New cures are constantly being found. That can be a good or bad thing. For instance, you may look at promising new research in the area of curing hearing loss and you figure you don’t really have to be all that cautious. By the time you begin exhibiting symptoms of hearing loss, you think, they’ll have found the cure for deafness.

That’s not a good idea. Without a doubt, it’s better to protect your hearing while you have it. There is some exciting research coming out which is revealing some awesome strides toward successfully treating hearing loss.

Hearing loss stinks

Hearing loss is just a fact of life. It’s not inevitably because of something you did wrong. It just… is. But there are some distinct disadvantages to experiencing hearing loss. Your social life, overall health, and mental health can be substantially affected by hearing loss, along with your inability to hear what’s going on around you. Neglected hearing loss can even lead to an increased risk of depression and dementia. Lots of research exists that shows a link between social isolation and untreated hearing loss.

In general, hearing loss is a persistent and degenerative problem. This means that there’s no cure and, as time passes, it’ll get worse. This doesn’t pertain to every kind of hearing loss but we’ll get to that soon. Even though there’s no cure, though, that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed.

If you come see us, we can help slow the development of your hearing loss and maintain your current levels of hearing. Hearing aids are usually the form of treatment that will be most ideal for most forms of hearing loss. So, for most people, there’s no cure, but there are treatments. And those treatments can do a lot of good when it comes to improving your quality of life.

Two forms of hearing loss

Not all hearing loss is the same. There are two main categories of hearing loss. One can be cured, the other can be managed. Here’s what you need to know:

• Conductive hearing loss: When the ear canal gets obstructed by something, you get this type of hearing loss. It might be due to a buildup of earwax. Maybe it’s swelling from an ear infection. When something is obstructing your ear canals, whatever it might be, sound waves won’t be able to get to your inner ear. This type of hearing loss can certainly be cured, typically by removing the obstruction (or treating whatever is causing the obstruction in the first place).
• Sensorineural hearing loss: This is the more irreversible type of hearing loss. Vibrations in the air are sensed by fragile hairs in your ears called stereocilia. These vibrations can be interpreted as sound by your brain. Regrettably, these hairs are compromised as you go through life, usually by overly loud sounds. And these hairs stop functioning after they get damaged. This reduces your ability to hear. Your body doesn’t naturally regrow these hairs and we currently have no way to repair them. When you lose them, it’s forever.

Treatments for sensorineural hearing loss

Sensorineural hearing loss may be permanent but that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed. Given your loss of hearing, allowing you to hear as much as possible is the goal of treatment. Keeping you functioning as independently as possible, improving your situational awareness, and allowing you to hear conversations is the goal.

So, how do you manage this form of hearing loss? Here are some common treatments.

Hearing aids

Hearing aids are likely the single most common means of managing hearing loss. Hearing aids can be specially tuned to your particular hearing needs, so they’re especially useful. During the course of your day, a hearing aid will help you understand conversations and interact with others better. Many of the symptoms of social solitude can be staved off by using hearing aids (and, as a result, lower your danger of dementia and depression).

There are lots of different styles of hearing aid to pick from and they have become much more common. In order to identify which model is suited to your taste and level of hearing loss, you’ll have to come see us for a consultation.

Cochlear implants

When hearing loss is total, it often makes sense to bypass the ears entirely. That’s what a cochlear implant does. This device is surgically inserted into the ear. The device picks up on sounds and converts those sounds into electrical energy, which is then transferred directly to your cochlear nerve. This enables your brain to convert those signals into sounds.

Cochlear implants are normally used when hearing loss is complete, a condition known as deafness. So even if your hearing has gone away completely, there are still treatment solutions available.

Novel advances

Scientists are always working on new ways to treat hearing loss.

These new advances are often geared towards “curing” hearing loss in ways that have previously been impossible. Some of these advances include:

• Stem cell therapies: Your own stem cells are used in this kind of therapy. The idea is that these stem cells can then develop into new stereocilia (those tiny hairs in your ears). It isn’t likely that we will see prescription gene therapy for some time, but for now, studies with animals are showing promise.
• Progenitor cell activation: So, stem cells in your ear initiate the generation of stereocilia. Once the stereocilia develop, the stem cells become inactive, and they are then referred to as progenitor cells. New treatments seek to reactivate these progenitor cells, stimulating them to once more create new stereocilia. Encouraging results for these new therapies have come from early human trials. There was a significant improvement, for most patients, 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 researchers have discovered a protein that’s essential to growing new stereocilia. It’s hoped that by finding this protein, scientists will get a better concept of how to get those stereocilia to begin to grow back. Again, this is one of those treatments that’s more in the “drawing board” stage than the “widely available” phase.

Don’t wait to get your hearing loss treated

Lots of these innovations are promising. But let’s not forget that none of them are available to the public at this point. Which means that it’s a good idea to live in the here and now. Be proactive about safeguarding your hearing.

Don’t try to wait for that miracle cure, call us as soon as you can to schedule a hearing exam.

Call Today to Set Up an Appointment

References

https://hsci.harvard.edu/major-step-toward-treatment-leading-form-hearing-loss
https://news.mit.edu/2022/frequency-therapeutics-hearing-regeneration-0329