Hearing Impaired Disability

Most of the people know of only one type of hearing impairment is deafness. Hearing no sound at all can be very difficult condition but looking at the opposite side of it, hearing too much may also prove to be as critical. Hyperacusis is defined as the intolerance to regular and normal sounds. To give people a concrete illustration of hyperacusis, one can take for example a glass being put down on top of a desk. To the normal ordinary people, the sound produced by such an act is hardly noticeable. For someone who is suffering from hyperacusis or hearing impairment, such sound may be described as loud, even disturbing.

Symptoms of hyperacusis include pressure or pain in the inner most ear. Because of the added noise these people hear, individuals with this ailment may find it difficult to adapt to the flow of everyday life and may be deemed as generally unfit. When people suffer from hyperacusis it would be likely that he or she would soon develop annoying tinnitus. Tinnitus is an odd sensation in the ear that is coupled with a ringing or whistling sound. Phonophobia is also a hearing disorder that is associated with this condition. This is characterized with the fear of exposure to loud sounds that may do damage to their hearing ability. In such situations, people with hyperacusis may be under a lot of mental stress. This condition would be evident in how one performs in the workplace, at home and in social gatherings. Lack of regular and proper sleep is also attributed with such mental stress.

Hyperacusis is said to be caused by a break down in the audition regulatory system of the brain. It can also be a result of a serious cerebral injury, over fatigue or epilepsy. Disease such as Lyme and Bell's palsy disease is also related with such hearing impairment. Intake of synthetic modern drugs could also have some negative effects that can cause hyperacusis. One popular treatment for this hearing impairment, the hyperacusis, is sound desensitization. In this procedure, a sufferer is exposed to pink noise which is a term referred to a random noise with equal amount of energy in one octave at a volume lower than one's discomfort level. The person would be subject to such process for about two hours everyday. Results can not be achieved in a snap of a finger, but with enough constant support from family and friends, one can be in the path of full recovery in about six months.

Some types of damage to the hearing system cause problems beyond hearing impairment. Ringing in the ears or tinnitus is an auditory system pathology called tinnitus that often accompanies hearing loss. Researchers believe that ringing or tinnitus is caused by damage to the auditory nerve endings in the cochlea. The most common cause of this type of hearing damage is exposure to loud noise, although normal aging and some infections can also trigger tinnitus. While there is no actual remedy for tinnitus, high volume white noise, like static, can be used to mask the annoying ringing.

• John Palsson
• 20/12/2008, 8:59 PM
• 0 Comments