Hearing Loss Treatment

Hearing loss is one of the most common health conditions facing Americans today. The right treatment depends on a number of factors, such as severity of loss, the underlying cause, type of hearing loss and your lifestyle.

If you have trouble hearing, the first step is getting a hearing test and a thorough evaluation from CGN EPENT.

Why treat hearing loss?

In children, untreated hearing loss negatively impacts language development, learning, and social engagement. Meanwhile, older adults with hearing loss often have difficulty following day-to-day conversations and may begin withdrawing from friends and family, activities and other things they enjoy.

In fact, for people entering their retirement years, untreated hearing loss has been linked to several physical and psychological issues, ranging from cognitive decline and depression to an increased risk of trips and falls.

The most common type of hearing loss is presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss. As we get older, the hair cells in our ears stop functioning as well as they used to and eventually stop working altogether. Nearly half of all people 75 or older have hearing loss.

Age-related hearing loss is a type of sensorineural hearing loss, meaning it originates in the inner ear and/or auditory nerve and is generally caused by damage to the inner ear hair cells. Along with aging, loud noise exposure is another big risk factor for this type of hearing loss.

Treatments for Hearing Loss

• Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants. If your provider recommends hearing aids, they will work with you to calibrate them to your specific hearing loss, during a process known as fitting. Hearing aids do not cure or restore hearing. The basic purpose of a hearing aid is to amplify sound. But todays hearing aids can be highly customized to your specific needs. Cochlear implants are recommended for patients who aren’t helped enough by hearing aids alone.
• Conductive Hearing Loss. Conductive hearing loss can be the result of earwax build-up in the ear canal. Treatment options usually involve medical intervention from CGN EPENT. In some cases, surgery might help.