Have you ever had your car break down in the middle of the highway? That really stinks! Your car has to be safely pulled off the road. Then you likely pop your hood and have a look at the engine. Who knows why?
What’s funny is that you do this even if you have no idea how engines work. Maybe you think there’ll be a handy knob you can turn or something. Ultimately, you have to call somebody to tow your car to a mechanic.
And a picture of the issue only becomes apparent when mechanics diagnose it. Just because the car isn’t starting, doesn’t mean you can tell what’s wrong with it because automobiles are complicated and computerized machines.
The same thing can occur in some cases with hearing loss. The symptom itself doesn’t necessarily indicate what the underlying cause is. There’s the usual culprit (noise-associated hearing loss), sure. But in some cases, it’s something else, something such as auditory neuropathy.
What is auditory neuropathy?
When most people think about hearing loss, they think of loud concerts and jet engines, excessive noise that harms your hearing. This kind of hearing loss, known as sensorineural hearing loss is somewhat more complicated than that, but you get the idea.
But in some cases, long-term hearing loss can be the result of something other than noise damage. A condition called auditory neuropathy, while less prevalent, can sometimes be the cause. When sound can’t, for whatever reason, be correctly transmitted to your brain even though your ear is collecting that sound perfectly fine.
Auditory neuropathy symptoms
The symptoms of conventional noise related hearing loss can often look a lot like those of auditory neuropathy. You can’t hear very well in loud situations, you keep turning the volume up on your television and other devices, that kind of thing. This can frequently make auditory neuropathy difficult to diagnose and manage.
But auditory neuropathy, however, has some specific symptoms that make discovering it easier. When hearing loss symptoms manifest like this, you can be fairly sure that it’s not standard noise related hearing loss. Of course, nothing can replace getting a real-time diagnosis from us about your hearing loss.
The more distinctive symptoms of auditory neuropathy include:
- Sounds seem jumbled or confused: Again, this is not a problem with volume. You can hear sounds but you simply can’t make sense of them. This can go beyond the speech and pertain to all kinds of sounds around you.
- Sound fades in and out: Perhaps it feels like somebody is playing with the volume knob in your head! This could be an indication that you’re experiencing auditory neuropathy.
- Trouble understanding speech: Sometimes, the volume of a word is normal, but you just can’t distinguish what’s being said. Words are unclear and muddled sounding.
Some causes of auditory neuropathy
These symptoms can be articulated, in part, by the underlying causes behind this specific condition. It may not be very clear why you have developed auditory neuropathy on an individual level. This condition can develop in both adults and children. And, generally speaking, there are a couple of well defined possible causes:
- Damage to the nerves: There’s a nerve that carries sound signals from your inner ear to the hearing center of your brain. The sounds that the brain attempts to “interpret” will seem unclear if there is damage to this nerve. When this takes place, you might interpret sounds as garbled, unclear, or too quiet to differentiate.
- The cilia that send signals to the brain can be compromised: If these fragile hairs in your inner ear become compromised in a specific way, the sound your ear detects can’t really be sent on to your brain, at least, not in its complete form.
Risk factors of auditory neuropathy
No one is really sure why some people will experience auditory neuropathy while others may not. Because of this, there isn’t a tried and true way to prevent auditory neuropathy. Still, there are close connections which may show that you’re at a higher risk of experiencing this disorder.
Keep in mind that even if you have all of these risk factors you still may or may not experience auditory neuropathy. But the more risk factors shown, the higher your statistical likelihood of experiencing this condition.
Risk factors for children
Here are a few risk factors that will increase the likelihood of auditory neuropathy in children:
- A lack of oxygen before labor begins or during birth
- Liver conditions that lead to jaundice (a yellow appearance to the skin)
- Preterm or premature birth
- An abundance of bilirubin in the blood (bilirubin is a normal byproduct of red blood cell breakdown)
- A low birth weight
- Other neurological disorders
Adult risk factors
Here are some auditory neuropathy risk factors for adults:
- Specific infectious diseases, such as mumps
- Some medications (specifically incorrect use of medications that can cause hearing problems)
- Family history of hearing conditions, including auditory neuropathy
- Immune diseases of various kinds
Generally, it’s a good idea to minimize these risks as much as possible. If risk factors are there, it may be a good plan to schedule regular screenings with us.
Diagnosing auditory neuropathy
A standard hearing exam involves listening to tones with a set of headphones and raising a hand depending on which side you hear the tone on. That test won’t help very much with auditory neuropathy.
Instead, we will usually suggest one of two tests:
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) test: This diagnostic is designed to measure how well your inner ear and cochlea react to sound stimuli. We will put a small microphone just inside your ear canal. Then, we will play a series of tones and clicks. Then your inner ear will be assessed to see how it reacts. If the inner ear is a problem, this data will reveal it.
- Auditory brainstem response (ABR) test: During this diagnostic test, you’ll have specialized electrodes attached to specific spots on your head and scalp. Again, don’t be concerned, there’s nothing painful or unpleasant about this test. These electrodes place particular focus on measuring how your brainwaves react to sound stimuli. Whether you’re dealing with sensorineural hearing loss (outer ear) or auditory neuropathy (inner ear) will be established by the quality of your brainwaves.
Diagnosing your auditory neuropathy will be much more effective once we do the applicable tests.
Is there treatment for auditory neuropathy?
So you can bring your ears to us for treatment in the same way that you bring your car to the mechanic to get it fixed. auditory neuropathy generally has no cure. But this condition can be managed in several possible ways.
- Hearing aids: In some less severe cases, hearing aids will be able to supply the necessary sound amplification to help you hear better, even with auditory neuropathy. Hearing aids will be an adequate option for some individuals. Having said that, this is not usually the case, because, again, volume is virtually never the issue. Due to this, hearing aids are frequently coupled with other therapy and treatment options.
- Cochlear implant: For some people, hearing aids will not be able to get around the problems. It might be necessary to go with cochlear implants in these situations. This implant, basically, takes the signals from your inner ear and conveys them directly to your brain. The internet has lots of videos of people having success with these amazing devices!
- Frequency modulation: In some cases, it’s possible to hear better by boosting or reducing specific frequencies. With a technology known as frequency modulation, that’s precisely what occurs. This strategy often makes use of devices that are, basically, highly customized hearing aids.
- Communication skills training: Communication skills training can be put together with any combination of these treatments if needed. This will allow you to work with whatever level of hearing you have to communicate better.
The sooner you get treatment, the better
As with any hearing disorder, prompt treatment can result in better results.
So if you think you have auditory neuropathy, or even just normal hearing loss, it’s important to get treatment as quickly as possible. You’ll be able to go back to hearing better and enjoying your life after you schedule an appointment and get treated. Children, who experience a lot of cognitive growth and development, particularly need to have their hearing treated as soon as possible.