March 3, the 25th National Ear Care Day | Here’s what you need to know →

March 3, 2024

The 25th National Ear Care Day

This year's theme is

Technology helps hearing aids and helps us share a better life

Here I share some

Practical and interesting

Some basic knowledge about hearing

Let’s study together

1.What is hearing impairment?

Hearing impairment refers to various reasons that lead to hearing difficulties, inability to hear or unclear environmental sounds and speech, which affects daily life and social participation. If various reasons cause permanent hearing impairment of varying degrees in both ears, it will cause hearing disability. According to the standards of the World Health Organization, the degree of hearing impairment includes the following:

● Mild : Average hearing threshold 26-40 dB HL, difficulty hearing whispers

● Moderate : Average hearing threshold 41-60 dB HL, difficulty hearing and speaking in noisy environments

● Severe : Average hearing threshold 61-80 dB HL, can only be heard when speaking loudly

● Extreme : Average hearing threshold ≥ 81 dB HL, difficulty hearing loud speech

2. Main causes and preventive measures of hearing impairment in children

Genetic factors are an important cause of congenital hearing impairment in children. Hearing loss may occur at birth or may lead to delayed hearing loss in childhood. Middle ear infection is the main cause of hearing impairment in children. Due to the unique anatomical characteristics of children, the Eustachian tube is short, flat and wide, which makes it easy for bacteria and viruses to invade and cause otitis media. Repeated attacks can cause hearing impairment and affect language development. In addition, delayed hearing loss in childhood caused by genetic factors is also worthy of attention.

Receiving genetic counseling and deafness gene testing can enhance the understanding of hereditary congenital hearing impairment, which has certain guiding significance for the eugenics of couples of childbearing age. Preventing colds, avoiding lying down to feed or choking, preventing choking and water entering the ear canal when bathing or swimming, and avoiding picking ears at will can reduce the occurrence of otitis media; preventing children from head trauma; reducing entertainment noise; strengthening physical exercise, reducing viral infections such as meningitis and mumps; and using ototoxic drugs with caution can effectively prevent childhood hearing impairment.

3. Main causes and preventive measures of hearing impairment in adolescents

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion young people (aged 12-35) worldwide are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to noise in entertainment venues. Therefore, bad ear habits have become the main cause of hearing impairment among teenagers, often manifested as noise-induced hearing loss and sudden hearing loss. When teenagers use headphones for a long time or the volume is too high (greater than 80 decibels), it may cause damage to the cochlear hair cells, thus causing noise-induced hearing loss; in addition, addiction to electronic games or staying up late, irregular lifestyle, excessive stress or excessive physical and mental fatigue often lead to sudden hearing loss.

Pay attention to maintaining good ear habits, use headphones for no more than half an hour each time and control the volume; maintain a regular schedule, exercise moderately, keep a good mood, and reduce the risk of deafness; if you find any hearing abnormalities, go to the hospital in time.

4. Main causes and preventive measures of hearing impairment in adults

As people age, the function of the auditory system will gradually degenerate, but the occurrence and degree of hearing impairment are closely related to their living habits, dietary structure, underlying diseases, environmental noise, and genetic factors. Therefore, if the elderly want to maintain healthy hearing ability, they must give up the bad habits of smoking and drinking, maintain a low-salt, low-fat, and low-sugar diet, stay away from high-decibel and long-term noise stimulation, use drugs that are toxic to the ears and kidneys with caution, actively prevent and treat high blood pressure, high blood lipids, high blood sugar and other diseases that may cause vascular sclerosis, and maintain a regular work and rest time and a peaceful and open-minded attitude. Moderate physical exercise and group activities also have a very positive significance for maintaining hearing health.

5. Screening and diagnosis of hearing impairment in newborns and children

Hearing screening is the most effective way to detect hearing impairment. Normal newborns should complete the initial screening from 48 hours after birth to before discharge. Those who fail or are missed should undergo bilateral re-screening within 42 days. Those who still fail the re-screening should be referred to a pediatric hearing impairment diagnosis and treatment institution for diagnosis and diagnosis within 3 months of birth.

