
Listening therapy can deliver measurable improvements in listening for those with or without hearing loss. Our programs are designed to improve the ability to attend to and comprehend speech in noisy environments like classrooms and social situations.
