There are many illnesses and diseases
that can cause some form of hearing
loss. The extent can vary from mild to
profound deafness.
- Measles may result in auditory
nerve damage
- Meningitis may damage the
auditory nerve or the cochlea
- Autoimmune disease has only
recently been recognized as a
potential cause for cochlear
damage. Although probably rare, it
is possible for autoimmune
processes to target the cochlea
specifically, without symptoms
affecting other organs. Wegener's
granulomatosis is one of the
autoimmune conditions that may
precipiate hearing loss.
- Mumps (Epidemic parotitis) may
result in profound sensorineural
hearing loss (90 dB or more),
unilateral (one ear) or bilateral
(both ears).
- Presbyacusis is deafness due to
loss of perception to high tones,
mainly in the elderly. It is
considered by some to be a
degenerative process, although
there has never been a proven link
to aging. (See impact of
environmental noise exposure
above.)
- Adenoids that do not disappear
by adolescence may continue to grow
and may obstruct the Eustachian
tube, causing conductive hearing
impairment and nasal infections
that can spread to the middle
ear.
- AIDS and ARC patients
frequently experience auditory
system anomalies.
- HIV (and subsequent
opportunistic infections) may
directly affect the cochlea and
central auditory system.
- Chlamydia may cause hearing
loss in newborns to whom the
disease has been passed at
birth.
- Fetal alcohol syndrome is
reported to cause hearing loss in
up to 64% of infants born to
alcoholic mothers, from the
ototoxic effect on the developing
fetus plus malnutrition during
pregnancy from the excess alcohol
intake.
- Premature birth results in
sensorineural hearing loss
approximately 5% of the time.
- Syphilis is commonly
transmitted from pregnant women to
their fetuses, and about a third of
the infected children will
eventually become deaf.
- Otosclerosis is a hardening of
the stapes (or stirrup) in the
middle ear and causes conductive
hearing loss.