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Why do I have hearing loss?

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Do I really have hearing loss because I went to concerts in bars in the 1990’s and played in a band for a couple of years? I certainly remember my ears ringing after several concerts. Is that all it takes?

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I can’t answer for you, but I can say that I have hearing loss because I’m old, and because my mother and her father also had hearing loss when they were old. It runs in my family.

Of course, no one here can answer that question, but certainly exposure to loud sounds can do it, and familial history can, too. I certainly have both.

But interestingly, my , who is well-known and has long experience, once said something surprising to me. He said that my hearing loss had the mark of being from head trauma, which I’ve certainly had a lot of. I don’t know what it was that made him say that, however.

But my mother, her mother, and her mother’s sister had terrible hearing problems. Both of my younger brothers do, too.

Part of my grandmother’s deafness was because a firecracker went off near her ear when she was young—but that is a one-off that would not be likely to happen these days—I think!

One of my younger brother’s hearing is so bad that he can’t hear at all in noise. He does have . I don’t know if he’s given up on trying to ameliorate that with HAs, or it’s just that bad and can’t be fixed.

PS. I don’t know if this can be a cause or not, but I had a ton of bad ear infections growing up and as a young adult. I don’t know if that can harm the cilia, the hairs in the ear, or not, maybe not, because that wouldn’t be in the inner ear, I don’t think.

Edited

There is a strong genetic component for hearing loss that is also caused by overexposure to noise, use of antibiotics (some classes, especially at a young age) and, simply, ageing. In short, hard to answer or predict how these factors conspire for a given person. In any case, water under the bridge…

There are many causes of hearing loss. One of my ears hearing loss cause is congenital loss. The other ear is sensorineural and a SSHL, as well as loud noise. I played in a band for 40+ years of my life. For me that’s 4 causes of hearing loss. Drug toxicity is another.

In my case, my hearing loss is all in the high frequency ranges. I attribute it to years of giving flight instruction in small general aviation airplanes which are very loud in the interior. Back in the 1970s I knew about the issue of noise damage to my hearing, but the only hearing protection was yellow foam cushions that we squeezed into our ear canals. This made it difficult for me to hear my own voice volume and I couldn’t hear my students while wearing them. I would yell at my students unintentionally. My colleagues, who flew in the military, don’t suffer from this problem because they wore helmets when they flew with built in headphones which protected their hearing. Ground personnel in both civil and military operations always wear hearing protection while working on the ramp. Today, every general aviation airplane is equipped with noise canceling interpose systems between the student and the instructor

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