After the hearing screening in the neonatal period, children aged 0 to 6 years will be included in the child health care system management, and ear and hearing care will be carried out at the same time as the health check-up. Among them, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months of age are the key ages for hearing screening. Children who fail the hearing screening or are suspected of hearing loss should be referred in time.

6. Screening and diagnosis of hearing impairment in adolescents

Noise-induced hearing loss is more common among adolescents and can be screened through distortion product otoacoustic emissions, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and tinnitus assessment. Those who fail the screening should be referred promptly.

7.How can adults detect hearing loss early?

Adults can preliminarily determine whether their hearing is normal by self-examination in daily life:

●Cannot hear/cannot hear clearly higher frequency sounds, such as doorbells, telephone ringing, women’s or children’s voices, the sound of fingernails scratching glass, etc.

●Difficulty talking or listening in public places (such as restaurants, concert halls, or stores).

● Often feel that other people are mumbling and enunciating unclearly.

● Often need others to repeat themselves before you understand.

● Family members often complain that the TV or radio volume is too loud.

●I often can’t hear clearly what the other party says when answering the phone.

●You often don’t hear people calling you from behind.

●Having trouble following what others are saying during meetings or group discussions.

If multiple of the above conditions occur simultaneously and continuously, you should pay attention to it and go to a professional institution for hearing testing as soon as possible to clarify the extent of hearing loss.

8. Intervention measures after diagnosis of hearing impairment

After hearing impairment is diagnosed, the first thing to do is to determine the degree, nature, and cause of the hearing impairment. For patients who cannot recover their hearing through drug treatment, it is necessary to choose appropriate hearing aids as soon as possible and conduct hearing impairment rehabilitation in a timely manner. This is the prerequisite for successful hearing rehabilitation. It is generally believed that patients with moderate and above hearing impairment who cannot be recovered should first use hearing aids for hearing compensation, and can also use related auxiliary listening equipment (such as individual FM systems) to achieve better listening and communication; when hearing aids cannot achieve satisfactory compensation effects, cochlear implants can be considered for hearing reconstruction, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the quality of life and normal participation in society.

9.How to achieve hearing health?

Hearing health is a state, a quality, and an ability of a person; it includes hearing physiological health, hearing psychological health, and good auditory social adaptability. Active hearing health means actively obtaining continuous and healthy hearing ability, having a healthy and perfect auditory quality of life, and good auditory social adaptability.

Improving your hearing health literacy is one of the most fundamental, economical and effective measures for individuals to achieve a proactive hearing health level. Hearing health literacy refers to a person's ability to obtain and understand basic hearing health information and services, and to make correct judgments and decisions to actively maintain and promote their hearing health. To improve hearing health literacy, you need to:

(1) Learn the necessary medical knowledge about hearing health, have regular hearing health examinations, and understand your own hearing health status;

(2) Master the necessary knowledge of hearing health care and avoid the possible damage to one's hearing caused by adverse factors;

(3) If you feel any hearing problems, seek medical attention promptly to receive a scientific and professional audiology diagnosis. Do not blindly trust “miracle doctors and miracle drugs”.

(4) After hearing abnormalities are confirmed, follow the doctor's advice and actively cooperate with standardized treatment and rehabilitation;

(5) Learn and master independent rehabilitation skills and continue to practice hearing ability training;

(6) Change your lifestyle, adjust your body and mind, and consistently accept and conduct self-hearing health management.

●Did you know these little secrets about ears?

Protruding ears are actually a deformity

Protruding ears are often considered by ordinary people to be a symbol of cuteness and good fortune, but from a medical point of view, it is a common congenital auricular deformity with a certain degree of heredity.

