Hearing Loss Causes, Management, and Remedies

Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterward. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken language, and in adults, it can create difficulties with social interaction and at work. Hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. Hearing loss related to age usually affects both ears and is due to cochlear hair cell loss. The terms hearing impairment or hearing loss are often viewed negatively. Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System explains in-depth and also suggests some treatments and vital remedies for well-being.

Definition

Hearing loss is defined as diminished acuity to sounds that would otherwise be heard normally. The terms hearing impaired or hard of hearing are usually reserved for people who have a relative inability to hear sound in the speech frequencies. 

Hearing standards

Human hearing extends in frequency from 20 to 20,000 Hz, and in intensity from 0 dB to 120 dB HL or more. 0 dB does not represent the absence of sound, but rather the softest sound an average unimpaired human ear can hear; some people can hear down to -5 or even -10 dB. Sound is generally uncomfortably loud above 90 dB and 115 dB represents the threshold of pain. 

Hearing loss Symptoms

• Difficulty using the telephone
• Loss of sound localization
• Difficulty understanding speech, especially of children and women whose voices are of a higher frequency.
• Sounds or speech sounding dull, muffled, or attenuated
• Difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise (cocktail party effect)
• Need for increased volume on the television, radio, music, and other audio sources

Accompanying symptoms of Hearing loss

Hearing loss is sensory, but may have accompanying symptoms:

• Pain or pressure in the ears
• A blocked feeling

Secondary symptoms of Hearing loss

There may also be accompanying secondary symptoms:

• Hyperacusis, heightened sensitivity with accompanying auditory pain to certain intensities and frequencies of sound, sometimes defined as “auditory recruitment”
• Tinnitus, ringing, buzzing, hissing, or other sounds in the ear when no external sound is present
• Vertigo and disequilibrium
• Tympanophonia, also known as autophonia, is abnormal hearing of one’s own voice and respiratory sounds, usually as a result of a constantly open eustachian tube or dehiscent superior semicircular canals
• Disturbances of facial movement (indicating a possible tumor or stroke) or in persons with Bell’s palsy

Hearing loss Complications

Alzheimer’s disease

Hearing loss is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The risk increases with the hearing loss degree. There are several hypotheses including cognitive resources being redistributed to hearing. According to preliminary data, hearing aid usage can slow down the decline in cognitive functions.

Hearing loss is responsible for causing thalamocortical dysrthymia in the brain which is a cause for several neurological disorders including tinnitus and visual snow syndrome.

Cognitive decline

Hearing loss is an increasing concern, especially in aging populations. The prevalence of hearing loss increases about two-fold for each decade increase in age after age 40. While the secular trend might decrease the individual-level risk of developing hearing loss. Another concern about the aging process is cognitive decline, which may progress to mild cognitive impairment and eventually dementia.

The association between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been studied in various research settings. Despite the variability in study design and protocols, the majority of these studies have found a consistent association between age-related hearing loss and cognitive decline, cognitive impairment, and dementia.

Findings on the association between hearing loss and dementia have significant public health implications since about 9% of dementia cases can be attributed to hearing loss.

Falls

Falls have important health implications, especially for an aging population where they can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of injuries caused by falls since older individuals typically have greater bone fragility and poorer protective reflexes. 

The evidence suggests that treating hearing loss has the potential to increase health-related quality of life in older adults.

Depression

Depression is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In older adults, the suicide rate is higher than it is for younger adults. More suicide cases are attributable to depression. Different studies have been done to investigate potential risk factors that can give rise to depression in later life.

Some chronic diseases are found to be significantly associated with the risk of developing depression, such as:

• Coronary heart disease, 
• Pulmonary disease, 
• Vision loss, and
• Hearing loss.

It can attribute to a decrease in health-related quality of life, increase in social isolation, and decline in social engagement, which are all risk factors for increased risk of developing depression symptoms.

Spoken language ability

Post-lingual deafness

This deafness is hearing loss that is sustained after the acquisition of language, which can occur due to disease, trauma, or as a side-effect of a medicine. Typically, hearing loss is gradual and often detected by family and friends of affected individuals long before the patients themselves will acknowledge the disability. 

Prelingual deafness

It is profound hearing loss that is sustained before the acquisition of language, which can occur due to a congenital condition or through hearing loss before birth or in early infancy. Prelingual deafness impairs an individual’s ability to acquire a spoken language in children, but deaf children can acquire spoken language through support from cochlear implants (sometimes combined with hearing aids).

The 5–10% of cases of deaf babies born into signing families have the potential of age-appropriate development of language due to early exposure to a sign language by sign-competent parents, thus they have the potential to meet language milestones, in sign language in lieu of spoken language.

