Episode #93 - Hearing loss

VGS   What are the early signs of hearing loss? Can it be cured? And what can you do to protect your hearing? Hello and welcome to Science in 5. I am Vismita Gupta-Smith. We are talking to Dr Shelly Chadha, today. Welcome, Shelly. Let's get started with what are the early signs of hearing loss?

SC  Hi Vismita. Well, perhaps one of the earliest indications that you could have a hearing loss is when you arenot able to make out very clearly what people are saying in a noisy place like a restaurant. If you go withfriends and you have to keep asking them to repeat themselves because of the background noise and you canmake out clearly, then that is when you should suspect that you could have hearing loss.

Also, if you have to frequently turn up the volume on your television or your radio or listening device thatyou are listening to music on, for example.

Another indication is if people are telling you that you speak loudly, that could also be an indication that youare developing hearing loss.

And finally, if you have a persistent ringing or buzzing sound in your ear, what is called tinnitus. Tinnituscould be one of the first indications that you have a hearing loss.

So if you have any of these signs, it's important to take note of them and to get your hearing checked as soon as possible.

You could also check your hearing yourself, do an initial check using WHO's free app, which is called“hearWHO". So you can also use that app to do a first screening and see if you need to geta hearing test done.

VGS   Shelly, can hearing loss be cured?

SC   Vismita, there are some causes of hearing loss that can be cured. For example, if you have wax obstructing in your ear making you feel a little blocked or if you have an ear infection or if the ear drum ruptures, these are things which can be treated by medicines or by surgery, but a lot of hearing loss cannot really be cured.What can be done is that people with hearing loss can communicate better through the use of devices likehearing aids and cochlear implants.

What's important for these interventions to be effective is that they should be initiated at the earliest possible.And for that, it's important that we get our hearing checked regularly and we watch for those signs of hearing loss that I already mentioned earlier.

VGS  So, Shelly, talk to us about the steps we can take every day to protect our hearing.

SC   I'd like to start with what you should not do. So firstly, don't use anything - any Q-tips, cotton buds, pins,sticks to clean your ears. The ear is a self-cleaning organ. It doesn't need to be helped with these. And actually they can lead to infection. That can lead to obstruction. They can lead to rupture of the ear drum. What you should also not do is: if you have a ear problem to use home remedies like putting oil into the ear.