The people who most often need help for hearing loss are those who don’t realize they’ve become hard of hearing. There are many different reasons a person’s hearing decreases, ranging from age to chronic health problems and acute injuries or illnesses. Even medications that must be taken regularly to treat completely unrelated conditions can affect a person’s hearing. When it becomes difficult to follow conversations, family members complain that the television is turned up too high or it is nearly impossible to have a phone conversation, experts recommend that someone suffering from these symptoms consult a hearing specialist.
A medical doctor who treats hearing, as well as other issues of the nose and throat, is known as an otolaryngologist. These professionals are trained to deal with the problems that arise from hearing loss that comes when a patient gets older. In many cases, wax buildup or growths in the external ear canal lead to decreased hearing. Other reasons for age-related hearing loss can be a torn or punctured tympanic membrane or infections of the middle ear. Fractures of the bones in the ears or continual exposure to high noise levels also contribute to hearing loss. Anyone who has noticed or has been told he doesn’t appear to be hearing well should look for hearing solutions in Lancaster, PA.
Medicines and chronic illnesses that aren’t necessarily related to aging also can lead to hearing loss. High blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, diseases that are seen among millions of younger people as well as the elderly, can disrupt the blood supply going to the inner ears, leading to hearing loss. The inner ear can be affected by bone diseases or fluctuation of the fluid inside it that cause hearing loss as well as other symptoms. Medications that treat a wide range of illnesses, from aspirin to antibiotics to chemotherapy drugs, may play a role in hearing loss.
Doctors who provide hearing solutions in Lancaster, PA are trained to look for the causes of hearing loss and treat it with the best methods possible. Medical solutions may be possible in the case of more acute infections, while surgery to repair membranes or bones is also a possibility. Sometimes, however, neither of these options will work. In these cases, Otolaryngology Physicians of Lancaster can help a patient choose hearing aids that will help bring sound back into his life.
