Consanguineous marriage causes congenital hearing loss: Experts
   Date :03-Mar-2025

Consanguineous marriage causes
 
By Vikas Vaidya :
 
The cases of congenital hearing loss are rising. When doctors tried to find out its cause, it came out that the children born to the couples having consanguineous marriages mostly suffer from this issue. The branch of fetal medicine is developing worldover which can help doctors to notice the defect in the foetus itself. Of course, doctors are not very sure whether the problem can be resolved before birth or not. Not everyone is gifted with this basic sense at birth and many others lose it during their lifetime. Over 1.5 billion people around the world live with hearing loss. There are various types hearing loss and congenital is one of those.
 
Dr Kanchan Tadke, Professor at ENT Department, Government Medical College and Hospital revealed, “Congenital deafness is one of the common causes and its occurrance is high in India. About 3-4 out of 1000 newborns are born with deafness. If identified and treated early on, deafness can be prevented.” One study was conducted by GMCH which also revealed that congenital hearing loss is an outcome of consanguineous marriages. ‘The Hitavada’ spoke to Dr Nitin Deosthale, Head of Department, ENT at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital; Dr Kanchan Tadke and ENT Surgeon Dr Harsh Gupta, who unanimously said that there are many reasons behind congenital hearing loss. But the main cause is consanguineous marriages. Consanguineous marriage means the ones held with close relatives like a girl marrying the son of her maternal uncle. Dr Harsh Gupta elaborated, “In various studies, it has been found that the consanguineous marriage can be harmful because it increases the risk of genetic disorders, stillbirths, and infant mortality.
 
When a person marries a close relative, the complexity of his or her genes increase as the gene structure is same. This complication leads to the foetus losing hearing. Whenever I check the patients, I usually find this problem especially in this particular community.” When closely related people have children, they have a higher chance of passing on the same genetic mutation. This can lead to congenital heart disease, renal disease, and rare blood disorders. Dr Tadke pointed out, “In adults, hearing loss has many triggers such as increasing age, prolonged noise exposure, infections such as mumps, rubella, measles, autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and conditions such as diabetes, high BP and heart disease.”
 
Some of the alarming symptoms of hearing loss are difficulty in understanding speech especially in noisy environments, frequently asking others to repeat themselves, turning up the volume of the electronic devices excessively, ringing or buzzing in the ears.
 
Loud sounds at work
Loud sounds at work can damage your hearing. Nowadays, earphones have become a necessity in most workplaces, but people are advised to use these devices wisely. Most phones indicate a safety level in volume. On average, the volume levels of personal listening devices max out at between 105-110 decibels. One can listen to 80 decibels for up to 6 hours a day. If the person next to you can listen to the conversation without earphones, then the volume is likely to be over 80 decibels. When the decibel level increases, the safety hours come down drastically. To make listening safe the following steps can be taken:
- Keep the volume down
- Use ear plugs in noisy surroundings
- Limit time spent or engaged in noisy activities
- Use smart phone apps to monitor sound levels
- Get regular hearing check-ups
Measures to protect your ears:
- Do not insert any object into your ears
- Protect your ears from direct injury or impact
- Safeguard your ears from loud noise such as loud TV, Radio, Walkman, I pod, firecrackers, loud music, DJ, loudspeakers etc
- Do not let water enter your ears    
Avoid cleaning ear with buds
Avoid cleaning your ear with ear buds or cotton swabs. Ear buds can push canal wax deeper and may injure the ear drum or canal skin. Ears have a natural property of self-cleaning. If you have built up wax, discharge from the ears or decreased hearing, consult a doctor immediately. Keeping your ears healthy often comes down to not being exposed to loud sounds without protection. Although ear plugs or other similar options may not fully prevent you from experiencing hearing loss, they can help. When using devices like a tablet, your phone or even television, keep the volume low. It’s important to give your ears break from loud noises especially those that reach 80 decibels or higher. 
‘Universal Hearing Screening Programme should be made mandatory for newborns’
Dr Nandu Kolwadkar, ex-National President of ENT Association, said, “Universal Hearing Screening Programme should be made compulsory for every newborn child. “An instrument called Otoacoustic Emission Testing (OAE) can detect the hearing ability of newborn child. The instrument, after the test, either shows ‘OK’ or ‘Refer’. If it says refer, then a more advanced test also can be conducted. There is a higher test called Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA). BERA tells whether the nerves are conducting sound to the brain or not. It also tells degree of deafness. Even some doctors are unaware about this test. This screening should be made compulsory for the newborn child. Remember, not all the deaf are mutes. They are mute because they are deaf.”