Parts of the ear
by Admin
Posted on 11-09-2022 09:01 AM
There are many causes of
hearing
loss and a number of ways of explaining or classifying them.
This article doesn’t include much about causes of hearing loss present at birth (congenital); it mostly covers hearing loss acquired from childhood onwards. A straightforward way of categorising causes of hearing loss is based on the type of hearing loss and how it relates to which part of auditory or hearing system has become damaged or is in some way abnormal. Often, hearing loss is accompanied by tinnitus (noises in the head or ears) and sometimes by a balance problem. So, this article lists and briefly explains all the main causes of hearing loss affecting one or more of these four parts of the auditory system:.
Magnetic resonance imaging (mri) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to study internal soft tissue structures in detail. It provides good contrast between the different types of tissue, which is a major advantage over ct. Mri does not use ionising radiation unlike ct or traditional x-rays. Instead it uses a powerful magnetic field to align tissue atoms, and then uses radio frequency fields to change and record their alignment. This scanned information is then used to construct images of specific parts of the body. The commonest indication for an mri scan is an inner ear hearing loss in one ear or a worse hearing ear to exclude the possibility of an underlying acoustic neuroma.
Bones of the middle ear
A conductive hearing loss is one that affects the structures that conduct the sound to the inner ear - this includes both the middle and outer ear. Common causes of conductive hearing loss are, wax build up, fluid or infection in the middle ear, perforated eardrum or damage to the middle ear bones. Many cases of conductive hearing loss can be treated by ent consultants. Wax and fluid build-up is easily treated, an infection can be treated with antibiotics, a ruptured eardrum can be patched and damaged middle ear bones can be replaced in surgical procedures.
Sound waves are created when air vibrates. To hear, the ear must change sound into electrical signals which the brain can interpret. The outer part of the ear (the pinna) funnels sound waves into the ear canal. When sound waves reach the eardrum they make it vibrate. Vibrations of the eardrum make the tiny bones in the middle ear move too. The last of these bones (the stapes) passes on the vibrations to the fluid-filled chamber called the cochlea. When the vibrations reach the cochlea, the fluid inside it moves. As the fluid moves it vibrates the hairs on the cells that line the cochlea.
With regard to the type of hearing loss, the audiologist is looking for information that suggests the point in the auditory system where the loss is occurring (the origin/source of the problem). The loss may be: conductive. A conductive hearing loss is one that affects the structures that conduct the sound to the inner ear – this includes both the middle and outer ear. Common causes of conductive hearing loss are, wax build up, fluid or infection in the middle ear, ruptured/perforated eardrum or damage to the middle ear bones. Many cases of conductive hearing loss are treated by ent consultants.
We often take for granted all of the sounds around us, the bark of a dog, the buzz of a bee, or the melody of our favorite symphony. Yet for many people, the world is a very quiet place. They've lost the ability to hear sounds in one or both ears. Let's talk about hearing loss. To understand how you lose hearing, you first need to know what normally happens inside your ear when you hear. Say that a fire engine roars past. First, the sound of the siren reaches your eardrum in your outer ear. Your eardrum vibrates, which moves three tiny bones in your middle ear.