Hearing Loss of Your Ear: How To Hear Better

Have you noticed that you haven’t been able to hear as well as before? Hearing loss is pretty common in Singapore, affecting both young and old alike. But why do you actually have hearing problems? We see many patients at our ENT specialist clinic in Singapore with hearing loss. Some are caused by ear infection, trauma and eardrum rupture. Other causes include noise damage and age related hearing loss.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS?

The simplest cause to treat for hearing loss is impacted earwax. If you like to dig your ears frequently, please stop! Earwax may accidentally migrate deeper into their ear canals, causing a temporary conductive hearing loss. We gently remove earwax by micro-suctioning, where special tiny suckers painlessly remove the earwax under the microscope.

This is a rewarding experience for both ENT doctor and patient! It gives immediate relief to allow you to hear clearly again. ENT specialists in Singapore don’t like to irrigate the ear with water, in case of underlying infection. Fungal infections or eardrum perforations will worsen upon water exposure.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY EAR IS INFECTED?

What happens if you have an ear infection? You may suffer ear pain, blocked ear or ear discharge. Ear infections can be bacterial or fungal. Ear infection may also be due to eczema, an inflammatory condition of the ear canal skin. Could you be allergic to something your wear on or in your ears? Earphones are usually the number one suspect! For ear infections of the outer ear, you need to have your ear cleaned out by your ENT specialist in Singapore.

At ENTcare clinic, I would usually apply soothing antibiotic steroid ointment inside your inflamed itchy ear canals. Then I would prescribe some eardrops to relieve the itchy ears. It is very important not to dig your ears. You need to keep them dry to allow your poor ears to recover fully. Chronic “ear diggers” keep returning to our clinic due to recurrent flareups caused by digging!

Hearing loss may be due to a perforated eardrum. A common cause is from sinus infections tracking up the Eustachian pressure tube. Direct trauma with a foreign body or sudden extreme pressure waves can rupture the eardrum e.g. during loud noise. If your ear hits the water surface when swimming or diving, this may also puncture or bruise the eardrum to cause a conductive hearing loss.

WHAT TO DO IF MY PERFORATED EARDRUM DOESN’T HEAL?

The eardrum has an important role in preventing middle ear infections and needs to be intact. If your perforated eardrum hasn’t healed in 6-8 weeks, it is less likely to do so later. So you may need to consider having surgery to repair the eardrum. This surgery is a Myringoplasty or Tympanoplasty. You can have it as day surgery, where a healthy piece of tissue called a “graft” patches up the eardrum perforation.

WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF HEARING LOSS IN YOUNG PEOPLE?

Many young people may already have underlying hearing loss due to exposure to prolonged or loud noise from earphones, like when listening to music. In this current Covid situation, many people work from home where they use earphones for long hours daily.

We have seen a sudden increase in the number of patients seeing us for tinnitus and hearing loss. This makes me suspect that it is due to frequent usage of earphones which blast sound to irritate the inner ear. Noise damage to your inner ears is usually permanent and irreversible so prevention is always better.

HOW ABOUT AGE-RELATED HEARING LOSS AND TINNITUS?

As we age, many of us begin to experience tinnitus or mild hearing loss, beginning from our forties onwards. Age-related hearing loss is due to degenerative causes like poorer blood flow to the inner ear. Atrophy or weakening of the inner ear nerve endings also occurs with age. Age-related hearing loss tends to affect the higher frequencies of our hearing range. So you may find difficulty listening in a noisy background or when you watch TV.

You may also miss out on certain parts of conversation, especially when you need to hear the consonants of the language. For example, the “p”, “sssss”, “th”, “t” sounds fall into the higher frequency range of hearing. That can be socially awkward and it makes the hearing-impaired person more reluctant to participate in social activities. As he or she becomes more withdrawn, the risk of depression increases. Untreated hearing loss carries a higher risk of developing early onset dementia.

COULD HEARING LOSS BE CAUSED BY AN INNER EAR TUMOUR?

Sometimes, hearing loss may be caused by a benign inner ear nerve tumour. This tumour is an acoustic neuroma. Early presenting symptoms include hearing loss or tinnitus, although vertigo may sometimes occur. Patients should have an MRI scan of their inner ear to screen for an acoustic neuroma. Treatment depends on the neuroma’s size, growth rate, age of patient and severity of hearing loss. Most cases may be conservatively monitored with yearly MRI scans. Some acoustic neuromas may continue to grow so these need “gamma knife” radiation or surgical removal to treat.

In conclusion, hearing loss should not be ignored. You should see your top ENT specialist in Singapore to get it diagnosed and treated early!

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