NAAPOPYE Uulenga (21), a Grade 12 pupil at Cosmos High School, says being born deaf is hardly a tragedy, it is just different.“In many ways, being born deaf is quite normal and in other ways it is not.”
Deafness is caused by many different events, including injury, disease and genetic defects. One of the most common causes of deafness is exposure to loud noises. A deaf person may have mild to profound hearing loss.
Temporary deafness has many causes, including wax in the ear, drugs or an infection. Tinnitus (ringing in the ear) may occur on its own, or in conjunction with hearing loss. This is according to the Better Health Channel.
Better Health Channel further states that deafness at birth is known as congenital deafness, while deafness that occurs after birth is called adventitious deafness.
Uulenga says the doctor told his mother just after he was born that he will never hear.
“But I will say I grew up ‘normal’. I played soccer with my peers, I went to a ‘normal’ school from pre-school till now that I am in Grade 12. Although I had an interpreter trailing me for my entire educational career, I really don’t feel left out.
On the contrary I teach most of my classmates the basics of sign language,” Uulenga said.
David Jafet (20) told The Namibian this week that he was not born deaf but when he was 14 years old his friend pushed him from a swing and he fell hard on his head.
“I was born with my hearing and after that fateful day when I fell from the swing I woke up in hospital without hearing anything. All these years I was hoping to get my hearing back but the doctors told me that I will not be able to hear again. Although I do hear a little through my left ear, sometimes the hearing just goes,” Jafet says.
Jafet says there has been up and downs in his life, but the support he receives from the Namibian National Association of the Deaf, his teachers at school and his family at large, has helped him pull through.
Both say they are not completely cut off when there is no interpreter around because they can read body language and lips.
According to the Namibian National Association of the Deaf there are 27 000 or more deaf people in Namibia.
The ear is made up of three different parts, including the outer ear which is the visible part. Its shape helps to collect sound waves. A tube leads inward to the eardrum. The middle ear is separated from the outer ear by the eardrum.
The middle ear contains three tiny bones called the malleus (hammer bone), the incus (anvil bone) and the stapes (stirrup bone).
These bones amplify the movement of the eardrum produced by sound waves. The Eustachian tube attaches the middle ear to the back of the throat and helps to equalise air pressure. Inner ear sound waves are picked up by a little spiral-shaped organ called the cochlear. Hairs on the cochlear sense the vibration and pass the message – interpreted into electrical impulses – onto the brain via the cochlear nerve.
– some types of deafness are hereditary, which means parents pass on flawed genes to their children.
In most cases, hereditary deafness is caused by malformations of the inner ear.
– genetic mutations may happen: for example, at the moment of conception when the sperm joins the ovum (mother’s egg). Some of the many genetic disorders that can cause deafness include osteogenesis imperfecta, Trisomy 13 S and multiple lentigines syndrome.
– a baby will be born deaf or with hearing problems if they are exposed to certain diseases in utero, including rubella (German measles), influenza and mumps. Other factors that can cause congenital deafness include exposure to methyl mercury and drugs such as quinine.
– loud noises (such as gun shots, firecrackers, explosions and rock concerts), particularly prolonged exposure either in the workplace or recreationally, can damage the delicate mechanisms inside the ear.
If you are standing next to someone, yet have to shout to be heard, you can be sure that the noise is loud enough to damage your ears. You can protect your hearing by reducing your exposure to loud noise or wearing suitable protection such as ear muffs or ear plugs.
– such as perforation of the eardrum, fractured skull or changes in air pressure (barotrauma).
– certain diseases can cause deafness, including meningitis, mumps, cytomegalovirus and chicken pox.
A severe case of jaundice is also known to cause deafness.
Other causes of deafness include Meniere’s disease and exposure to certain chemicals.
– the ear canal secretes cerumen, a waxy substance that helps to protect and lubricate the tissues. A build-up of wax can block the ear canal, leading to short-term conductive deafness.
– similarly to ear wax, a foreign object stuck inside the ear canal (such as the tip of a cotton bud) can temporarily cause hearing loss.
– the common cold, a bout of flu, hay fever or other allergies can cause an excess of mucus that may block the Eustachian tubes of the ear.
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