Do you invest much time thinking about your nervous system? Probably not all that regularly. As long as your body is performing as it should, you’ve no reason to consider how your neurons are firing or whether nerves are sending proper messages along the electrical corridors in your body. But you tend to take a closer look when something goes wrong and the nerves start to misfire.
One distinct disease called Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease which normally affects the extremities can also have a fairly wide-scale impact on the whole nervous system. high-frequency hearing loss can also be triggered by CMT according to some research.
What Is Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease?
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a set of inherited disorders. The protective sheathing surrounding the nerves malfunction due to a genetic condition.
There is an issue with the way signals move between your brain and your nerves. Functionally, this can result in both a loss in motor function and a loss of feeling.
A mixture of genetic factors typically leads to the expression of symptoms, so CMT can be found in several varieties. Symptoms of CMT normally begin in the feet and go up to the arms. And, high-frequency hearing loss, oddly, has a high rate of occurrence in those who have CMT.
The Cochlear Nerve: A Link Between CMT and Hearing Loss
The connection between CMT and hearing loss has always been colloquially established (that is, everybody knows someone who has a tells about it – at least inside of the CMT culture). And it seemed to mystify people who suffered from CMT – the ear didn’t appear very related to the loss of sensation in the legs, for example.
The connection was firmly established by a scientific study just recently when a group of researchers examined 79 people with CMT at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
The results were rather decisive. Nearly everyone with CMT passed their low and moderate frequency hearing tests with flying colors. But all of the people showed loss of hearing when it came to the high-frequency sounds (usually around the moderate levels). According to this study, it seems pretty likely that CMT can at least be connected to high-frequency loss of hearing.
What is The Cause of Hearing Loss And How Can it be Addressed?
At first, it might be puzzling to attempt to identify the link between high-frequency hearing loss and CMT. Like all other parts of your body rely on properly functioning nerves. That also goes for your ears.
The theory is, CMT affects the cochlear nerve so sounds in the high-frequency range aren’t able to be interpreted. Anybody with this form of hearing loss will have a hard time hearing specific sounds, and that includes voices. Particularly, make out voices in crowded or noisy rooms can be a real obstacle.
This kind of hearing loss is commonly treated with hearing aids. There’s no known cure for CMT. Modern hearing aids can provide significant assistance in terms of fighting the effects of high-frequency hearing loss, selecting only those ranges of sounds to boost. Most modern hearing aids can also work well in loud settings.
There Can be Many Causes For Hearing Loss
Experts still aren’t completely sure why CMT and hearing loss seem to co-exist quite so frequently (beyond their untested hypothesis). But hearing aid tech offers a clear solution to the symptoms of that loss of hearing. So making an appointment to get fitted for hearing aids will be a good choice for people who have CMT.
There are many causes for hearing loss symptoms. In many instances, loss of hearing is caused by excess exposure to harmful noises. In other situations, loss of hearing might be the consequence of a blockage. It also appears that CMT is another possible cause.