Many people find that they develop hearing loss as they go through the aging process. Mild hearing loss can be helped with a hearing aid, but complete deafness is a disorder which cannot be reversed. The only way to prevent hearing loss is to keep it from occurring. The most common type of hearing loss is called presbycusis, and is the natural hearing loss that individuals experience during the aging process. This hearing loss is caused by the damage to your ears through the loud noises you have heard throughout your life. The sound waves from these noises damage the cochlea, which is part of your inner ear. There can be other causes of hearing loss as well. Some people are genetically programmed to have some hearing loss as they age. Deafness can be a genetic disorder as well. Earwax blocking the ear canal can cause temporary hearing loss. But hearing loss caused by damage to the ear is not reversible, and the only way to treat this type of hearing loss is to work with by using devices that allow you to continue hearing. Some people are at higher risk than others for hearing loss. If your job or lifestyle puts you around loud noises frequently, you will likely have damage to your ear as a result. The best way to prevent this is to wear earplugs whenever possible. Everyone has damage to their ears as they age. This is normal, and hearing loss can be expected through the aging process. Some medications can damage the ears and lead to hearing loss as well, and sometimes this hearing loss is temporary. Deafness can be caused by some sicknesses as well, particularly those accompanied by a high fever. If you think you have hearing loss, you will need to see an audiologist, or ear doctor. Hearing tests are administered through earphones that direct sounds, usually a tone or beep, into one ear at a time. These tones are presented at a wide range of pitches and decibels, and the tones that you hear and do not hear will determine whether or not you have any hearing loss. If you do have hearing loss, the most common course of treatment is to get a hearing aid. Hearing aids make sounds louder so that you can hear them easier. Hearing aids have microphones in them that gather the sounds that you are not hearing. These sounds are then fed into a tiny amplifier to make them louder, and then into an earpiece that delivers the amplified sounds directly into your ear. Nowadays, digital hearing aids are common, and hearing aids are getting tinier and tinier. It will take you a while to get used to a hearing aid, because the sounds do not sound quite like they do in real life, but the benefit of having your hearing back is worth the time it takes to adjust to the device!