What is sensorineural hearing loss?

Humans use their ears to hear all kinds of sounds in the world. Deafness is a general term for the inability to hear any sound due to ear diseases. There are many causes of deafness, both congenital and acquired. One of them is called sensorineural deafness. So what is sensorineural deafness? Sensorineural hearing loss is an ear disease. According to traditional Chinese medicine, it may be caused by phlegm and dampness obstruction, blood stasis, and drug toxicity. Let’s understand the specific cause of the disease.

Sensorineural hearing loss refers to a disease of hearing impairment or hearing loss. It is mostly caused by lesions of the cochlea, auditory nerve and auditory center due to congenital or acquired reasons, which make the inner ear unable to perceive sound waves transmitted to it. Especially for those who suffer from sudden deafness, the disease progresses rapidly and can lead to complete deafness within a moment. The lesions are often irreversible.

1. Causes

According to the relevant discussions of ancient and modern doctors, the following is a summary:

The six external evils, such as wind, fire, dampness and dryness, which are not normal in the weather, can invade the human body and cause deafness. The ear is a clear orifice and the place where the main meridian is attached. If the wind evil attacks it, it will enter the ear meridian and cause the meridian qi to be blocked and not circulated, leading to "wind deafness". In addition, the ear is connected to the hand Taiyin lung meridian, and "the lung controls qi, and the qi of the whole body passes through the ear, so it can hear sounds". If the lung defense is blocked, the lung fails to circulate and clear, the airway will be stagnant, and the clear qi will be blocked, causing deafness.

The liver is a strong wood organ, responsible for regulating emotions. The foot Shaoyang meridian goes up to the ear. If it is caused by depression and anger, the qi mechanism is blocked and the ear orifice is blocked, or if the body is hyperactive yang, the prisoner is imprisoned and angry, the liver yang turns into fire, or the liver qi is depressed for a long time and turns into heat, the cold qi fights, the wind and fire fan into each other, and go up along the meridian to the ear canal, the clear orifice is disturbed and causes this disease.

1. Obstruction of phlegm and dampness. If one is obese by nature and eats too much sorghum, the middle earth will be damaged, the spleen will not function properly, water and dampness will spread inside the body, the clear yang will not rise, and the turbid yin will not fall. The water and dampness will accumulate and condense into phlegm, which will go up and block the orifices, causing hearing loss.

Deficiency of both spleen and kidney: The spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation, and produces essence. If the spleen is damaged by overwork, the production of qi and blood will be deficient, and the ear orifice will become dry. The external orifice of the kidney is the ear. If the kidney qi is abundant and the essence is full, the ear can hear the five tones and have a sharp hearing. If the endowment is insufficient, or excessive sexual intercourse damages the kidney essence, the essence will escape from the kidney and become exhausted, making it difficult to irrigate the ear orifice, resulting in deafness.

2. Stagnation of Qi and Blood The ear is the gathering place of the twelve meridians. If it is delayed by external evil, or caused by Qi stagnation, Qi deficiency, or falls and injuries, it can lead to blood stasis. Once blood stasis is formed, it blocks the ear canal and makes it difficult for Qi to flow to the ear. Because the blood stasis is not removed, new blood is difficult to produce, resulting in blood deficiency and essence deficiency, the ear loses moisture and eventually deafness.

3. Drug toxicity: The use of certain drugs can also cause drug-induced deafness. This is because the body is weak and cannot withstand the toxicity of the drugs, so the evil drugs accumulate in the internal organs and meridians. The evil drugs are congested and go up the meridians to disturb the ear meridians, consuming qi and damaging body fluids, resulting in emptiness of the clear orifices and causing deafness.