What are the common causes of deafness? 

Deafness can be caused by diseases in one or more parts of the ear.

External ear: Wax, fungus, foreign bodies, acute infection

Middle ear : Acute or chronic infection, collection of fluid in the ear, otosclerosis, trauma causing fixity of the ossicles, injury

Inner ear : Birth defects, infections defects, infections, injuries, tumors of the auditory nerve, ototoxic medicines, Meniere's Disease, (producing vertigo),

Uncontrolled blood pressure and diabetes, ageing, noise induced deafness.

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How do I know that I have a hearing problem?

Common indicators of hearing loss are - 

• High pitched voices like that of women and children being   missed. 
• Difficulty in hearing at public gatherings, theatres, etc. where the source of sound is distant. 
• Difficulty in understanding conversation within a group of people.
• Turning up the volume of Difficulty in listening to the radio or TV.
• Person asking other’s to repeat the sentence or word frequently.

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How can I get my hearing tested? 

If a hearing loss is suspected, an appointment with an ENT specialist is essential in testing and evaluation. Pure tone audiometry a short and simple test conducted by the hearing health care professional determines the type and severity of hearing loss.  

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Who should be advised for audiometry routinely/annually?

At risk children, children with academic problems, person working in noisy environment & after the age of 50, a hearing test must be taken regularly.

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What are the types of Hearing Loss?

• Conductive hearing loss : due to injury or problems in the external or middle ear with defects in the bones, eardrum or membranes which transmit sound from the external and middle ear to the inner ear. This type of loss can be usually overcome by medication or surgery. 

• Sensorineural hearing loss : caused by the deterioration of the inner ear or the auditory nerves. In these cases hearing-aids are often the only solution available.

• Mixed hearing loss : caused by a combination of both. 

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Can deafness be treated?

Conductive deafness usually can be corrected by medicines or surgery. Wax and fungus in the ear along with various infections in the ear can be treated medically while diseases like perforations in the ear drum or fixation of the innermost small bone in the middle ear (otosclerosis) can be treated by operations like tympanoplasty or stapedectomy.

As all the structures in the ear are very small, the surgery of the ear has to be performed under a special binocular operating microscope, under good illumination and magnification.

Sensorineural hearing loss usually can not be cured by medicines or surgery. Patients are prescribed to wear hearing aids or cochlear implant.

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Why early detection and intervention of hearing impairment is important in child? 

If child does not hear he won’t learn language and speech, and initial 3-4 years of age are most critical for speech development thus early intervention and rehabilitation is important. Such children need education in special schools with the help of hearing aids and speech therapy. A sizable number of such children may be integrated in normal schools after proper training. 

For details visit- http://entcare.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/hearing-loss-in-childrenearly-intervention/ 

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How can the discharging ear be treated? 

MEDICAL TREATMENT: The infection can be controlled by proper cleaning of ear by specialist, antibiotic or antiseptic ear drops and oral antibiotic and antihistaminics/decongestants.  Fungal infection is treated by antifungal ear drops and repeated ear cleaning and antibiotics. Small Perforations of a short duration may heal on their own in majority of cases. If they do not heal in one and half or two months, it can be closed by chemical cautery and by paper patching under surgical microscope.

SURGICAL TREATMENT: Large benign perforations or perforations not responding to medical management can be closed by tympanoplasty operation with the help of binocular operating microscope.

Unsafe perforations can also treated by microscopic surgery and the offending cholesteatama can be removed with precision, making the ear safe and free from life threatening complications. by tympano-mastoidectomy.

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What causes pain in the ear ?

Some of the common causes of earache are :

External ear : Wax, injury, fungus, infection, foreign body.

Middle ear : Infection, injury.

Referred pain : The ear has a rich nerve supply and many of these nerves also supply surrounding structures like teeth, tongue, cheek, throat, jaw joint and the neck. Since the ear is a very sensitive structure, the brain may misinterpret pain arising from these surrounding structures to be originating from the ear.

Neuralgic pain : due to oversensitive nerves.

Symptomatic relief from earache can be obtained by painkillers and fomenting the ear with hot water bottle or heating pad. But the ear should be checked by an E.N.T. surgeon for the diagnosis and treatment. 

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What is the treatment for vertigo ?

Examination and investigations of the ear and other parts of the body can help the ENT surgeon to diagnose the cause of giddiness, and then its treatment can be outlined. Consultation by other specialist also may be required. Majority of patients having giddiness do not have a dangerous disease and with time person usually regains its balance, a process helped by vestibular sedatives and vestibular exercises.

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What can be done for tinnitus (noises in the ear )?

Tinnitus (noise in the ear or head) is a very annoying symptom which can be caused by diseases in the ear or diseases outside the ear. Rarely tinnitus can be a symptom of a dangerous disease. Hence the ear should be checked by an E.N.T. surgeon. It tends to be most harassing to the patient when he is in a quiet place.

Treatment of the cause should take care of tinnitus but tinnitus may persist even after the disease causing tinnitus has been cured. Tinnitus retraining Tinnitus maskers are sometimes recommended. These are similar to hearing aids and generate continuous noise. Their use is based on the fact that the patient is more comfortable in a noisy environment than in a quiet surrounding. 

For details visit- http://entcare.wordpress.com/category/tinnitus/

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How to clean ear-wax?

Wax is normal protective layer for the sensitive skin of ear canal. This coating helps repel water & traps dust particles & when you clean it out you make your ear more vulnerable to infection. Chronic cleaning of ear causes dryness leading to itching, Continues itching may cause damage of skin and in turn bacterial & fungal infections. Sometimes accidentally if you dig down too deep you may hurt your ear-drum Usually small amount of wax is secreted which comes out by its own, a process helped by jaw movement. Excess, hard wax causing obstruction is to be removed by clinician.

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