By Christine Haran
If it suddenly seems like your daughter is whispering into the phone and your neighbors are banging on the wall for you to turn down your TV, you might have age-related hearing loss. Although it's often hard for people to admit to hearing loss, it affects one-third of Americans over age 60 and 40 to 60 percent of those over age 75.
It's important to see a doctor about your hearing loss so that the type and degree of hearing loss you have can be determined. The two most common types of hearing loss are conductive hearing loss, in which sound waves are blocked in the external ear canal or middle ear by, for example, an obstruction or inflammation, and sensorineural hearing loss, which involves damage to the inner ear nerves or hairs. Most older people have presbycusis, a form of sensorineural hearing loss that occurs gradually and affects the ability to hear high-frequency sounds such as children's voices.
Below, Suman Golla, MD, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (AAOHNS), discusses how age-related hearing loss occurs and how you can learn to live with it.
What can cause hearing loss?
Damage to the outer, middle or inner ear. This can be from trauma, noise exposure, medication, autoimmune or metabolic disease conditions, tumors that are benign or malignant, or age-related changes.
Copyright 2009 NBC Health
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