Do you invest much time considering your nervous system? For the majority of individuals, the answer would most likely be not that frequently. Usually, you wouldn’t have to be concerned about how your neurons are communicating signals to the nerves of your body. But you will take a closer look when something isn’t working right and the nerves begin to misfire.
There’s one specific disease, known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, which can impact the nervous system on a relatively large scale, though the symptoms usually manifest mainly in the extremities. high-frequency hearing loss can also be triggered by CMT according to some evidence.
Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease, What is it?
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a set of inherited conditions. Essentially, these genetic disorders cause something to go wrong with your nerves or with the protective sheathing surrounding your nerves.
The result is that the signals sent from your brain to those nerves (and from those nerves back to your brain) don’t progress all that well. Functionally, this can lead to both a loss in motor function and a loss of sensation.
CMT can be present in numerous varieties and a mixture of genetic factors normally result in its expressions. Symptoms of CMT commonly start in the feet and work their way up to the arms. And, high-frequency hearing loss, oddly, has a high rate of occurrence among those who have CMT.
The Cochlear Nerve: A Connection Between CMT and Loss of Hearing
The link between CMT and loss of hearing has always been colloquially supported (that is, everyone knows someone who has a tells about it – at least inside of the CMT culture). And it seemed to confuse people who had 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 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 exams with flying colors. But high-frequency sounds (in the moderate region in particular) were effortlessly heard by all of the participants. high-frequency hearing loss, according to this research, is likely to be connected to CMT.
The Cause of Hearing Loss and How to Treat It
The link between high-frequency hearing loss and CMT may, at first, seem puzzling. Like all other parts of your body rely on correctly functioning nerves. That also goes for your ears.
What many researchers hypothesize happens is that the cochlear nerve is impacted by the CMT – disrupting your ear’s ability to interpret and convey sounds in a high-frequency range. Some sounds, including some voices, will be difficult to hear. Trying to understand voices in a crowded noisy room is particularly difficult.
This form of hearing loss is normally managed with hearing aids. There’s no known cure for CMT. Modern hearing aids can select the precise frequencies to amplify which can give significant assistance in fighting high-frequency hearing loss. Most modern hearing aids can also do well in noisy environments.
Hearing Loss Can Have A Number of Causes
Experts still aren’t entirely certain why CMT and hearing loss seem to co-exist quite so frequently (above and beyond their untested theory). But this kind of hearing loss can be effectively treated with hearing aids. That’s why countless individuals who have CMT will take the time to get a consultation with a hearing specialist and get a fitting for a custom hearing aid.
Hearing loss symptoms can develop for many reasons. In some situations, loss of hearing is brought about by excessive exposure to damaging sounds. Blockages can be another cause. It also looks as if CMT is another possible cause.
