Meningitis and Hearing Loss in Adults

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1. The severity of the auditory nerve damage. Sometimes bacterial meningitis can lead to permanent damage to this nerve. For such case, it may be incurable. Fortunately, most cases of meningitis-related hearing loss are mild, not serious.
2. And whether or not you take the treatment immediately! Appropriate treatments are available to help ease the inflammation and prevent any damage from getting worse. Even some experts say that the first 1-2 days of illness is very important for successful reversion of the problem. Therefore early diagnosis and treatment is critical to gain a better outcome!

In addition, a few meningitis medications can also increase the risk of hearing loss. For example, the use of strong-high-dose antibiotics may be required to treat severe cases of bacterial meningitis. But this option (especially for antibiotics prescribed as ototoxic) can worsen hearing problem.

For more guidance about this issue, talk with your doctor. In general, the risks of taking the medicine should be weighed against the good it will do!

Meningitis hearing loss cochlear implant

If hearing problem is mild or partial, a hearing aid is usually enough to remedy the problem. But if it is severe (more profound), a cochlear implant may be suggested.

Unlike the hearing aid, the cochlear implant is not designed to boost /make sounds louder. It’s a special, artificial small device to help send impulses directly to the auditory nerve in the ear so the brain can receive the sound signals. It is putted in the ear through surgery.

Although it may not be able to restore your hear back to normal again, it can help you understand the sounds more easily. Most people with severe hearing problem find that it can help them understand speech over the phone or in person. In general, it works better than hearing aid if you have profound hearing loss.