What Are the Most Common Causes of Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss and impairment is becoming more and more common. In fact, it’s predicted that by 2025, 900 million people worldwide will have some level of hearing impairment. Fortunately, today’s resources offer solutions for certain levels of hearing impairment. But hearing loss can significantly impact your life, so it’s a good idea to know about some of the most common causes of hearing loss.

Causes of Hearing Impairment

Hearing impairment can be caused by a number of factors. While not all cases of hearing loss are avoidable, there are some steps you can take to reduce your risk of losing your hearing.

Aging: Like our eyesight and mobility, hearing does tend to decrease as we age. In fact, by age 65, one out of every three people experience some form of hearing impairment. Generally, hearing loss associated with aging is greatest for high-pitched noises, like phone ringing or music.

Loud noises: If someone is exposed to excessive noise, they may be subjected to hearing loss. Whether it’s a one-time exposure to a very loud noise or repeated exposure to loud noise over time, excessive noise can cause significant damage to the ears and can lead to hearing loss.

Ear infections: While ear infections are relatively common, especially among children, they can occasionally be one of the causes of hearing impairment. Certain infections, like those in the middle ear, can not only cause severe ear pain but can lead to irreversible hearing loss as well.

Hearing loss has many possible causes. Because of this fact, it’s important to know when to seek treatment for hearing issues.

Symptoms and Treatment

Fortunately, hearing loss is generally pretty easy to detect. If you begin experiencing muffling of sounds, difficulty understanding words, or finding yourself having to continuously turn up the volume on the TV or radio, you may need to go see an audiologist. A simple hearing evaluation will be able to determine whether or not you’re experiencing hearing loss. Hearing impairment can be difficult to deal with, but a hearing aid device can help you go about your daily life as normal. With the right hearing aid, you’ll be able to do all of the things you love without your hearing impairment getting in the way.

Hearing loss is not something that should be ignored. If you’re noticing your hearing isn’t quite as good as it used to be, talk to your doctor to learn more about how hearing devices can help improve your hearing.