Disease Affecting Hearing Paper Example

Introduction

Hearing also known as auditory reception is the ability of the human ear to decode a sound and by detecting vibrations transmitted through a medium and received by the ear (Plack, 2018). The ears are located at the side of the human head where they are opened to the surrounding and can effectively trap the mechanical energy that is traveling through the medium exposed to the human body (Society for Neuroscience, 2005). These vibrations are transmitted into the human brain in the form of electrical charges where the brain can decode and understand the sound which has been made. The human ear can be categorized into three main parts which are; the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.

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The outer ear

It is the part which is visible to the human eyes commonly referred to as the pinna and the ear canal (Society for Neuroscience, 2005). The shape of the pinna which is a bowl in shape is designed to pick the sound in front and stop the distractions which are behind the person; the pinna is also responsible at alerting a person the direction from where the sound is coming from and thus respond accordingly (Plack, 2018). Once the pinna has collected the sound wave, they are transmitted through the canal to the eardrum.

The middle ear

This consists of the eardrum which vibrates when the mechanical sound from the canal reaches it. The eardrum is a skin which oscillates based on the sound that is received from the outside of the human body. The sound is further moved to the three tinny bones (ossicles) which are the Malleus, incus, and stapes. The bones help in the transition of the vibration from the eardrum to other parts of the inner ear (Society for Neuroscience, 2005).

The inner ear

This is called the cochlea, and it assumes the shape of a snail shell. This part is filled fluid which hosts millions of tiny hair cells attached to the walls (Schochat, Rocha-Muniz, & Filippini, 2017). As the sound moves through the hair cells, an electrical impulse is created and is transmitted to the hearing nerve in the brain. The sound from the cochlea travels through the auditory nerve all the way to the brainstem where cochlear nucleus receives the electrical impulse. The charges then travel to the inferior colliculus an organ associated with subconscious reflexes (Plack, 2018). From there the sound moves to the medial geniculate nucleus where it is interpreted into a form that can be understood.

Neurological condition or disease affecting hearing

Auditory processing disorder (APD)

This is a hearing challenge that affects both children and adults, but it has been prevalent in young children who are about 5- 15 years. Children suffering from this disorder are unable to hear in the same manner as other kids do because their brain is always unable to decode the sound relayed from the ears (Schochat, Rocha-Muniz, & Filippini, 2017). In other words, the condition affects the coordination between the brain and the ear. The difficulty in interpreting the sound mostly arises from the breakdown of the central nervous system.

Causes of the disorder

Acquired- APD can be caused by the damage of the auditory nervous system bringing about hearing difficulties.

Genetic inheritance- according to the federal researchers our genes profoundly influence the ability to listen and interpret multiple messages simultaneously. However, when the genes malfunction, the condition can run in the family through inheritance from a parent the offspring.

Developmental APD- the leading cause which brings about the disorder is still unknown to researchers despite the numerous experiments that have been conducted. However, scientists have suspected that delay in the maturing of myelin, ectopic cells in the hearing areas or phenotypic development which affects the ears could cause problems to the processing of the sound.

Therapeutic approaches to treating Auditory Processing Disorder

Speech therapy- the strategy helps the person improve their language comprehension ability by developing the capability of the patient to establish and understand the sound. When APD is diagnosed in young children, it is advisable to seek the services of a trained therapist who will engage the child in a variety of exercises which target specific auditory deficits (Schochat, Rocha-Muniz, & Filippini, 2017). The therapy usually assist the children using the following techniques

Teaching the child to overcome the sound discrimination challenges- in this case, the therapist trains the brain of the child to differentiate sounds in all types of the environment such as quiet and noisy backgrounds

Sharpen auditory memory- the professional audiologist uses the technique of making an individual repeat a series of numbers and words which aims at exercising the listening muscles.

Management of language-processing problems- in this therapy the therapist encourages the affected child to the adults or their classmate's questions are to repeat a comment.

