About 20 per cent of patients with hearing loss in Singapore are in their 30s or 40s, according to an audiologist. And getting fitted with one sooner than later can actually reduce your likelihood of developing dementia.
When it comes to hearing aids, many of us associate these devices with elderly grandparents and, by extension, a sign of old age and vulnerability. As did Soh Lee Lee.
The 29-year-old was first fitted with hearing aids in both ears about eight years ago – a decision she deliberated on for a whole year after being diagnosed with high-frequency hearing loss. This meant that she couldn’t detect sounds that are higher than 2,000Hz such as birds chirping, consonant sounds in speech and ringtones.
“I was devastated and even cried when the clinician asked me about my thoughts on hearing aids. I struggled to accept the idea as I perceived them as a sign of weakness,” she said.
Soh remembered sensing that there was something wrong with her hearing as early as seven years old. “My ears felt blocked. And I could hear my breathing and chewing quite loudly from time to time. But I thought it was normal and didn’t tell anyone since I could still hear well most of the time.”
After several years of straining to hear the teacher in class, Soh finally told her parents, who took her to see a general practitioner at age 11. She was told that she had impacted ear wax in both ears. The doctor flushed her ears to dislodge and remove the wax but the feeling of fullness persisted. “I assumed that this was probably a normal sensation, so I didn’t mention it to my parents again.”
It was in university when the cause of Soh’s blocked ears was finally diagnosed. A specialist assessed that she had sinusitis and enlarged ear canals, which meant that ear wax and dead skin were more likely to build up in her ears than usual.
But by then, Soh’s hearing had already been affected. “There was a permanent mild-to-moderate drop in detecting high frequencies in both ears,” she said. “I was able to hear well when the environment was quiet but I would miss out certain words in noisy places or during group conversations, and would often need others to repeat what they said.”
Soh may seem to be too young to suffer from hearing loss but the condition is certainly not limited to silver-haired individuals. Sadrina Shah, a clinical audiologist at Hearing Partners, said that 20 per cent of her patients are in their 30s and 40s. One of the common causes of such early hearing loss could be genetics, she said, or ear diseases such as cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, Meniere’s disease, chronic ear infections or viral infections of the inner ear.
In these age groups, the signs may manifest as a “sudden sensorineural hearing loss” or “viral labyrinthitis, which is a condition where vertigo and hearing loss occur together suddenly”, said Dr Liu Jiaying, a consultant ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon and the medical director of Aurion ENT & Hearing Centre at Farrer Park Medical Centre.
I – Word Understanding
Perceived – become aware or conscious of (something) come to realize or understand.
Dislodge – knock or force out of position.
Cholesteatoma – is an abnormal collection of skin cells deep inside your ear.
Otosclerosis – is an abnormal bone growth in the middle ear that causes hearing loss.
Meniere’s disease – is an inner ear problem that can cause dizzy spells, also called vertigo, and hearing loss.
Labyrinthitis – is an inner ear infection.
II – Have Your Say
1, Is age-related hearing loss and is the most common cause of hearing loss in adults?
2, Who is most at risk of hearing loss?
