Reasons for Hearing Loss

Exposure to hazardous noise can come through regular exposure over a period of time, or suddenly by acoustic trauma. NIHL can be short term or gradual and permanent.

Other reasons for hearing loss are:

• age,
• congenital defect (born with it),
• exposure to certain chemicals, toxic substances, or drugs (called otoxic hearing loss), or
• health problems (stroke, tumors, etc.) and biological substances (viruses, bacteria, etc.).

NIHL can be caused by occupational or non-occupational exposure (i.e. either caused by hazardous noise in the workplace or off the job). Both can contribute to your overall exposure and potential hearing loss.

Hearing loss is typically painless and progresses over time; it can be ignored because there are often no visible effects. Although our ears can usually recover from short exposure to loud noises, in most cases hearing loss is permanent (it cannot be reversed).

With hearing loss, there can be a progressive loss of communication, socialization, and responsiveness to the environment. In its early stages, it affects the ability of a person to hear high frequency (high pitch) sounds. This can result in difficulty understanding conversations, particularly in noisy environments. High-pitch hearing loss can make it hard to hear consonants in speech, and the quality of environmental sound is reduced.

Continued exposure to hazardous noise can result in damage to the ability to hear mid-range frequency sounds. As it progresses to the lower frequencies, it begins to affect the ability to hear sounds in general and can lead to total deafness.

To learn more about Hearing Protection visit our Hearing Protection Online Training web page.