Hearing loss Causes

There are multiple causes, including ageing, genetics, perinatal problems, and acquired causes like noise and disease. For some kinds of hearing loss, the cause may be classified as of unknown cause.

Progressive loss of ability to hear

There is a progressive loss of ability to hear high frequencies with ageing known as presbycusis. For men, this can start as early as 25 and women at 30. Although genetically variable it is a normal concomitant of ageing and is distinct from hearing losses caused by noise exposure, toxins, or disease agents. Common conditions that can increase the risk of hearing loss in elderly people are high blood pressure, diabetes, or the use of certain medications harmful to the ear. While everyone loses hearing with age, the amount and type are variable.

Acoustic trauma

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), also known as acoustic trauma, typically manifests as elevated hearing thresholds i.e. less sensitivity or muting. Noise exposure is the cause of approximately half of all cases of hearing loss, causing some degree of problems in 5% of the population globally. The majority of hearing loss is not due to age, but due to noise exposure. Various governmental, industry, and standards organizations set noise standards. 

Inherited by recessive genes

Around 75–80% of all these cases are inherited by recessive genes. About 20–25% are inherited by dominant genes, 1–2% are inherited by X-linked patterns, and fewer than 1% are inherited by mitochondrial inheritance. Syndromic deafness occurs when there are other signs or medical problems aside from deafness in an individual, such as:

• Usher syndrome, 
• Stickler syndrome, 
• Waardenburg syndrome, 
• Alport’s syndrome, and 
• Neurofibromatosis type 2.

Nonsyndromic deafness occurs when there are no other signs or medical problems associated with the deafness in an individual.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are reported to cause hearing loss in up to 64% of infants born to alcoholic mothers, from the ototoxic effect on the developing fetus plus malnutrition during pregnancy from the excess alcohol intake. Premature birth can be associated with sensorineural hearing loss because of an increased risk of hypoxia, hyperbilirubinemia, ototoxic medication, and infection as well as noise exposure in the neonatal units. 

Auditory neuropathy

Disorders responsible for hearing loss include:

• Auditory neuropathy, 
• Down syndrome, 
• Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease variant 1E,
• Autoimmune disease,
• Multiple sclerosis,
• Meningitis,
• Cholesteatoma,
• Otosclerosis,
• Perilymph fistula,
• Ménière’s disease,
• Recurring ear infections,
• Strokes,
• Superior semicircular canal dehiscence,
• Pierre Robin,
• Treacher-Collins,
• Usher Syndrome,
• Pendred Syndrome, 
• Turner syndrome,
• Syphilis,
• Vestibular schwannoma,
• Measles,
• Mumps,
• Congenital rubella (also called German measles) syndrome, and
• Several varieties of herpes viruses, HIV/AIDS, and West Nile virus.

Medications

Some medications may reversibly affect hearing. This includes loop diuretics such as furosemide and bumetanide, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) both over-the-counter (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) as well as prescription (celecoxib, diclofenac, etc), paracetamol, quinine, and macrolide antibiotics. Others may cause permanent hearing loss. The most important group is the aminoglycosides (main member gentamicin) and platinum-based chemotherapeutics such as cisplatin and carboplatin.

Specific chemicals in the environment

In addition to medications, hearing loss can also result from specific chemicals in the environment:

• Metals, such as lead; 
• Solvents, such as toluene (found in crude oil, gasoline, and automobile exhaust, for example); and
• Asphyxiants. 

Combined with noise, these ototoxic chemicals have an additive effect on a person’s hearing loss. 

Damage to the ear

There can be damage either to the ear, whether the external or middle ear, to the cochlea, or to the brain centers that process the aural information conveyed by the ears. Damage to the middle ear may include fracture and discontinuity of the ossicular chain. People who sustain head injury are especially vulnerable to hearing loss or tinnitus, either temporary or permanent.

Hearing loss Diagnosis

Identification of a hearing loss is usually conducted by:

• A general practitioner medical doctor,
• Otolaryngologist,
• Certified and licensed audiologist,
• School or industrial audiometrist, or
• Another audiometric technician.

Diagnosis with generated or recorded sounds

Hearing loss is generally measured by playing generated or recorded sounds. Hearing sensitivity varies according to the frequency of sounds. To take this into account, hearing sensitivity can be measured for a range of frequencies and plotted on an audiogram.

Hearing test using a mobile application

Another method for quantifying hearing loss is a hearing test using a mobile application or hearing aid application, which includes a hearing test. Hearing diagnosis using a mobile application is similar to the audiometry procedure. Audiograms obtained using mobile applications can be used to adjust hearing aid applications. 

speech-in-noise test

Another method is a speech-in-noise test. which gives an indication of how well one can understand speech in a noisy environment.

