Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545202
60 S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y In our daily lives, we are surrounded by an abundance of sound. Even those that might live in a rural area have many sounds around them. We use these sounds or vibrations to interact with the world. They give us spatial awareness, create emotional responses, and allow us to communicate. A world without sound would be an awfully boring place. That being said, our ability to hear is something that we need to care for and not take for granted. One in eight people in the United States (13% or 30 million) ages 12 or older has hearing loss in both ears, based on standard hearing exams. Approximately 15% of American adults (37.5 million) ages 18 and over report some trouble hearing. About 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from using hearing aids. Of those needing hearing aids, roughly one in five use them. Roughly 10% of the U.S. adult population, or about 25 million Americans, has experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year. Men are almost twice as likely as women to have hearing loss among adults ages 20-69. Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the U.S., with the prevalence rising to more than 50% for those over 75. Globally, hearing loss is expected to affect 2.5 billion people by 2050. These are all current statistics released by the National Institutes of Health. Hearing loss is twice as prevalent as diabetes. There is a high likelihood that you know at least a few people experiencing hearing loss and it's certain that there are many more around you who are experiencing it and either hiding it or not having it corrected. Our hearing problems are often worsened because of the human tendency to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that everything is fine. What's even more interesting is, on the visual side, those with the need for glasses usually tend to get them. Most people experiencing hearing issues wait more than 10 years before addressing the problem. Hearing aids have had a dramatic shift in the last couple of years with big changes made by the FDA. You used to have to go to an audiologist to get your ears tested and then fitted for hearing aids that only they could change or adjust in their office. That is no longer a limitation as you can do the entire process from your own home, although visiting an audiologist semi-regularly, especially for those of us with livelihoods based on our ability to hear, is highly recommended to track your hearing. Before we get too far, let's review some hearing anatomy. There are three areas to our auditory systems; the outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear consists of everything that you can see on the side of your head and everyone else's. This is called the auricle or pinna. Each little fold or crevice of your ear has a name, but we will just name the concha which is the part that leads to the ear canal, which is the second part of the outer ear. Your ear canal winds in an S-shape down to the third part of the outer ear, your eardrum. Your middle ear transmits from your eardrum through tiny little bones called ossicles. These bones transmit to a small, membrane-covered oval window which is the start of the inner ear. The middle ear cavity is air filled and also includes the Eustachian tube, which leads to the throat and balances your ear pressure. The final part of our auditory system is the inner ear. This third part is a very complex, fluid-filled structure located within the temporal bone. The different structures within contain tiny hair cells that convert sound waves and motion into electrical signals and transmit them to the brain via the auditory nerve. The two types of hearing loss are associated with these different parts of the ear. Conductive hearing loss is a result of an outer or middle ear blockage. It can be as simple as earwax buildup or fluid behind the eardrum. More complicated conditions such as otosclerosis, which affects the ossicles in the middle ear, is also a possibility. Conductive hearing loss is usually corrected through earwax removal or surgery for more complicated issues. While surgery can repair much of your conductive hearing loss, it doesn't result in 100% recovery of the loss. Outer Ear Middle Ear Inner Ear