New cures are regularly being discovered. That can be a good or bad thing. You might decide that you don’t really need to be all that vigilant about your hearing because you read some encouraging research about possible future cures for deafness. By the time you begin exhibiting symptoms of hearing loss, you think, they’ll have found the cure for deafness.
That’s not a good idea. Obviously, protecting your hearing now while it’s still in good shape would be the wiser choice. There is some exciting research emerging which is revealing some amazing strides toward effectively treating hearing loss.
It’s no fun to lose your hearing
Hearing loss is just a fact of life. It’s not inevitably because of something you did wrong. It just… is. But developing hearing loss has some extreme disadvantages. Your social life, general health, and mental health can be substantially impacted by hearing loss, not to mention your inability to hear what’s going on around you. You will even raise your risk of developing dementia and depression with untreated hearing loss. Lots of evidence exists that shows a connection between social isolation and neglected hearing loss.
Hearing loss is, generally speaking, a degenerative and chronic condition. So, as time passes, it will continue to get worse and there is no 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 treated.
We can help you preserve your levels of hearing and slow the development of hearing loss. Frequently, this comes in the form of a hearing aid, which is commonly the optimal treatment for most forms of hearing loss. So, for most individuals, there’s no cure, but there are treatments. And your quality of life will be greatly improved by these treatments.
Two kinds of hearing loss
Not all hearing loss is the same. There are two main classes of hearing loss. One can be cured, the other can be treated. Here’s how it breaks down:
- Conductive hearing loss: This kind of hearing loss takes place because something gets in the way and blocks your ear canal. It might be due to a buildup of earwax. Maybe it’s inflammation caused by an ear infection. Whatever the cause, there’s something physically stopping sound waves from moving up to your inner ear. This form of hearing loss will be cured when the cause of the obstruction is removed.
- Sensorineural hearing loss: This is the more permanent type of hearing loss. Vibrations in the air are sensed by delicate hairs in your ears known as stereocilia. These vibrations can be translated to sound by your brain. As you go through life, these hairs become damaged, by loud sound typically. And once they’re damaged, the hairs don’t function. And when this occurs your ability to hear becomes diminished. There’s presently no way to restore these hairs, and your body doesn’t grow new ones naturally. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Sensorineural hearing loss treatments
Just because sensorineural hearing loss is permanent doesn’t mean it can’t be managed. The goal of any such treatment is to let you hear as much as possible given your hearing loss. The goal is to help you hear discussions, improve your situational awareness, and keep you functioning independently through life.
So, how do you manage this type of hearing loss? Here are some prevalent treatments.
Hearing aids
Most likely, the single most common way of managing hearing loss is hearing aids. They’re particularly useful because hearing aids can be specifically tuned for your distinct hearing loss. Using a hearing aid will allow you to better understand conversations and interact with others during your daily life. Many of the symptoms of social solitude can be prevented by using hearing aids (and, as a result, decrease your danger of dementia and depression).
Having your own set of hearing aids is extremely common, and there are lots of styles to pick from. In order to identify which model is suited to your taste and degree of hearing loss, you’ll need to come see us for a consultation.
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. This device directly transmits sound, which it has translated into electrical energy, to your cochlear nerve. Your brain then interprets those signals as sound.
Cochlear implants are typically used when hearing loss is complete, a condition called deafness. So there will still be treatment solutions even if you have totally lost your hearing.
Novel advances
New novel ways of treating hearing loss are always being researched by scientists.
In the past, curing hearing loss has been impossible, but that’s exactly what new advances are geared towards. Here are a number of those advances:
- Stem cell therapies: Your own stem cells are used in this kind of treatment. The concept is that these stem cells can then develop into new stereocilia (those little hairs in your ears). It’s not likely that we will see prescription gene therapy for a while, but for now, studies with animals are showing promise.
- Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear originate the generation of stereocilia. Once the stereocilia develop, the stem cells become inactive, and they are then known as progenitor cells. New treatments aim to reactivate these progenitor cells, encouraging them to once more create new stereocilia. Encouraging results for these new therapies have come from early human trials. Most people noticed a substantial improvement in their ability to hear and comprehend speech. How long it will be before these therapies are widely available, however, is unknown.
- GFI1 Protein: Some researchers have identified a protein that’s essential to growing new stereocilia. It’s hoped that by identifying this protein, researchers will get a better concept of how to get those stereocilia to begin to grow back. This treatment is very much still on the drawing board and isn’t widely available yet.
Stay in the moment – address your hearing loss now
Lots of these innovations are encouraging. But let’s remember that none of them are available to the public at this point. So it’s not a good idea to wait to get treatment for your hearing loss. Protect your hearing today.
Don’t try to hold out for that miracle cure, call us now 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