Genes and Hearing Loss

I have been communicating to my patients that there are many reasons our hearing can degrade and often it is hard to determine exactly why hearing loss has occured. In most situations patients have a number of factors that can contribute to hearing loss including noise exposure, medications that are ototoxic (you won't find that information on the label), certain illnesses or diseases and genetic predisposition. Genetic predisposition means that your body is programmed (genetically) to do something at a a certain time. Lossing your hearing is one of those programmed responses.

I learned about this during my many years in college (8 years by the time I finished my doctorate) but today when I browsed the internet I learned even more about genetic predisposition to hearing loss. I want to share an exciting article with my readers. Please go to Las Angeles Times and read the article "Gene influencing age-related hearing loss" and learn about an amazing discovery that will help us understand genes and hearing loss even more.

Also, while surfing the internet... check out the best careers in 2009 (Audiology made the list).
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-careers/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-audiologist.html

This blog posted by Suzanne Yoder, Au.D. Doctor of Audiology and owner of HearWell Center. Please visit our website for more information http://www.hearwellcenter.com/