Otoacoustic emissions test

An otoacoustic emissions test is an objective hearing test that may be administered to toddlers and children too young to cooperate in a conventional hearing test.

Case history

A case history (usually a written form, with a questionnaire) can provide valuable information about the context of the hearing loss, and indicate what kind of diagnostic procedures to employ. Examinations include:

• Otoscopy,
• Tympanometry, 
• Differential testing with the Weber, Rinne, Bing, and Schwabach tests, and
• MRI and CT scan to identify the pathology of many causes.

Hearing loss may exist in only one ear (unilateral) or in both ears (bilateral). It can be temporary or permanent, sudden or progressive.

Prevention

There are a number of effective preventative strategies, including:

• Immunization against rubella to prevent congenital rubella syndrome,
• Immunization against H. influenza and S. pneumoniae to reduce cases of meningitis, and
• Avoiding or protecting against excessive noise exposure. 

The World Health Organization also recommends immunization against measles, mumps, and meningitis, efforts to prevent premature birth, and avoidance of certain medication as prevention. World Hearing Day is a yearly event to promote actions to prevent hearing damage.

Prevention by implying workplace noise regulations

Noise is widely recognized as an occupational hazard. In the United States, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) work together to provide standards and enforcement on workplace noise levels. The hierarchy of hazard controls demonstrates the different levels of controls to reduce or eliminate exposure to noise and prevent hearing loss, including engineering controls and personal protective equipment (PPE).

The Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance has created a hearing impairment calculator based on the ISO 1999 model for studying threshold shifts in relatively homogeneous groups of people, such as workers with the same type of job. 

Screening for Hearing loss

The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends neonatal hearing screening for all newborns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that children should have their hearing tested several times throughout their schooling:

• At ages 6, 8, and 10
• When they enter school
• At least once during middle school
• At least once during high school

While the American College of Physicians indicated that there is not enough evidence to determine the utility of screening in adults over 50 years old who do not have any symptoms, the American Language, Speech Pathology and Hearing Association recommends that adults should be screened at least every decade through age 50 and at three-year intervals thereafter, to minimize the detrimental effects of the untreated condition on quality of life. 

Hearing loss Management

Management depends on the specific cause if known as well as the extent, type, and configuration of the hearing loss. Most hearing loss, that results from age and noise, is progressive and irreversible, and there are currently no approved or recommended treatments.

Hearing aid applications are one of the options for hearing loss management. For people with bilateral hearing loss, it is not clear if bilateral hearing aids (hearing aids in both ears) are better than unilateral hearing aid (hearing aid in one ear).

Research

Stem cell transplant and gene therapy

Researchers reported in 2015 that genetically deaf mice which were treated with TMC1 gene therapy recovered some of their hearing. In 2017, additional studies were performed to treat Usher syndrome and here, a recombinant adeno-associated virus seemed to outperform the older vectors.

Ayurveda treatment for Hearing loss

Ayurveda has a holistic approach in treating different conditions that include a combination of ahar (diet) and vihar (lifestyle regime) recommendations for effective management. These include:

Diet recommendations for Hearing loss

Since ear problems are associated with an imbalance in the Kapha dosha, a diet that does not vitiate the Kapha dosha should be followed. The dietary guidelines include:

• Avoid sour foods as they impair the Kapha dosha. These include sour fruits and curds.
• Follow a Kapha soothing diet in general.
• Stress on breastfeeding for infants.
• Avoid processed and oily food.

Lifestyle changes for Hearing loss

• Keep the ears warm.
• Avoid hearing loud music, loud noises, and headphones. For example, while traveling in a vehicle, keep the windows closed.
• Increase the intake of Vitamin C and zinc. Vitamin C helps in combating infection by boosting immunity. Zinc reduces ear infections.
• Avoid smoking as well as exposure to secondhand smoke, since smoke can block Eustachian tubes in the ears
• Maintain good hygiene, avoid colds. Wash your hands regularly. Avoid touching eyes and nose.
• Useful Herbs for the treatment of ear infections include Bael, Holy basil, and Neem. 
• The procedure of neti, i.e., rinsing of the nasal passages with a mild, saltwater solution, which effectively removes accumulated Kapha or phlegm can also help relieve ear infections.

Siddha remedies for Hearing loss

1. Siddha preventive measures

Everybody must practice Siddha preventive measures, whether a person is affected with hearing loss or not, but preventive measures are the primary steps for switching on to any other Siddha remedies, and hence they are important. It helps in one’s capability, effectiveness, and productivity, decision-making power, intellectuality, and removing minor health problems. There are three types of preventive measures:

• Earthing – performed for removing and earthing the negativity of our body
• Field cleaning – cleans the energy field (Aura) of our body
• Siddha brain exercise/Energizing – energizes our brain for proper functionality

Everybody’s tendency is to get attracted to the word ‘free, however, don’t neglect even these Siddha preventive measures are free. Avail of the benefits by practicing them sincerely, and regularly. For the ease of understanding what Siddha preventive measures are, please watch a video for a live demonstration.

