Have you ever had your vehicle break down in the middle of the highway? That really stinks! You have to pull your car safely to the side of the road. Then you most likely pop your hood and take a look at the engine. Who knows why?
Humorously, you still do this despite the fact that you have no understanding of engines. Perhaps whatever is wrong will be totally obvious. Ultimately, you have to call someone to tow your car to a mechanic.
And a picture of the problem only becomes evident when experts get a look at it. Just because the car isn’t starting, doesn’t mean you can tell what’s wrong with it because vehicles are complex and computerized machines.
The same thing can happen sometimes with hearing loss. The symptom itself doesn’t automatically identify what the underlying cause is. Sure, noise-related hearing loss is the usual cause. But sometimes, something else like auditory neuropathy is the culprit.
What is auditory neuropathy?
When most people think about hearing loss, they think of noisy concerts and jet engines, excessive noise that damages your ability to hear. This kind of hearing loss is known as sensorineural hearing loss, and it’s a bit more involved than basic noise damage.
But sometimes, this kind of long-term, noise related damage is not the cause of hearing loss. While it’s less prevalent, hearing loss can in some cases be caused by a condition known as auditory neuropathy. When sound can’t, for some reason, be effectively transmitted to your brain even though your ear is collecting that sound just fine.
Symptoms of auditory neuropathy
The symptoms of conventional noise related hearing loss can sometimes look a lot like those of auditory neuropathy. You can’t hear well in loud situations, you keep turning up the volume on your television and other devices, that kind of thing. That’s why diagnosing auditory neuropathy can be so challenging.
Auditory neuropathy, however, has some distinctive symptoms that make recognizing it easier. These presentations are rather solid indicators that you aren’t experiencing sensorineural hearing loss, but auditory neuropathy instead. Though, naturally, you’ll be better served by an official diagnosis from us.
The more distinctive symptoms of auditory neuropathy include:
- Sound fades in and out: Maybe it feels like somebody is playing with the volume knob inside of your head! This could be a sign that you’re experiencing auditory neuropathy.
- Sounds sound jumbled or confused: This is, once again, not an issue with volume. The volume of what you’re hearing is completely normal, the problem is that the sounds seem jumbled and you can’t understand them. This can go beyond the spoken word and apply to all types of sounds around you.
- Difficulty understanding speech: Sometimes, the volume of a word is just fine, but you just can’t understand what’s being said. Words are confused and muddled sounding.
Some causes of auditory neuropathy
The root causes of this disorder can, in part, be defined by its symptoms. It may not be completely clear why you have developed auditory neuropathy on an individual level. Both children and adults can experience this condition. And there are a couple of well defined possible causes, generally speaking:
- Damage to the cilia that send signals to the brain: Sound can’t be passed to your brain in complete form once these little delicate hairs have been compromised in a specific way.
- Nerve damage: There’s a nerve that transmits sound signals from your inner ear to the hearing center of your brain. The sounds that the brain attempts to “interpret” will sound unclear if there is damage to this nerve. When this occurs, you might interpret sounds as jumbled, indecipherable, or too quiet to differentiate.
Risk factors of auditory neuropathy
Some individuals will experience auditory neuropathy while others won’t and no one is really certain why. That’s why there’s no exact science to preventing it. However, there are close connections which may indicate that you’re at a higher risk of developing this disorder.
It should be noted that these risk factors are not guarantees, you might have every single one of these risk factors and not experience auditory neuropathy. But you’re more statistically likely to develop auditory neuropathy the more risk factors you have.
Children’s risk factors
Factors that can increase the risk of auditory neuropathy for children include the following:
- An abundance of bilirubin in the blood (bilirubin is a normal byproduct of red blood cell breakdown)
- A low birth weight
- A lack of oxygen during birth or before labor begins
- Liver disorders that lead to jaundice (a yellow appearance to the skin)
- Preterm or premature birth
- Other neurological conditions
Adult risk factors
For adults, risk factors that increase your likelihood of developing auditory neuropathy include:
- Family history of hearing disorders, including auditory neuropathy
- Some medications (specifically incorrect use of medications that can cause hearing problems)
- Mumps and other specific infectious diseases
- Various kinds of immune diseases
Generally, it’s a smart idea to limit these risks as much as possible. If risk factors are there, it might be a good plan to schedule regular screenings with us.
Diagnosing auditory neuropathy
During a standard hearing assessment, you’ll likely be given a pair of headphones and be told to raise your hand when you hear a tone. When you have auditory neuropathy, that test will be of very minimal use.
One of the following two tests will typically be used instead:
- Auditory brainstem response (ABR) test: Specialized electrodes will be fastened to specific places on your scalp and head with this test. This test isn’t painful or uncomfortable in any way so don’t be concerned. These electrodes put specific focus on measuring how your brainwaves react to sound stimuli. Whether you’re dealing with sensorineural hearing loss (outer ear) or auditory neuropathy (inner ear) will be established by the quality of your brainwaves.
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) test: The reaction of your inner ear and cochlea to stimuli will be tested with this diagnostic. We will put a small microphone just inside your ear canal. Then, we will play an array of tones and clicks. The diagnostic device will then determine how well your inner ear responds to those tones and clicks. If the inner ear is a problem, this data will expose it.
Once we do the appropriate tests, we will be able to more effectively diagnose and treat your auditory neuropathy.
Is there treatment for auditory neuropathy?
So you can bring your ears to us for treatment just like you take your car to the mechanic to have it fixed. Auditory neuropathy generally has no cure. But this condition can be managed in a few possible ways.
- Hearing aids: In some milder cases, hearing aids will be able to supply the necessary sound amplification to help you hear better, even with auditory neuropathy. For some people, hearing aids will work just fine! Having said that, this is not typically the case, because, once again, volume is virtually never the problem. Hearing aids are usually used in conjunction with other treatments because of this.
- Cochlear implant: Hearing aids won’t be able to solve the problem for most people. It may be necessary to go with cochlear implants in these situations. Signals from your inner ear are transmitted directly to your brain with this implant. The internet has plenty of videos of individuals having success with these amazing devices!
- Frequency modulation: In some cases, it’s possible to hear better by boosting or reducing certain frequencies. That’s what happens with a technology called frequency modulation. Essentially, highly customized hearing aids are utilized in this approach.
- Communication skills training: Communication skills exercises can be put together with any combination of these treatments if needed. This will allow you to work with whatever level of hearing you have to communicate better.
The sooner you receive treatment, the better
Getting your disorder treated right away will, as with any hearing condition, produce better outcomes.
So it’s important to get your hearing loss treated as soon as possible whether it’s the common form or auditory neuropathy. The sooner you schedule an appointment, the more quickly you’ll be able to hear better, and get back to your everyday life! Children, who experience a lot of cognitive growth and development, particularly need to have their hearing treated as soon as possible.