Hyperacusis

This is the inability of the ear to tolerate normal environmental sounds due to the distortion of the neural receptors in the inner ear (Henry, Zaugg, Myers, & Schechter, 2008). The ear develops high sensitivity to regular volumes of sound, and they are passive by the recipient as deafening sounds which are unpleasant and painful to the person. When the condition develops, the likelihood of developing eventual hearing loss and tinnitus becomes a significant risk factor. The symptoms of the disease include ear pain, general intolerance to sounds that do not affect other people and annoyance (Jastreboff, 2017). When a person has Hyperacusis, they can develop anxiety, phonophobia, and stress

Causes of HyperacusisThe illness is mostly caused by being exposed to high decibel levels. However, other factors like the consumption of sensitive ear drugs, surgery, head injury and Lyme disease can cause the condition.in some case, an individual, is usually born with the sound sensitivity condition, or passed down through genetical inheritance (Jastreboff, 2017).

Therapeutic approaches to treating Hyperacusis

One of the most common therapies is the cognitive behavioral therapy which focuses on addressing the emotions, and behavior of an individual suffering from Hyperacusis, this helps reduce the negative response and improve the living conditions of an individual (Henry, Zaugg, Myers, & Schechter, 2008). The next therapeutic approach is the sound therapy where it is used to relief bothersome Hyperacusis. The treatment uses external sound to reduce the neural sensitivity, and also allows the patient to relax thus reducing the stress and anxiety levels.

References

Henry, J. A., Zaugg, T. L., Myers, P. J., & Schechter, M. A. (2008). Using Therapeutic Sound With Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management. Trends in Amplification, 12(3), 188-209. doi:10.1177/1084713808321184

Jastreboff, P. (2017). Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, Misophonia. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.02028-9

Plack, C. J. (2018). The Sense of Hearing. doi:10.4324/9781315208145

Schochat, E., Rocha-Muniz, C. N., & Filippini, R. (2017). Understanding Auditory Processing Disorder Through the FFR. The Frequency-Following Response, 225-250. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47944-6_9

Society for Neuroscience. (2005). Brain facts: A primer on the brain and nervous system. Washington, D.C.: Author.

Glossary of the Scientific Terms

Auditory reception- The ability to organize, interpret and get the meaning of sounds or words ("Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary!" n.d.).

Mechanical energy- This is the energy in motion ("Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary!" n.d.).

Decode- transform hidden information into the intelligible language (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Pinna- the outer surface of an ear that has a helical in shape (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Ear canal- it's a pathway connecting the outer part of the ear with the middle section (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Eardrum- it's a thin cone-shaped skin that vibrates in response to sound (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Cochlear- it is a spiral cavity located in the inner ear, and it produces nerve impulse due to the sound vibrations (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Electrical impulse- the flow of electric energy from one point to another (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Hearing nerve- Also known as auditory nerves, which move the hearing information from the cochlea to the brain ("Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary!" n.d.).

Brainstem- it is the central trunk of the brain, which contains the medulla oblongata and the midbrain. It further continues downward and becomes the spine (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Medial geniculate nucleus- it is part of auditory that relays the sound from inferior colliculus to the auditory cortex ("Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary!" n.d.).

Genetic inheritance- passing of genetical information from an organism to its offspring through reproduction (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Myelin- it is a mixture of proteins and phospholipids, and its function is to increase the speed of the impulses (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Ectopic cells- these are cells which are formed beyond where they are supposed to be developed, ectopic means "out of place" (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Phenotypic- this is the characteristics that can be observed in an organism as a result of its genotype interaction with the environment ("Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary!" n.d.).

Auditory deficits- the inability to hear sound vibrations (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Audiologist- a professional, trained to evaluate the problems related to hearing (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Neural receptors- this are neurons that that converts a stimuli sent to the brain into action potentials (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Tinnitus- this is the ringing sound in the ears due to a medical condition (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Phonophobia- abnormal fear of sound (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

Decibel- a unit that measures the intensity of sound by comparison with a given logarithmic scale (Hornby & Deuter, 2015).

Lyme disease- is a form of arthritis caused by bacteria (Fowler & Crystal, 2010).

References

Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online dictionary! (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com

Fowler, H. W., & Crystal, D. (2010). A dictionary of modern English usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A. S., & Deuter, M. (2015). Oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.