Listen up! You must have a hearing test in your 50s
Hearing loss can be devastating and often strikes in middle age — but, as these people found, its causes can be as unexpected as swimming in cold water... or acid reflux
HEARING loss isn’t just something that strikes in old age: you may be surprised to learn that more than 40 per cent of the over-50s are affected. Yet it’s a problem many sufferers don’t want to admit to. In fact, most people wait ten years on average before they seek help.
Quite apart from affecting the enjoyment of life, ‘untreated’ hearing loss is the leading preventable cause of dementia, says Francesca Oliver, an audiology adviser.
One theory is that hearing loss causes brain shrinkage if the part of the brain associated with hearing becomes inactive.
Even mild hearing loss makes you less aware of your surroundings, which can affect balance and lead to falls.
Delaying getting help can impact on mental health, too. A recent review found people with hearing loss are two-and-a-half times more likely to develop depression. This is because hearing loss can lead to social isolation, which is a big risk factor for depression.
Ideally, everyone in their 50s would be routinely screened for hearing problems, says Taran Tatla, a consultant ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon.
Good Health s poke to f our people in their 50s who have recently had hearing tests — with some unexpected results . . .
ACID REFLUX MAY BE TO BLAME
JOANNE WATSON, 52, a medical secretary, lives with husband Alistair, 51, a broadcast engineer, and children Megan, 19, and Alex, 15. MY HEARING — or lack of it —became a bit of a joke with my family a couple of years ago. If I had the radio and kettle on, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. My hearing was muffled in both ears and I had tinnitus and earache.
Things came to a head six months later, because I was struggling to hear in work meetings. A private hearing test showed I had mild hearing loss and my right ear was worst.
The ENT consultant said my results suggested it was eustachian tube dysfunction — where the ability to equalise pressure in the middle ear is compromised.
He explained the eustachian tube is a narrow tube that links the back of the nose to the middle ear. Its main purpose is to protect the inner ear from infections, and ventilate and drain secretions from the ear.
If you have eustachian tube dysfunction, you can get muffled hearing, tinnitus and a feeling of fullness in the ear.
He said the tube had become swollen and i n f l a me d , which was possibly due to other health problems.
At 31, I was diagnosed with an inflammatory form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis (AS). I also suffer from chronic acid reflux.
The fact that my hearing is worse when I get hay fever or a cold could also be implicated. I was astonished.
I needed nasal steroids to clear the congestion and he taught me the Valsalva manoeuvre — a breathing technique to pop your ears. You inhale deeply, hold your breath, and bear down and then exhale. My hearing came back after just four days.
I can’t explain the relief — I’m so glad I went for that test. EXPERT VIEW: ‘Eustachian tube dysfunction can cause problems with hearing as the inflammation means that the middle ear is not being ventilated adequately,’ says Mr Tatla.
Francesca Oliver adds: ‘ The eustachian tube refreshes the air in the middle ear. If the tube is inflamed, it can’t do that properly and this means the eardrum does not vibrate efficiently and sound waves are not transmitted from the three hearing bones to the inner ear.
Hay fever and infections are common causes of eustachian tube dysfunction as the inflammation they cause can persist.
AS is an inflammatory condition and reflux can also cause irritation of the tube.
‘People often presume their hearing issue will be unsolvable, yet Joanne’s example shows there can be a simple solution.’
NEVER TOO YOUNG FOR HEARING AIDS
CRAIG DEWAR, 58, an aviation procurement manager, lives with his wife Alison, 59, a PR
consultant.
IT TOOK me years to pluck up the courage to get my hearing tested — I j ust didn’t f eel old enough to wear hearing aids. Now I regret that I didn’t get them sooner.
My hearing problems started in my early 50s. I drove Alison mad by constantly asking her to repeat herself, and at work meetings I really had to concentrate hard to hear colleagues.
Four years ago, my hearing was tested for a medical at work and the doctor said I’d lost 60 per cent of hearing in the left ear.
He said it was age-related and suggested I get hearing aids. But I was still in denial.
Instead, as my hearing deteriorated over the next two years, I tried to ignore it. However, if I was in a pub, I didn’t even want to order at the bar because I couldn’t hear the questions the bar staff would ask.
Alison tried to persuade me to see an audiologist but I thought people would take me less seriously if I wore a hearing aid.
Then, two years ago, the doctor at work said if I didn’t get help I would be in danger of failing my medical, so — reluctantly — I went to an audiologist.
By then, I’d lost 80 per cent of my hearing in one ear and 10 per cent in the other — so, this time, I agreed to wear hearing aids.
