The signs of aging can be visible or can come upon us in a whisper. The grey hair, the little frown line between your eyes, or the dreaded “chicken neck”, are usually what we spot first in the mirror. We can laugh these off and mask them with a pair of tweezers and make up if we choose to do so.
But when our hearing starts to go, that’s an entirely different matter. Age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, is the slow loss of hearing that occurs as we get older.
The US Library of Medicine explains that tiny hair cells inside your inner ear help you hear. They pick up sound waves and change them into the nerve signals that the brain interprets as sound. Hearing loss occurs when the tiny hair cells are damaged or die. The hair cells do not regrow, so most hearing loss caused by hair cell damage is permanent.
There is no known single cause of age-related hearing loss. Most commonly, it is caused by changes in the inner ear that occur as we grow older.
Here are a few situations that contribute to age-related hearing loss:
• Family history (age-related hearing loss tends to run in families).
• Repeated exposure to loud noises.
• Certain medical conditions such as diabetes.
• Certain medicines.
• Smoking (statistics show that smokers are more likely to have such hearing loss than nonsmokers). Age-related hearing loss occurs so gradually, it’s possible not to notice it right away. Here are a list of symptoms:
• Difficulty hearing people around you.
• Frequently asking people to repeat themselves.
• Frustration at not being able to hear.
• Certain sounds seeming overly loud. n Problems hearing in noisy areas.
• Problems telling certain sounds apart such as “s” or “th”.
• More difficulty understanding people with higher-pitched voices.
• Ringing in the ears.
Of course, some of the things on this list could be that there is too much wax in the ear or side effects of medicines, so it’s important to check with your doctor if you have been experiencing any of these symptoms.
it’s also important to contact your health care provider right away if you have a sudden change in your hearing or hearing loss with other symptoms such as headache, vision changes, or dizziness.
There could come a day when you will have to have assistance with hearing. Don’t let the worry of “looking older” stop you from enjoying your life. Hearing loss can be managed so that you can continue to be active and do the things you love to do.
A hearing aid or telephone amplifier are two such things that can keep the world open to you.
