Do you spend much time considering your nervous system? Probably not all that regularly. As long as your body is performing as it is supposed to, you have no reason to consider how your neurons are firing or whether nerves are sending proper messages through the electrical corridors in your body. But you will take a closer look when something goes wrong and the nerves begin to misfire.
One specific disease called Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease which typically affects the extremities can also have a fairly wide-scale affect on the whole nervous system. And there’s some evidence to suggest that CMT can also cause high-frequency loss of hearing.
What Is Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease?
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a set of inherited conditions. The protective sheathing around the nerves malfunction due to a genetic condition.
There is an issue with the way impulses travel between your brain and your nerves. A loss of motor function and sensation can be the outcome.
CMT can be present in numerous varieties and a combination of genetic factors normally lead to its expressions. For most people with CMT, symptoms start in the feet and go up into their arms. And, high-frequency hearing loss, oddly, has a high rate of occurrence in those with CMT.
A Link Between Loss of Hearing And CMT: The Cochlear Nerve
There has always been an anecdotal connection between loss of hearing and CMT (which means that inside of the CMT community everyone has heard others talk about it). And it seemed to mystify people who suffered from CMT – the ear didn’t seem all that related to the loss of sensation in the legs, for example.
A scientific study firmly established the connection just recently when a group of scientists evaluated 79 people with CMT at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
The results were quite decisive. Nearly everyone who has CMT passed their low and moderate frequency hearing assessments with flying colors. But high-frequency sounds (in the moderate region in particular) were easily heard by all of the participants. high-frequency hearing loss, according to this study, is likely to be linked to CMT.
What is The Cause of Hearing Loss And How Can it be Treated?
At first, it might be puzzling to attempt to figure out the link between high-frequency hearing loss and CMT. But all of your body, from your toes to your eyebrows, relies on the correct functioning of nerves. Your ears are no different.
What most researchers hypothesize occurs is that the cochlear nerve is impacted by the CMT – interfering with your ear’s ability to interpret and transmit sounds in a high-frequency range. Anyone with this type of hearing loss will have a hard time hearing certain sounds, and that includes peoples voices. Trying to hear voices in a crowded noisy room is especially hard.
This form of hearing loss is usually treated with hearing aids. CMT has no known cure. Modern hearing aids can isolate the exact frequencies to boost which can provide considerable assistance in fighting high-frequency hearing loss. Additionally, most modern hearing aids can be calibrated to work well in noisy conditions.
Many Reasons For Hearing Loss
Further than the unconfirmed theory, it’s still uncertain what the connection between high-frequency hearing loss and CMT is. But this kind of hearing loss can be efficiently managed using hearing aids. So scheduling an appointment to get fitted for hearing aids will be a good choice for people who suffer from CMT.
Hearing loss symptoms can surface for a wide variety of reasons. Often, it’s a matter of loud noise contributing to damage to the ears. Obstructions can be yet another cause. It appears that CMT can be still another reason for loss of hearing.