Hearing Disorders and Deafness

Hearing loss ranges from mild difficulty hearing speech in crowded places to complete deafness. It can develop gradually over years (so the person adjusts without realising) or appear suddenly.

Common causes

• Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) — the commonest cause after 60.
• Noise damage — long exposure to loud noise (industrial, loud music, traffic, firecrackers) or sudden loud noise damages the inner ear permanently.
• Ear infections — especially repeated ones in childhood.
• Earwax build-up — easily treatable.
• Drug-induced — some antibiotics (aminoglycosides), chemotherapy agents and long-term aspirin at high doses.
• Congenital / genetic — present from birth.
• Ménière's disease, otosclerosis, tumours — less common.

Symptoms

• Asking people to repeat themselves.
• Turning up TV or phone volume.
• Trouble understanding speech in noisy places.
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
• Feeling of fullness in the ear.
• Dizziness with hearing loss.

Red flags — see a Health Expert urgently

• Sudden hearing loss in one or both ears — treatable if seen within days (often with steroids).
• Hearing loss with severe vertigo or facial weakness.
• Hearing loss after a head injury or loud blast.
• Discharge from the ear with fever or severe pain.

Children — act early

Untreated hearing loss in a young child delays speech and learning. Newborn hearing screening is now part of routine services in many Indian hospitals. Worry if your child: doesn't startle to loud sounds in the first months, doesn't babble, doesn't respond to their name, or has delayed speech. Hearing aids or cochlear implants, started early, transform outcomes.

Treatment

• Earwax — simple removal at a clinic.
• Infection — antibiotics (if bacterial) and follow-up to confirm the ear heals.
• Age-related or noise-related loss — hearing aids restore a great deal of function.
• Severe loss — cochlear implants (surgery + device) can help; available in select Indian centres; some government schemes subsidise cost for eligible children.
• Sign language and special education where hearing can't be restored.

Prevention

Protect your ears from loud noise — use plugs around firecrackers, loud engines, industrial machinery. Keep headphone volume at less than 60% for less than 60 minutes at a stretch. Don't ignore repeated ear infections. Get suspected hearing loss checked sooner rather than later — the longer untreated, the harder adjustment to hearing aids later.