Every day scientists are coming up with new cures. That can be a good or bad thing. For instance, you might look at promising new research in the arena of curing hearing loss and you decide you don’t really need to be all that cautious. You’ll feel like they will likely have a cure for deafness by the time you will exhibit any symptoms of hearing loss.
That wouldn’t be wise. Without question, it’s better to protect your hearing while you can. There is some amazing research emerging which is revealing some amazing strides toward successfully treating hearing loss.
It’s no fun to lose your hearing
Hearing loss is just a fact of life. It doesn’t indicate you’re a bad person or you did something wrong or you’re being penalized. It just… is. But developing hearing loss has some serious disadvantages. Not only do you hear less, but the condition can affect your social life, your mental health, and your overall wellness. You will even raise your risk of developing dementia and depression with untreated hearing loss. Lots of evidence exists that reveals a link between social isolation and neglected hearing loss.
Usually, hearing loss is a chronic and degenerative problem. So, as time passes, it will continue to get worse and there isn’t any cure. That’s not true for every form of hearing loss, but more on that in a bit. Even though there is no cure, though, that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed.
If you come see us, we can help slow the development of your hearing loss and preserve your current levels of hearing. Frequently, this means using a hearing aid, which is usually the ideal treatment for most types of hearing loss. So there are treatments for most individuals but there’s no cure. And those treatments can do a lot of good when it comes to improving your quality of life.
Hearing loss comes in two main types
Not all hearing loss is the same. There are two primary categories of hearing loss. You can treat one and the other can be cured. Here’s what you need to know:
- Conductive hearing loss: When the ear canal gets blocked by something, you get this kind of hearing loss. It may be because of a buildup of earwax. Maybe it’s swelling from an ear infection. Whatever it is, there’s something physically blocking sound waves from moving up to your inner ear. This type of hearing loss will be cured when the source of the obstruction is eliminated.
- Sensorineural hearing loss: This is the more irreversible type of hearing loss. Vibrations in the air are picked up by fragile hairs in your ears known as stereocilia. These vibrations can be interpreted as sound by your brain. As you go through life, these hairs become damaged, by loud noises typically. And these hairs stop working after they become damaged. And when this occurs your ability to hear becomes impaired. There’s currently no way to repair these hairs, and your body doesn’t grow new ones naturally. When you lose them, it’s forever.
Treatments for sensorineural hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss may be irreversible but that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed. Given your loss of hearing, letting you hear as much as possible is the purpose of treatment. Keeping you functioning as independently as possible, improving your situational awareness, and letting you hear conversations is the objective.
So, what are these treatment strategies? Common treatments include the following.
Hearing aids
Hearing aids are probably the single most prevalent method of managing hearing loss. They’re especially beneficial because hearing aids can be specially calibrated for your distinct hearing loss. During the course of your day, a hearing aid will help you make out conversations and communicate with people better. Hearing aids can even forestall many symptoms of social solitude (and, as a result, lower your risk of dementia and depression).
There are lots of different styles of hearing aid to choose from and they have become much more common. In order to figure out which model is suited to your taste and level of hearing loss, you’ll need to come see us for a consultation.
Cochlear implants
When hearing loss is complete, it often makes sense to bypass the ears altogether. That’s what a cochlear implant does. This device is surgically inserted into the ear. The device picks up on sounds and translates those sounds into electrical energy, which is then transferred directly to your cochlear nerve. This enables your brain to convert those signals into sounds.
When a person has a condition called deafness, or complete hearing loss, cochlear implants are sometimes used. So there will still be treatment options even if you have completely lost your hearing.
Novel advances
Scientists are always working on new ways to treat hearing loss.
In the past, curing hearing loss has been impossible, but that’s precisely what new advances are geared towards. Some of these advances include:
- Stem cell therapies: Your own stem cells are used in this kind of therapy. The idea is that these stem cells can then transform into new stereocilia (those little hairs in your ears). Studies with animals (like rats and mice) have shown some promise, but some form of prescription stem cell gene therapy is probably still going to be a while.
- Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear initiate the generation of stereocilia. The stem cells go dormant after they create stereocilia and are then referred to as progenitor cells. These new therapies are stimulating the stereocilia to regrow by waking up the progenitor cells. Encouraging results for these novel therapies have come from early human trials. There was a significant improvement, for most people, in their ability to hear and understand speech. It isn’t really known how long it will be before these treatments will be widely available.
- GFI1 Protein: Some researchers have identified a protein that’s essential to growing new stereocilia. It’s hoped that by discovering this protein, researchers will get a better concept of how to get those stereocilia to begin to grow back. Again, this is one of those treatments that’s more in the “drawing board” stage than the “widely available” phase.
Don’t wait to get your hearing loss treated
There’s a great deal of promise in these innovations. But it’s important to stress that none of them are available yet. So it’s a bad idea to wait to get treatment for your hearing loss. Protect your hearing now.
Don’t try to wait for that miracle cure, call us today to schedule a hearing exam.
References
https://hsci.harvard.edu/major-step-toward-treatment-leading-form-hearing-loss
https://news.mit.edu/2022/frequency-therapeutics-hearing-regeneration-0329
