Hearing loss is a major public health condition in this country after arthritis and heart disease. Individuals can be born without the ability to hear or can also lose their hearing gradually over time. Age-related and noise-induced hearing loss usually results in the loss of hearing at higher frequencies. Along with the impacts that deafness has on those who are diagnosed with it, hearing loss can also lead to devastating effects on friends and family.
Fortunately, acupuncture has shown to help individuals struggling with the effects of hearing loss that can result in deafness. For certain types of hearing loss, acupuncture may be an effective option to stopping the impacts of lifelong deafness.
Knowing what type of hearing loss you’re living with can help you better understand whether or not acupuncture can help. Acupuncture is most helpful specifically with treating hearing loss that is the result of nerve damage which is called sensorineural. This is because acupuncture can help the nerves to rebuild and repair the damage that results in hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss can be due to age, nerve damage, or malfunction of the inner ear cells.
The type of hearing loss that acupuncture cannot help with is called conductive hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is due to obstructions of the ear canal like earwax. It can also be due to injury to inner parts of the ear.
So, it’s important to know that acupuncture may only be beneficial to specific types of patients who are living with hearing loss. Not everyone living with hearing loss may experience successful results with acupuncture treatments.
Sudden hearing loss is when a person will experience loss of hearing in one or both ears in a short period of time. This commonly happens to people who are of middle age (around 50), and can be frightening to experience. Most people who experience sudden loss of hearing don’t ever find out why they are losing their hearing. But, for these people, acupuncture may be something to consider. Certainly, if you are suddenly losing your hearing, acupuncture shouldn’t be your first consideration for treatment. You should contact your primary care physician to talk about options for traditional treatments. And, if these don’t work or you’d like to use a combination of approaches, you should then consider acupuncture as an approach to addressing hearing loss.
If you’ve tried hearing loss treatments and they aren’t effective or you want to add additional treatments to help with hearing loss, acupuncture may be right for you. Acupuncture Zen offers acupuncture treatment options that help with sudden hearing loss and sensorineural hearing loss. Find out more about our acupuncture clinic located in Delray Beach and all of the conditions we treat on our website.
