Hearing impairment

Phonetic exercise: hearing impairment [‘hiəriŋ im’pεəmənt], deafness [‘defnis], ears [iəz], ear canal [‘iə ‘kə‘næl], ear drum [‘iə ‘drΛm], detect [di’tekt], perceive [pə‘si:v], species [‘spi:∫i:iz], permanent [‘pə:mənənt], damage [‘dæmid3], excessive [ik’sesiv], exposure [iks’pəu3ə], vibrations [vai’brei∫nz], converted [kn’və:tid], subsequently [‘sΛbsikwentli], processes [‘prəusəsiz], acquisition [,ækwi’zi∫n], occur [ə‘kə:], congenital [kən’d3enitl], frequencies [‘fri:kwensiz], adolescent [,ædə’lesənt], adolescence [,ædə’lesəns], adult [‘ædΛlt; ə’dΛlt], chlamydia [klə‘midiə], diuretics [,daijuə’retiks], cochlea [‘kkliə]

Make a report on hearing impairment according to the plan below:

Definition: deafness; a condition in which individuals are fully or partially unable to detect or perceive at least some frequencies of sound which can typically be heard by members of their species.

Epidemiology: hearing loss in children: 12% of children aged 6–19 years have permanent hearing damage from excessive noise exposure, etc.

A conductive hearing impairment: an impairment resulting from dysfunction in any of the mechanisms that normally conduct sound waves through the outer ear, the eardrum or the bones of the middle ear.

A sensorineural hearing impairment: an impairment resulting from dysfunction in the inner ear, especially the cochlea where sound vibrations are converted into neural signals, or in any part of the brain that subsequently processes these signals.

Prelingual deafness: 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.

Post-lingual deafness: hearing impairment that is sustained after the acquisition of language, which can occur as a result of disease, trauma, or as a side-effect of a medicine.

Unilateral impairment: single sided deafness, an impairment in only one ear.

Causes of hearing loss: progressive loss of ability to hear high frequencies with increasing age; long-term exposure to environmental noise (car stereos, children's toys, transportation, crowds, lawn and maintenance equipment, power tools, gun use, and even hair dryers); genetics, congenital defects; disease or illness: measles, meningitis, autoimmune disease, mumps, adenoids that do not disappear by adolescence, chlamydia in newborns, fetal alcohol syndrome, premature birth, otosclerosis; medications: aminoglycosides (main member gentamicin), some diuretics, aspirin and NSAIDs, and macrolide antibiotics; exposure to ototoxic chemicals: metals, such as lead; solvents; physical trauma: exposure to very loud noise, exposure to a single event of extremely loud noise (such as explosions), etc.

Management: cochlear implants; gene therapy; adaptations to hearing impairment;

assistive devices: telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD, textphone and minicom, mobile textphone devices, videophones; hearing dogs, a specific type of assistance dog specifically selected and trained to assist the deaf and hearing impaired by alerting their handler to important sounds, such as doorbells, smoke alarms, ringing telephones, or alarm clocks; other assistive devices: flashing lights to signal events such as a ringing telephone, a doorbell, or a fire alarm, etc.