The distance between the upper end of the auricle and the head of a normal person is no more than 2 cm, and the angle between the auricle and the head is 30°; if the angle expands to about 90°, it is considered protruding ears.

If your baby has protruding ears after birth, he or she can start wearing corrective braces around 7 days after birth. The best time for correction is within 6 weeks after birth. The earlier the correction, the higher the success rate. If you miss the non-invasive correction period,

If you want treatment, you can consider elective surgery. Generally speaking, protruding ears do not affect hearing, but may have a certain impact on the child's facial appearance, psychological development, and the wearing of glasses and masks.

Scratching your ears may be the reason

There are many reasons why babies always scratch their ears. It may be related to some ear diseases, such as external auditory canal eczema, otitis media, foreign objects in the ears or too many ears, etc. It may also be that the baby is just curious about his body and scratches his ears for fun.

In addition, when teeth grow, the eruption of deciduous teeth will stimulate the gingival nerves and surrounding tissues. The uncomfortable feeling may be transmitted from the gums to the ears, and the baby will rub his ears constantly.

If the baby looks relaxed when your ears are scratched, it means that the ears are not uncomfortable; if the baby looks uncomfortable, keeps crying, scratches the ears frequently, or there is exudation in the ears, it is recommended to see a doctor in time.

Children can also suffer from otolithiasis

Otolithiasis in children, also known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in children, has a lower incidence than in adults, but is not uncommon in outpatient clinics.

It usually manifests as sudden onset of vertigo related to body position, such as when turning over, sitting up, or lying down, you suddenly feel that things in front of your eyes are spinning or things in your mind are spinning. This type of vertigo lasts for a short time, usually tens of seconds to several minutes. In this case, it is recommended to go to the hospital for vestibular function tests, position change tests, etc. for diagnosis, and repositioning treatment can be performed.

These symptoms indicate hearing problems

If your child has any of the following symptoms, it is recommended that you seek medical attention from an ENT specialist:

1) Delayed language development, late speech, and lagging behind children of the same age;

2) Speak unclearly and pronounce words incorrectly;

3) No response to common sounds in daily life, a baby who can speak suddenly stops talking, or easily mishears during communication, and repeatedly asks questions;

4) Unexplained decline in academic performance may also be related to hearing.

We can do a simple hearing test: for example, rub your fingers next to the child's ear and ask him if he can hear it. For unilateral hearing loss, which is often more difficult to detect, parents can cover one ear of the child and test the other ear by listening to the "ticking" sound of a watch or wearing headphones, and then test the other ear in the same way, comparing the hearing of the two ears or comparing with family members.

Don't pick the "small hole" in front of your ear

Some babies are born with a "small hole" in front of their ears, which is called "wealth warehouse" in some places. This "small hole" is called preauricular fistula in medicine, which is a common congenital external ear disease. Although it looks like a small hole, hidden under the skin is a winding "pipe" that is prone to infection.

Usually, it is sufficient to keep the area clean. Parents must not squeeze the "small hole" frequently. If there is no obvious redness, swelling, or pain, no special treatment is generally required. If unclean objects such as dirty water or dust enter the area, it is easy to induce infection, leading to redness, swelling, and pain on the skin, purulent secretions, or frequent discharge of white residue-like secretions. You need to seek medical attention in time. If the preauricular fistula is often inflamed, surgical treatment is recommended. Complete removal of the preauricular fistula and its branches can achieve a cure. It should be reminded that children with preauricular fistulas have a higher risk of permanent hearing loss than ordinary people, so parents must do hearing screening and regular examinations.

Wearing hearing aids is like wearing glasses for myopia

In fact, hearing-impaired people wearing hearing aids can "help us hear", just like myopic people wearing glasses can "help us see clearly". Hearing loss will seriously affect our lives, and wearing hearing aids can effectively solve this problem. Therefore, the question of whether we can take them off is not because hearing aids are harmful to us, but because we need them.