2. Siddha Shaktidata Yog

This unique Siddha Shaktidata Yog of Siddha Spirituality can solve the problems related to hearing loss with Siddha remedies. There is no compulsion of training of ‘Swami Hardas Life System’ methods. This not only gives benefits to self but also it can be used for other affected persons, whether a person is in the same house, distantly available in the same city, same nation, or might be in any corner of the world, however, both the procedures have been explained here.

3. Siddha Kalyan Sadhana

Recite this Sadhana with a Sankalp “My problems of hearing loss are solved as early as possible and I should gain health”, which should be repeated in mind 3 – 3 times every after each stanza. Any person irrespective of caste, creed, religion, faith, sex, and age can recite this Sadhana for free, which should be repeated at least twice a day. To know more, please click on this link.

4. CCPE products

These products work on the concepts of ‘Conceptual Creative Positive Energy’ (CCPE) within the provisions of the ‘CCPE Life System’ and the theory of Quantum Technology to a certain extent. However, the products get activated only whenever touched by a human and then they become capable of solving the problem and achieving health. However, please use these products for hearing loss as mentioned below:

CCPE Extractor: The CCPE Extractor should be gently moved over the Agya Chakra in a circular motion at least for 30 to 60 seconds, thereafter, follow the same process on the head, and both ears which finish within almost 2-4 minutes.

CCPE Booster: Keep one Booster over the Agya Chakra and another over the head, and both ears for 3 minutes. You may need to have 4 Boosters, which establishes positivity. 

CCPE Booster Powder: Mix a pinch of CCPE booster powder with a few drops of coconut oil and make a paste. Apply it over behind both the ears and leave it for about 30 minutes. Repeat the process every after 2 hours.

5. UAM (Understanding, Awakening, Movement) for Hearing loss

For quick and effective results, it is advisable to learn the unique methods of the Swami Hardas Life System. A trained person can only apply the UAM method himself/herself and become capable of healing others.

A daily routine 

In general, a daily routine may look like this:

• Consume Sattvic diet
• Perform breathing exercises regularly
• Perform Ashtanga Yoga regularly
• Apply free Siddha remedies a minimum 3 times a day, as explained above
• Perform Swayamsiddha Agnihotra daily, either self or caretaker can perform
• In case, if someone wishes to learn advanced methods of Swami Hardas Life System, undergo unique training

Ensure to sprinkle in some fun during the day: Don’t forget to relax and laugh in between. Laughing is a great way to boost your immune system and help you.

Along with all the above activities, apply above explained free Siddha remedies minimum 3 times a day, the more is good. Just try the methods of Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System. I am confident that you will surely find improvements within 3 days.

Training of Swami Hardas Life System

Any health, peace, and progress-related problem can be solved independently by undergoing Swami Hardas Life System training. It needs no money and medicines. Any person irrespective of religion, caste, creed, faith, sex, and age can undergo this unique training.

Conclusion

Because of the above, I am confident that you have learned about hearing loss, definition, symptoms, causes, complications, diagnosis, prevention, screening, management, research, Ayurveda treatment, and Siddha remedies. Now, you have become self-sufficient, hence it’s the right time to use your acquired knowledge for solving problems as per the provision available in Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System.

However, keep learning and practicing the free Siddha remedies, which would help guide how to solve various problems regarding health, peace, and progress, without money and medicines.

After reading this article, how would you rate it? Would you please let me know your precious thoughts? 

Frequently asked questions

Before posting your query, kindly go through them:

What is Hearing loss? Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear, which may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterward. It may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken language, and in adults, it can create difficulties with social interaction and at work. Hearing loss can be temporary or permanent.

 

What are the best Siddha remedies for Hearing loss? In general, a daily routine may look like this: Consume Sattvic diet; perform breathing exercises regularly; perform Ashtanga Yoga regularly; apply free Siddha remedies a minimum 3 times a day, as explained above; perform Swayamsiddha Agnihotra daily, either self or caretaker can perform; and in case, if someone wishes to learn advanced methods of Swami Hardas Life System, undergo unique training. However, ensure to sprinkle in some fun during the day: Don’t forget to relax and laugh in between. Laughing is a great way to boost your immune system and help you.

 

Reference:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_loss
• https://www.dabur.com/daburarogya/ent/hearing-loss/ayurvedic-treatment-for-hearing-loss.aspx