Treatments

Hearing Loss Treatments

While many types of hearing loss cannot be reversed, most can be corrected with one or more treatment options, including:

• Hearing aids: The proper hearing aid can help re-establish and improve verbal and auditory communication.
• Surgery:
• Tympanostomy tubes: Pressure equalizing tubes help drain chronic middle ear fluid.
• Otosclerosis: A malfunctioning stapes (one of the bones in the middle ear) can be replaced with a functioning prosthetic bone.
• Cochlear implant: People with moderate to severe hearing loss with poor word understanding, especially those for whom hearing aids don’t help, may benefit from cochlear implant surgery.
• Assistive listening devices: Assistive listening devices may include telephone amplifiers, personal FM systems and TV listening devices.
• Diet: Some patients with Meniere disease see relief with a low-sodium diet.
• Medications: Diuretics and corticosteroids can be used to treat Meniere disease and chronic middle ear fluid.
• Speech-reading training: Formal instruction in speech-reading (also known as lip-reading) can help you understand mouth movements to increase your understanding of conversation.