Every day scientists are discovering new cures. That can be a good thing and a bad thing. You may think that you really don’t have to be very vigilant about your hearing because you saw some promising research about potential future cures for deafness. By the time you begin showing symptoms of hearing loss, you think, they’ll have discovered the cure for deafness.
That would be unwise. Without question, it’s better to protect your hearing while you have it. There is some amazing research coming out which is revealing some awesome advances toward successfully treating hearing loss.
It’s no fun to lose your hearing
Hearing loss is just a fact of life. It doesn’t mean you’re a negative person or you did something wrong or you’re being punished. It’s just part of the aging process. But there are some distinct disadvantages to experiencing hearing loss. Your social life, overall wellness, and mental health can be significantly impacted by hearing loss, not to mention your inability to hear what’s taking place around you. You will even raise your risk of developing dementia and depression with untreated hearing loss. Lots of research exists that shows a connection between social isolation and neglected hearing loss.
Usually, hearing loss is a chronic and degenerative problem. This means that there’s no cure and, as time passes, it’ll get worse. That’s not true for every kind of hearing loss, but more on that below. But “no cure” isn’t the same as “no treatment”.
If you come see us, we can help slow down the progression of your hearing loss and maintain your current levels of hearing. Hearing aids are frequently the form of treatment that will be most appropriate for most types of hearing loss. So, for most people, there’s no cure, but there are treatments. And your quality of life will be immensely improved by these treatments.
Two forms of hearing loss
Not all hearing loss is identical. There are two primary classes of hearing loss. You can treat one and the other can be cured. Here’s how it breaks down:
- Conductive hearing loss: When the ear canal gets obstructed by something, you get this form of hearing loss. It might be caused by an accumulation of earwax. Perhaps, an ear infection is causing swelling. Whatever the cause, there’s something physically preventing sound waves from traveling up to your inner ear. This kind of hearing loss can indeed be cured, usually by eliminating the obstruction (or treating whatever is causing the obstruction in the first place).
- Sensorineural hearing loss: This is the more irreversible form of hearing loss. There are tiny hairs in your ear (known as stereocilia) that sense 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, typically by exceedingly loud noises. And these hairs stop working after they get damaged. This reduces your ability to hear. There’s presently no way to restore these hairs, and your body doesn’t create new ones naturally. When you lose them, it’s forever.
Treatments for sensorineural hearing loss
Just because sensorineural hearing loss is irreversible doesn’t mean it can’t be treated. Given your loss of hearing, allowing you to hear as much as possible is the goal of treatment. The objective is to help you hear discussions, enhance your situational awareness, and keep you functioning independently through life.
So, how do you treat this type of hearing loss? Prevalent treatments include the following.
Hearing aids
Most likely, the single most common way of treating hearing loss is hearing aids. Hearing aids can be specially calibrated to your particular hearing needs, so they’re especially useful. Wearing a hearing aid will let you better comprehend conversations and communicate with others during your daily life. Many of the symptoms of social solitude can be prevented by wearing hearing aids (and the risk of depression and dementia as a result).
There are lots of different styles of hearing aid to choose from and they have become much more common. You’ll need to speak with us about which is ideal for you and your particular level of hearing loss.
Cochlear implants
Often, it will be necessary to bypass the ears altogether 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 translates those sounds into electrical energy, which is then transferred straight to your cochlear nerve. Your brain then interprets those signals as sound.
When a person has a condition known as deafness, or complete hearing loss, cochlear implants are sometimes used. So even if your hearing has gone away completely, there are still treatment options available.
Novel advances
Scientists are always working on new ways to treat hearing loss.
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: These treatments use stem cells from your own body. The concept is that new stereocilia can be generated by these stem cells (those delicate hairs in your ears). Studies with mammals (like rats and mice) have shown some promise, but some form of prescription stem cell gene therapy is probably still a long way off.
- Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear initiate the creation of stereocilia. The stem cells become inactive after they develop stereocilia and are then known as progenitor cells. New treatments aim to reactivate these progenitor cells, encouraging them to once more grow new stereocilia. This specific novel therapy has been tried in humans, and the results seem encouraging. Most people noticed a substantial improvement in their ability to hear and understand speech. It isn’t really known how long it will be before these therapies will be widely available.
- GFI1 Protein: Some scientists have identified a protein that’s essential to growing new stereocilia. Scientists 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.
Stay in the moment – address your hearing loss now
Lots of these innovations are promising. But let’s remember that none of them are available to the public right now. Which means that it’s smart to live in the here and now. Be proactive about safeguarding your hearing.
Don’t try and wait 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