What is unilateral hearing loss?

If you find yourself having trouble understanding people on your left side, or if you're constantly turning your head to hear better with one ear, it might be time to see an audiologist for a diagnosis and treatment options! There are many reputable places that offer hearing aid services online in Sri Lanka, so getting an appointment to check your hearing won’t be a problem.

Symptoms of unilateral hearing loss

Symptoms related to unilateral hearing loss are often subtle. In many cases, people with unilateral hearing loss don't know they have it until their friends or family bring the issue to their attention. Unilateral hearing loss symptoms are most commonly noticed when a person has difficulty understanding speech on only one side of a room in noisy environments and complains that "people mumble" or "I can hear better if I sit closer to them."

Symptoms include:

-Difficulty understanding speech from the left side of a room in a noisy environment.

-Complaints about "mumbling".

-Itching underneath an earlobe.

-Hearing ringing noises (tinnitus) in one ear

Ideally, you should get your hearing checked by an audiologist every year. If you notice any new symptoms related to your hearing, then you should call your doctor right away, because if unilateral hearing loss is not addressed, it can lead to depression and you may need assistance with work and social activities if left untreated. 

If bilateral hearing impairment is present, then an individual's quality of life will be greatly impacted. The person may feel disconnected from other people because they have difficulty following conversations in noisy environments or understanding what was just said at all. They may also experience frustration when it comes to navigating through crowded places like shopping malls or airports since spatial awareness becomes more difficult without any intact hear-sight.

Causes of unilateral hearing loss

UHL is caused by a variety of factors, including some that are hereditary and others which the individual may have brought on themselves through exposure to loud noises without adequate protection for their ears like listening to music or watching fireworks with only one ear covered. The condition can also arise due to infection in the middle and inner parts of the ear canal along with other complications such as an increase in blood flow into this area from hypertension. Certain drugs, too, when taken over long periods of time can cause hearing damage leading up to unilateral hearing loss because they block certain chemicals necessary for sound detection.

Causes of unilateral hearing loss can include:

- Diseases: tumours, meningitis.

- Tumours: acoustic neuroma, schwannomas.

- Ear infections and ear trauma can also cause unilateral hearing loss. 

Treatment for unilateral hearing loss

Treatment of unilateral hearing loss includes the use of a bone anchored hearing aid or cochlear implant. Surgery is not an option as there are no ears to operate on in cases where one has gone deaf from such diseases as otosclerosis and age related presbycusis. When appropriate treatment methods are used for bilateral impairment, then it becomes important that they be employed immediately after diagnosis because delay will only worsen quality of life before any treatments have taken place at all. If left untreated, then social activities may become difficult if not impossible, while the disease progresses, which may result in a variety of mental health problems as well.

You can find many suppliers of high quality, branded hearing aids in Sri Lanka. The hearing aid price in Sri Lanka will depend greatly on what type of equipment you are looking at getting.

However, hearing aids are not enough for those who have lost hearing on one side. One must find their own methods to stay connected with the world at large. Unilateral Hearing Loss or UHL refers to the deafness that occurs when sound enters only one ear and it causes difficulty discriminating words spoken from that direction while tolerating other noise levels quite well, albeit remaining completely unaware of any sounds produced by that direction at all times unless they happen to be exceptionally loud. When an individual has unilateral hearing impairment then there should be no more than about 20 dB difference between the poorer performing ear's threshold level and better functioning ears' thresholds, meaning that the poorer performing ear should be able to hear sounds above thresholds of around 60 dB or so.

Prevention for unilateral hearing loss

Preventing unilateral hearing loss can sometimes be as simple as not listening to loud noises. It is crucial that you take the time and invest in a pair of equipment for ear protection while working around noisy machinery or equipment, taking your kids to concerts or sporting events, or attending any event with high decibel levels.

Things to know about unilaterally deaf people

Unilaterally deaf people are just as capable of understanding speech and hearing as people with two functioning ears. They are able to speak, hear, listen, read lips, etc., just like those who have a full complement of hearing in both ears. In some cases, they may also use sign language or communicate through writing (and typing) rather than speaking out loud for clarity's sake when communicating with those who do not know sign language or cannot read their lips.