I decided to pay privately for more sophisticated aids (€2,300 for a pair), as they were smaller and l ess noticeable t han t he
cheaper ones. When I first put them in, I could even hear my trousers rubbing together as I walked — everything sounded so loud.
But your brain soon adjusts, and it was glorious to hear the birds singing full force in the garden. I only wish I’d got hearing aids when I first noticed the problem. EXPERT VIEW: Francesca Oliver, says: ‘ Age is the most common cause of hearing loss.
‘We all have tiny “hearing” sensory hairs in our cochlea (the hearing organ) and these die off as we get older. It’s really wear-andtear damage.
‘You’ll notice the high pitches go first and you won’t hear consonants (s, f, and th sounds). You may be fine in one-to-one conversations, but find it more difficult to hear in noisy environments.
‘There’s no cure for age-related hearing loss but wearing hearing aids can greatly improve things.
‘It’s much better to get a hearing aid sooner rather than later as the longer you aren’t hearing properly, the harder it is for the brain to adjust to hearing aids.’
PAYING THE PRICE FOR HER FOLK MUSIC
CHERYL BEER, 55, is a director of a dementia radio show. MY HEARING loss came on very suddenly. I woke up not being able to hear in both ears but was aware of a high-pitched ringing. I thought it must be an alarm going off, then realised it was inside my head.
Within two days, I was at my GP surgery in tears. The ringing drowned everything out and made it difficult to hear people speaking.
She said it was probably tinnitus and that it would probably settle within a month.
But my symptoms soon drove me to distraction — I couldn’t concentrate or sleep properly. I went back and was referred to hospital for hearing tests.
The consultant confirmed I had moderate hearing loss in both ears and tinnitus, and needed hearing aids. He explained that hearing aids can help with tinnitus as the sound is the brain’s way of filling the gap left by a loss of hearing. Hearing aids fill in that void.
He said my symptoms were related to cumulative damage from loud music.
I am a folk singer and, even though I only ever played acoustic guitar, I’d played gigs for decades and never wore ear protectors, as I wasn’t aware I was at risk.
‘ The noise kills off sensory hearing cells in the ear.
I was fitted with hearing aids in 2017 and I cried with happiness. They gave me my life back. EXPERT VIEW: ‘For some people, tinnitus may be the first symptom that their hearing has been damaged,’ says Mr Tatla. ‘ The tinnitus i s the brain’s way of compensating for hearing loss — by creating internal sounds.
‘ Loud noise exposure i s the second most common cause of hearing loss (after age), as it can overwork the hair cells in the ear, causing them damage.
‘Damage can occur after just 15 minutes in a nightclub playing loud music at 100 decibels (dB) (equivalent to a jet taking off 300 metres away) if you don’t wear ear plugs.
‘At a live music gig, the noise level is 110dB and 85dB is the threshold level at which your hearing can be damaged over time.
In people who are genetically susceptible, damage could occur after j ust a f ew i ncidents of exposure.
‘At the moment we don’t have a way of reversing noise damage, but some new drugs are being tested to address this in the future.’
GROWTHS IN THE EAR FROM COLD WATER
PETE GALVIN, 59, an illustrator, lives with wife Karen, 57, a receptionist, and daughter Carla, 17. MY PROBLEMS started in my mid-50s with tinnitus-like ringing which gradually worsened — then, overnight, I completely lost my hearing in my left ear.
I booked an appointment with a private audiologist who diagnosed surfer’s ear in both ears.
I ’ ve always l oved surfing and windsurfing and, apparently, the cold water and wind had caused bony lumps to grow in my ear, and these were closing my ear canals. They were 98 per cent blocked. I’d had no idea this could happen.
After surgery to drill out the bony growths, my hearing gradually returned to normal over a few weeks.
Temporarily losing my hearing shook me up, though, so I now use custom-made ear plugs and warn other surfers about the dangers. EXPERT VIEW: ‘Long-term exposure to t he f orce of water, cold temperatures and strong wind can cause bone growth in the structure of the ear canal called exostoses, otherwise known as surfer’s ear,’ says Duncan Collet-Fenson, an audiologist.
‘In severe cases, this can lead to hearing loss.
‘An estimated 80 per cent of surfers develop i t. Symptoms include a feeling of fullness or difficulty clearing water f rom the ears, i nfections, pain and muffled hearing.
‘The growths are the body’s protective response to cold air and water passing through the ears. Anyone regularly in and out of cold water can be affected.
‘ Untreated, i t can result in significant hearing loss.
‘A swimming hat, neoprene balaclava or custom-moulded ear plugs made of medical grade silicone can protect against this.’