New cures are constantly being discovered. That might be a positive or a negative. For example, you might look at promising new research in the arena of curing hearing loss and you figure you don’t really need to be all that careful. By the time you begin showing symptoms of hearing loss, you think, they’ll have found the cure for deafness.
That would be unwise. Clearly, safeguarding your hearing now while it’s still healthy would be the wiser choice. There is some exciting research coming out which is revealing some amazing advances toward effectively treating hearing loss.
It isn’t any fun to lose your hearing
Hearing loss is just a fact of life. It’s not inevitably because of something you did wrong. It’s just part of the aging process. But developing hearing loss has some serious disadvantages. Your social life, overall wellness, and mental health can be substantially affected by hearing loss, along with your inability to hear what’s taking place around you. You will even increase your risk of developing dementia and depression with neglected hearing loss. There’s plenty of evidence to connect neglected hearing loss to issues such as social isolation.
Hearing loss is, generally speaking, a degenerative and chronic situation. So, as time passes, it will keep getting worse and there isn’t any cure. This doesn’t apply to every type of hearing loss but we’ll get to that soon. Even though there is no cure, though, that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed.
We can help you protect your levels of hearing and slow down the progression of hearing loss. Hearing aids are often the form of treatment that will be most ideal for most forms of hearing loss. So there are treatments for most individuals but there’s no cure. And your quality of life will be immensely improved by these treatments.
Hearing loss comes in two main kinds
Not all hearing loss is the same. There are two primary classes of hearing loss. You can treat one and the other can be cured. Here’s what you need to know:
- Conductive hearing loss: This form of hearing loss happens because something gets in the way and obstructs your ear canal. Perhaps it’s a bunch of earwax (a bit gross, but it happens). Maybe, an ear infection is causing swelling. Whatever it is, there’s something physically stopping sound waves from moving up to your inner ear. This type of hearing loss can certainly be cured, usually by eliminating the blockage (or treating whatever is creating the obstruction in the first place).
- Sensorineural hearing loss: This is the more irreversible type of hearing loss. There are fragile hairs in your ear (called stereocilia) that pick up minute vibrations in the air. These vibrations can be interpreted as sound by your brain. Regrettably, these hairs are compromised as you go through life, usually by exceedingly loud sounds. And once they are damaged, the hairs don’t function. This decreases your ability to hear. There’s currently no way to heal these hairs, and your body doesn’t grow new ones naturally. When you lose them, it’s forever.
Sensorineural hearing loss treatments
Just because sensorineural hearing loss is permanent doesn’t mean it can’t be treated. Given your loss of hearing, letting you hear as much as you can is the goal of treatment. The goal is to help you hear conversations, increase your situational awareness, and keep you functioning independently through life.
So, how do you manage this type of hearing loss? Prevalent treatments include the following.
Hearing aids
Hearing aids are probably the single most prevalent means of treating hearing loss. Hearing aids can be individually tuned to your specific hearing needs, so they’re especially useful. Wearing a hearing aid will allow you to better understand conversations and interact with others during your daily life. Many of the symptoms of social isolation can be staved off by using hearing aids (and, as a result, lower your danger 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 identify 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 total, it often makes sense to bypass the ears entirely. 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 transferred directly to your cochlear nerve. This enables your brain to translate those signals into sounds.
Cochlear implants are usually used when hearing loss is total, a condition known as deafness. So there will still be treatment options even if you have totally 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 develop into new stereocilia (those tiny hairs inside of your ears). It isn’t likely that we will see prescription gene therapy for some time, but for now, studies with animals are showing promise.
- Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear initiate the generation of stereocilia. Once the stereocilia develop, the stem cells go dormant, and they are then called progenitor cells. New treatments seek to reactivate these progenitor cells, encouraging them to once again grow new stereocilia. Encouraging outcomes for these new therapies have come from early human trials. There was a substantial improvement, for most people, in their ability to hear and understand speech. How long before these therapies are widely available, however, is unknown.
- GFI1 Protein: Some researchers have discovered a protein that’s essential to growing new stereocilia. It’s hoped that by finding this protein, researchers will get a better concept of how to get those stereocilia to begin to grow back. Once again, this is one of those therapies that’s more in the “drawing board” stage than the “widely available” stage.
Don’t wait to get your hearing loss treated
Lots of these innovations are encouraging. But it’s important to emphasize that none of them are ready yet. Which means that it’s a good idea to live in the here and now. Protect your hearing today.
A miracle cure isn’t likely to be coming soon, so if you’re struggling with hearing loss, give us a call 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
