Every day scientists are coming up with new cures. That could be a positive or a negative. You might decide that you don’t really need to be very careful about your hearing because you saw some encouraging research about prospective future cures for deafness. By the time you start exhibiting symptoms of hearing loss, you think, they’ll have discovered the cure for deafness.
That wouldn’t be wise. Without question, it’s better to protect your hearing while you have it. There is some exciting research coming out which is revealing some awesome advances toward effectively treating hearing loss.
It’s no fun to lose your hearing
Hearing loss is just something that occurs. It’s not necessarily because of something you did wrong. It’s just part of getting older. But there are some distinct disadvantages to experiencing hearing loss. Your social life, overall health, and mental health can be significantly affected by hearing loss, along with your inability to hear what’s taking place around you. Neglected hearing loss can even result in an increased risk of depression and dementia. There’s plenty of evidence to connect neglected hearing loss to issues such as social isolation.
Usually, hearing loss is a chronic and degenerative condition. So, over time, it will continue to get worse and there isn’t any cure. This doesn’t pertain to every kind of hearing loss but we’ll get to that soon. Even though there’s no cure, though, that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed.
If you come see us, we can help slow down the progression of your hearing loss and protect your current levels of hearing. Hearing aids are frequently the form of treatment that will be most ideal for most types of hearing loss. So there are treatments for most people 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 kinds
There are differences in kinds of hearing loss. Hearing loss comes in two main categories. One can be cured, the other can be treated. Here’s how it breaks down:
- Conductive hearing loss: When the ear canal gets obstructed by something, you get this kind of hearing loss. Possibly it’s a bunch of earwax (a little gross, but it happens). Perhaps it’s swelling caused by an ear infection. When something is obstructing your ear canals, whatever it may be, sound waves won’t be able to get to your inner ear. This kind of hearing loss will be cured when the source of the obstruction is removed.
- Sensorineural hearing loss: This type of hearing loss is irreversible. There are delicate hairs in your ear (called stereocilia) that sense minute vibrations in the air. Your brain is able to interpret these vibrations as sound. Unfortunately, these hairs are damaged as you go through life, usually by overly loud noises. And these hairs stop functioning after they become damaged. And when this occurs your ability to hear becomes impaired. Your body doesn’t naturally regrow these hairs and we presently have no way to mend them. When you lose them, it’s forever.
Sensorineural hearing loss treatments
Sensorineural hearing loss may be permanent but that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed. Given your loss of hearing, allowing you to hear as much as you can is the goal of treatment. The goal is to help you hear discussions, enhance your situational awareness, and keep you functioning independently through life.
So, how do you treat this form of hearing loss? Here are some prevalent treatments.
Hearing aids
Most likely, the one most prevalent way of managing hearing loss is hearing aids. Hearing aids can be individually tuned to your particular hearing needs, so they’re especially beneficial. Using a hearing aid will allow you to better comprehend conversations and communicate with others over the course of your daily life. Hearing aids can even slow down many symptoms of social isolation (and, as a result, lower your danger of dementia and depression).
Getting your own pair of hearing aids is incredibly common, and there are lots of styles to pick from. You’ll have to speak with us about which is best for you and your particular level of hearing loss.
Cochlear implants
Sometimes, it will be necessary to bypass the ears entirely if hearing loss is complete. That’s what a cochlear implant does. This device is surgically inserted into the ear. The device picks up on sounds and converts those sounds into electrical energy, which is then transmitted directly to your cochlear nerve. This allows your brain to translate those signals into sounds.
Cochlear implants are typically used when hearing loss is complete, a condition called deafness. So even if your hearing has completely gone, there are still treatment solutions available.
Novel advances
New novel ways of treating hearing loss are continuously being researched by scientists.
These new advances are frequently geared towards “curing” hearing loss in ways that have previously proven impossible. Some of these advances include:
- Stem cell therapies: Your own stem cells are used in this kind of therapy. The idea is that new stereocilia can be created by these stem cells (those tiny hairs in your ears). It isn’t likely that we will have prescription gene therapy for a while, but for now, studies with animals are promising.
- Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear initiate the creation of stereocilia. Once the stereocilia develop, the stem cells become inactive, and they are then called progenitor cells. These new therapies are stimulating the stereocilia to regrow by reactivating the progenitor cells. This specific novel therapy has been tried in humans, and the results seem encouraging. There was a substantial improvement, for most patients, in their ability to hear and comprehend speech. It isn’t really known how long it will be before these therapies will be widely available.
- GFI1 Protein: There’s a protein which has been discovered by scientists that is essential for the regrowth of stereocilia. Researchers are hoping that they can get a clearer concept of how to get these stereocilia to grow back by identifying this protein. This treatment is very much still on the drawing board and isn’t widely available yet.
Don’t wait to get your hearing loss treated
There’s a lot of promise in these innovations. But it’s worthwhile to stress that none of them are ready yet. So it’s a bad plan to wait to get treatment for your loss of hearing. Be proactive about protecting your hearing.
A miracle cure isn’t likely to be coming soon, so if you’re coping with hearing loss, call us today to schedule your hearing assessment.
References
https://hsci.harvard.edu/major-step-toward-treatment-leading-form-hearing-loss
https://news.mit.edu/2022/frequency-therapeutics-hearing-regeneration-0329