The consequences of head injuries are both a source of much discussion and, in many ways, a mystery to neurologists. Though we have much to learn about the brain, one thing is clear‚Äì‚Äìan injury to it must be taken with the utmost of seriousness. Whilst there are common consequences to short or long-term brain damage (such as concussions and brain bleeding), the complexities of the human body’s most unique vital organ make it difficult to determine if other medical issues are a result of cranial injury or an unfortunate coincidence.
One potential condition that results from head trauma is that of hearing loss. Though there are different schools of thought on this, let’s explore head injury as a cause of any type of hearing loss or impairment, and options that you may want to then explore.
Dealing with the symptom before the cause.
It might have been days, weeks, or months since you suffered a head injury before your hearing starts to deteriorate. Perhaps you didn’t even notice that there was an injury, you just bumped your head and moved on. Regardless, losing your hearing is a lot more obvious if you are following the signs to their logical conclusions. If you catch yourself asking family members to repeat themselves more frequently when in conversation or find the volume on the television set is just not quite cutting it anymore, then, in all likelihood, you are going to need a hearing test.
Either via a referral from the doctor’s office or just through direct contact, speaking to an audiologist should be a priority. Audiologists are specialists in hearing conditions, and if you catch a potential problem quickly then it stands to reason that you could have better hearing again in a short space of time. The first step would be to find a hearing center close-by to administer the hearing test. As a tip, it’s worth checking out Hearing Health USA first. As well as providing free hearing tests, they are also independent when it comes to hearing aid manufacturers‚Äì‚Äìmeaning that they never promote one form of treatment over another for any reason other than it will lead to better hearing. They have plenty of audiologists at hearing centers across the country. The best way to locate one is to search for “hearing testing near me” on their website, and they can direct you from there.
Ask how the hearing loss started.
Head injuries are not particularly common, but they do happen. When they do, healthcare providers take them very seriously. As a fragile organ, the human body naturally does all that it can to protect it. Reflexes, surrounding bone structure (the skull), fight or flight approaches––all are natural ways that the brain is kept from harm. Nevertheless, accidents can and do happen. You may fall and land awkwardly, something could drop onto you from above, or you may be involved in a car collision. For the majority of cases, immediate treatment must be sought, and either your insurance or that of the responsible party should cover it.
What if it wasn’t the result of an accident?
Insurance for hearing health is a slightly different story when it comes to medical coverage. In some cases, your insurance should provide the funding for treatment whilst in others, it may not even be an option. Either way, if the head trauma was due to an assault or caused by the deliberate actions of another person, then there is no way you should be footing that cost.
Aside from contacting the local police department and having a crime reported, there are other ways to find out the location of the responsible party. Firstly, if the perpetrator is already incarcerated either at the county jail or in one of the United States’ correctional facilities there are lookup tools available for free. You can search via the arrestee’s details, or through an inmate locator that is found at the county jail. From there, it is a matter of passing details on to an attorney to let them carry out an evaluation of incurred costs and blame.
If you don’t know the person’s name, then the best way would be to let the police handle the whole case. That said, if you want to know more on how to find out if someone is in jail, or need to enlist the services of an attorney at law, then check out Gene Colan’s blog for this and more.
Healing and Your Hearing Health
Head injuries will not always be the cause for hearing loss, but there are plenty of occasions where they are linked. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) website does list head injury as a potential cause for hearing loss but also places many other symptoms above this‚Äì‚Äìdemonstrating why having every head injury looked at (even if you think you are wasting healthcare providers’ time) is important.
Hearing loss isn’t always the end of this particular sense either. Recent studies showed that hearing loss following a concussion was likely resulting from damage to the surrounding bone tissue (which then healed) and that the deafness incurred was not often permanent. It may take a few weeks or months, but there is plenty of hope that your hearing will return. If it doesn’t, then you still have the help of audiology services at Hearing Health USA to ease you into this new normal.
