Hearing impairment medical therapy
|
Hearing impairment Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Hearing impairment On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Hearing impairment |
Overview
Medical Therapy
Approaches
Cleaning of ear canal (usually occurs during physical exam) to remove cerumen or a foreign body can restore hearing.
In addition to hearing aids there exist cochlear implants of increasing complexity and effectiveness. These are useful in treating the mild to profound hearing impairment when the onset follows the acquisitions of language and in some cases in children whose hearing loss came before language was acquired. Recent research shows variations in effacacy but some promising studies[1] show that if implanted at a very young age, some profoundly impaired children can acquire effective hearing and speech.
Ear protection can be used for the prevention of additional hearing loss.
Views of treatments
There is controversy in the culturally deaf community as to whether cochlear implants address wellness concerns, the overall health and psycho-emotional well-being of prelingually deaf children at all.