Hearing aids

Age of onset:The age at which hearing loss occurs is crucial for the acquisition of a spoken language.Hearing aids can be a solution for hearing loss.

Prelingual deafnes is hearing impairment that is sustained prior to the acquisition of language, which can occur as a result of a congenital condition or through hearing loss in early infancy. Prelingual deafness impairs an individual's ability to acquire a spoken language, but children born into signing families rarely have delays in language development. Most pre-lingual hearing impairment is acquired via either disease or trauma rather than genetically inherited, so families with deaf children nearly always lack previous experience with sign language.

Hearing loss is deterioration in hearing. Deafness is profound hearing loss.

Hearing loss, which becomes more common among older people, has many causes, most notably noise exposure.

Audiometry defines the extent and characteristics of hearing loss.

Most hearing loss is not treatable except with hearing aids and, rarely, surgery.

More than 28 million people in the United States are deaf or have hearing loss. Older people are the most affected: 30 to 40% of people aged 65 and older have significant hearing loss. Children also develop hearing loss (see Ear, Nose, and Throat Disorders: Hearing Impairment), which can be detrimental to language and social development. Every year, about 1 of 5,000 people develops sudden deafness. Sudden deafness is severe hearing loss, usually in only one ear, that develops over a period of a few hours or less.

Many people with hearing loss also develop ringing in the ears (tinnitus). Sometimes people notice the ringing sound before they fully recognize their hearing loss.

Hearing aids