From listening to your favorite band at the Music Box to engaging in conversations with your friends and family, the ability to hear helps you connect with the world around you. Understanding how hearing works and some common causes of hearing loss can help you care for your health and ensure you can listen to your favorite tunes for years to come.
How We Hear
When a bird chirps in the park, the sound travels to our brain through the following process:
- Sound waves travel through the air and into the outer ear.
- The outer ear sends sound waves to the eardrum, causing it to vibrate.
- Tiny bones in the middle ear called ossicles amplify vibrations from the eardrum before sending them to the inner ear.
- In the inner ear, the sound enters the cochlea, filled with fluid and lined with approximately 16,000 tiny hair cells.
- As the sound waves travel through the cochlea, the fluid inside moves, sending the tiny hair cells into motion.
- When the tiny hair cells move, they send electrical signals along the auditory nerve.
- The auditory nerve carries the electrical signals to the brain, where they are interpreted as sound.
Although the hearing process seems complicated, it happens in a fraction of a second.
How Does Hearing Loss Occur?
Hearing loss occurs when something disrupts the path sound takes through our ears. Some common causes of hearing loss include:
- Noise exposure. Exposure to loud noises can overwork and damage the delicate hair cells in the inner ear, leading to temporary or permanent hearing loss. Protect your hearing from noise-induced damage by wearing earplugs when exposed to loud noise and turning down the volume on your audio devices.
- Aging (presbycusis). As we age, the structures of the inner ear naturally change, leading to a gradual decline in hearing ability. While you cannot prevent aging, caring for your hearing health by scheduling regular audiology appointments can help identify damage or loss before it adversely affects you.
- Medical conditions. Various medical conditions or illnesses, like otosclerosis, Ménière’s disease and ear infections, can affect the structures of the ear and lead to hearing loss. To help prevent medical conditions from affecting your hearing, make regular appointments with an audiologist and seek prompt medical attention for ear infections and other illnesses.
- Medications. Certain medications, known as ototoxic drugs, have the potential to damage the auditory system and cause hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing in the ears). These medications may include chemotherapy drugs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), blood pressure medication and more. Because ototoxic medications are often life-saving, you may not always be able to avoid them. Discuss all medications with your provider to better understand the hearing risks.
To learn more about protecting your hearing, contact San Diego ENT today to make an appointment with one of our providers.