More than 18 million adults in the UK have some degree of hearing loss along with 500,000 deaf children.
Of these, it’s estimated that around 2 million adults wear hearing aids, along with thousands of children.
At BAHA Accessories, we know that there can often be a lot of confusion and many misconceptions surrounding deafness and hearing loss. So in today’s blog, we’re taking a closer look at what causes hearing loss, whether it can be treated and answering the question, ‘Do hearing aids cure deafness?’
What Causes Hearing Loss?
There are lots of different causes of deafness and hearing loss. Some of the causes happen before birth, for example, hereditary conditions or complications of pregnancy. Other causes of hearing loss occur in childhood, such as prematurity or childhood illnesses. It’s also possible to become deaf as an adult due to lifestyle factors or age.
Some causes of deafness can happen to anyone, at any age. For example, head injury or trauma to the ear, exposure to loud noises, ear infections or taking certain medications, such as chemotherapy drugs.
Different Types of Deafness
Hearing loss occurs when sound is unable to reach the brain. This could be caused by an issue at any point of the hearing system, from the outer ear itself (also called the ‘pinna’) through the middle ear to the inner ear, where the cochlea is found.
There are two main overall types of hearing loss, and lots of different ranges and causes of deafness within each of those.
Sensorineural hearing loss
This is the most common type of hearing loss and results from damage to the inner ear, which can have a wide range of causes.
Sensorineural hearing loss reduces sound quality and makes it tricky to hear quiet sounds. This type of hearing loss is permanent, but hearing can usually be improved by hearing aids.
Conductive hearing loss
This type of hearing loss is due to a problem with the outer or middle ear, preventing sound from travelling through to the inner ear. It could be something as simple and treatable as a blockage of wax, to something more complex, such as a genetic abnormality with the ear.
With conductive hearing loss, sound is muffled. Depending on the cause, conductive deafness may be temporary and the person’s hearing might return by itself or with treatment, or the hearing loss may be permanent.
It’s also possible to have both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss, which is called mixed hearing loss.
Hearing Aids – Treatment or Cure?
When it comes to hearing loss, hearing aids are a treatment rather than a cure. Wearing hearing aids won’t cure your deafness or ‘fix’ it but in most cases hearing aids can significantly improve a person’s hearing.
Unfortunately, unlike, say, glasses, or contact lenses, which may be able to restore full vision when worn, hearing aids are unable to recreate ‘normal’ hearing for a person with hearing loss. However, this doesn’t mean that hearing aids aren’t still hugely beneficial for many deaf people and those living with temporary or permanent hearing loss.
How Do Hearing Aids Work?
All hearing aids work by amplifying sound to improve the wearer’s hearing, but how they do this differs depending on the type of device and the type of hearing loss they’re being used to treat.
For example, CROS and BiCROS hearing aids can help people with Single Sided Deafness (SSD) by picking up sound in the ear with hearing loss and sending it to the ‘good’ ear.
There’s a wide variety of hearing aids available to suit different types of hearing loss. In addition, there are hearing devices and implants such as Bone Anchored Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants or BAHA headbands, which all work in different ways to improve hearing.
Get In Touch
If you’ve been wondering if hearing aids cure deafness, we hope this blog has helped clear things up.
If you or someone you know is experiencing hearing loss, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) offers information and support, and the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) is an excellent source of support for deaf children and their families.
You’ll also find lots of useful information about hearing loss, deafness and different types of hearing aids over on the BAHA Accessories blog along with tips for BAHA wearers.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll do our best to help. You can get in touch by email sales@bahaaccessoriesuk.com or give us a call on 07432 620644.
We look forward to hearing from you!