Feeling less good is a real discomfort, although it is often underestimated. How often has it happened that you have to ask to repeat a sentence? Of not catching words well in crowded environments, or of feeling that others are "speaking softly"?
In medical terms we speak of hearing loss, which is a condition involving a partial reduction in hearing ability. It can arise gradually or suddenly, affect one or both ears, and occur at any age. Yet, often sufferers tend to minimize the problem or live with it in silence feeling embarrassed and ending up isolating themselves or avoiding conversations for fear of not understanding.
The first signs of hearing loss are found in everyday life when people struggle to follow a conversation, when they turn up the volume of television or perceive voices as "muffled" or "distorted." These situations over time, especially in the elderly, can generate frustration, social isolation, and even cognitive problems.
It is nothing to be ashamed of, it is an often reversible condition, which is why it is important to see a specialist and investigate the causes . The most common are: recurrent infections, exposure to loud noises, ear disease, trauma, or even a simple earwax plug.
The ENT specialist through targeted clinical evaluation and specific diagnostic tests, such as audiometric examination, can identify the cause of the problem and suggest the best course of action.
Audiometric testing is a simple, noninvasive and completely painless test used to assess a person's hearing ability, determining whether there is a hearing loss (hearing loss), of what type and with what degree of severity.
Audiometric testing can be tonal or vocal depending on the problem expressed by the patient. In the former case, the patient listens to sounds sent at different frequencies through headphones and must signal (usually by pressing a button or raising his hand) when he perceives the sound, even if it is very faint. The result is a graph called an audiogram showing the hearing threshold of each ear.
In the vocal examination, on the other hand, the patient is asked to repeat words or syllables heard at increasing volume to test language comprehension, not just sound perception. In this case, auditory quality is assessed, that is, how well a person can understand words in daily life.
Through this simple examination, the specialist can indeed diagnose a possible hearing loss by also determining its type (transmissive, sensorineural or mixed) and can over time monitor its evolution by checking the effectiveness of the treatments performed or hearing aids prescribed.
At the onset of sengal rpims, it is important to turn to the specialist for answers. At Life Clinic, your hearing health is in the expert hands of Dr. Nardone, who, supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, is ready to offer you an accurate evaluation and personalized solutions.
