Muffled Hearing: Common Causes and Solutions
Center For Hearing • April 12, 2024
Muffled hearing can be an annoying symptom preventing you from enjoying your favorite tunes or understanding the subtle dialogue during a movie at the Naples Cinematheque. Learning the common causes of muffled hearing and when to seek professional help can help prevent this annoyance from turning into a constant companion.
Common Causes of Muffled Hearing
A few common causes of muffled hearing include:
- Loud noise. When you immerse yourself in the booming atmosphere of a live music performance or an action-packed movie, the excitement of the moment can sometimes overshadow the potential risks to your hearing. As sound waves penetrate your inner ear, they journey through the cochlea, a delicate organ housing numerous tiny hair cells crucial for transmitting sound signals to your brain. Exposure to excessively loud music can strain these hair cells, leading to temporary or permanent hearing loss. Fortunately, safeguarding your hearing doesn’t mean sacrificing your enjoyment of concerts or thrilling movies. Simple measures like wearing earplugs or earmuffs can significantly reduce the impact of loud noise on your ears, preserving your ability to relish the sounds you love.
- Earwax impaction. Earwax, the natural secretion in your ear canal, plays a vital role in maintaining ear hygiene by trapping dirt and moisture. While earwax is vital to your ear health, excessive buildup can occasionally lead to muffled hearing, indicating the need for professional removal. Do not attempt to remove earwax at home using cotton swabs, ear candling or other remedies. While they may appear to help, home remedies can be dangerous, leading to wax impaction, eardrum perforation and burns.
- Airplane ear. Airplane ear, also known as ear barotrauma, arises when pressure imbalances occur between your middle ear and the surrounding environment. This phenomenon often occurs during rapid elevation changes, most commonly during airplane take-off or landing. Symptoms of airplane ear may include muffled hearing, ear pressure, discomfort or pain. Simple techniques like chewing gum or yawning during altitude changes can help equalize pressure within the ears, mitigating the risk of muffled hearing. While most cases resolve shortly after landing, severe cases may require professional intervention.
When To Seek Help
Not all instances of muffled hearing require immediate medical attention. For example, if your hearing is muffled for a few hours after a flight, you don’t necessarily need to worry. However, it is always best to see your provider in cases of prolonged (a few days) or frequent muffled hearing.
Our team is dedicated to providing comprehensive hearing tests and expert care to safeguard your auditory well-being. If you’re experiencing any hearing-related concerns, whether muffled hearing, tinnitus or discomfort, don’t hesitate to reach out to Center For Hearing for an appointment with one of our specialists.
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Hearing technology has come a long way over the years; however, one aspect of hearing loss that many hearing aids have difficulty addressing is trouble understanding speech in noise. Fortunately, some of today’s state-of-the-art devices can solve this problem utilizing deep neural networks (DNN) and artificial intelligence (AI). Sensorineural hearing loss causes difficulty understanding speech in background noise. This type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the hair cells of the inner ear that convert soundwaves into electrical energy, which are then interpreted by the brain. This causes the quality and quantity of the signal sent from the ears to the brain to diminish over time, resulting in the brain expending more energy and effort to make sense of it. DNNs may help improve the transmission of the neural code, making hearing easier on the brain. [1] It’s important to know what DNNs are to understand how they can help. DNNs are a subset of AI. They rapidly analyze large data sets so that they can teach hearing aids and other technological devices how to respond to data like a human would, all while verifying accuracy and making corrections. DNNs are beneficial in hearing technology because they can help with speech enhancement. DNNs can be applied as “time-frequency masks,” meaning select sounds—like speech—are allowed while other sounds are suppressed. DNNs can also identify and separate multiple voices, selecting a primary voice to emphasize and secondary voices to suppress. This feature can help hearing device wearers in a variety of settings. For example, at a restaurant or party, the hearing device can emphasize a conversation partner, allow other nearby voices at a reduced volume and suppress background noises such as dishes clinking. Schedule an appointment to talk to Center for Hearing about our vast state-of-the-art hearing solutions today— (239) 434-0086. [1] Published by Douglas L. Beck. (2021, January 15). Deep neural networks in hearing devices. Retrieved April 2, 2021 from https://www.hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-aids/deep-neural-networks
A Boston biotech startup is attempting to develop the first gene therapy treatment for hearing loss. If successful, it promises to offer new hope to the estimated 300,000 Americans who suffer from gene-based hearing loss—a number that includes more than 4,000 newborns. The timing may not be ideal, but biotech companies have been largely immune from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing recession. Developing new drugs takes years, so these companies are better able to weather storms. And the efforts of biotechnology companies that are focusing on tools to prevent and treat potentially fatal health threats has resulted in soaring stock values for many of these companies, even in the face of the current crisis. Akouos, the Boston startup, was founded in 2016. Its goal is to develop the first gene therapy to treat hearing loss and is targeting a specific form of deafness that results from mutations in a single gene. They are experimenting with adeno-associated viruses, using them as vectors to deliver DNA that encodes a functioning gene in certain target cells. Around 7,000 people are afflicted with this type of genetic hearing loss. Adeno-associated viruses are considered viable candidates because they don’t usually cause disease and can be customized to treat a variety of genetic conditions. The company has partnered with two influential organizations: Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Lonza, a Swiss manufacturing company that holds contracts with various pharmaceutical makers. Manny Simons, Akouos’ co-founder and chief executive, holds a degree in neuroscience from Harvard College, a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His desire to help those with hearing loss stems from his passion for playing the piano. “It’s easy to take hearing for granted,” said in a Boston Globe interview. “Maybe because music has been important to me, it’s something that I take a little less for granted.” [1] [1] Saltzman, J. (2020, June 22). Akouos, a startup developing a gene therapy for hearing loss, raises IPO value to $125 million - The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 30, 2020, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/22/business/ipo-upped-akouos-boston-startup-working-gene-therapy-hearing-loss/
