Do you invest much time considering your nervous system? Most likely not all that regularly. As long as your body is performing in the way that it should, you have no reason to think about how your neurons are firing or whether nerves are sending correct messages along the electrical pathways in your body. But you tend to take a closer look when something isn’t working right and the nerves start to misfire.
One distinct disease known as Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease that normally affects the extremities can also have a fairly wide-scale impact on the overall nervous system. high-frequency hearing loss can also be the result of CMT according to some research.
Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease, What is it?
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a set of inherited disorders. Essentially, these genetic disorders cause something to go wrong with your nerves or with the protective sheathing surrounding your nerves.
As a result, the impulses sent from your brain to those nerves (and from those nerves back to your brain) don’t progress all that well. A loss in motor function and sensation can be the outcome.
CMT can be found in a number of variations and a mixture of genetic factors usually lead to its expressions. For most people with CMT, symptoms begin in the feet and can work their way up into their arms. And, high-frequency hearing loss, curiously, has a high rate of occurrence in those with CMT.
The Cochlear Nerve: A Connection Between CMT and Hearing Loss
There has always been an anecdotal connection between loss of hearing and CMT (which means that within the CMT culture everyone has heard other people tell stories about it). And it seemed to confuse people who had CMT – the ear didn’t seem all that related to the loss of feeling 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 findings were rather conclusive. Low to moderate frequencies were heard almost perfectly by those who had CMT. 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 study, is likely to be connected to CMT.
What is The Cause of Hearing Loss And How Can it be Addressed?
At first, it may be puzzling to attempt to figure out the connection between high-frequency hearing loss and CMT. But everything in your body, from your toes to your eyebrows, relies on the proper functioning of 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 translated. Certain sounds, including some voices, will be difficult to hear. In particular, make out voices in crowded or noisy rooms can be a tangible challenge.
This kind of hearing loss is normally treated with hearing aids. CMT has no renowned cure. Modern hearing aids can isolate the precise frequencies to amplify which can provide considerable assistance in fighting high-frequency hearing loss. The majority of modern hearing aids can also perform well in noisy settings.
Hearing Loss Can Have Several Causes
Beyond the untested hypothesis, it’s still not well understood what the relationship between CMT and high-frequency hearing loss. But hearing aid tech provides an obvious treatment for the symptoms of that hearing loss. So scheduling an appointment to get a fitting for hearing aids will be a smart choice for individuals who suffer from CMT.
Hearing loss symptoms can surface for many reasons. In some cases, hearing loss is caused by excess exposure to harmful noises. Obstructions can be yet another cause. It turns out that CMT can be still another reason for hearing loss.