1.What is deafness? Hearing impairment can be caused by any structural or functional disorder in the transmitting, sensing or analyzing parts of the human auditory system, and WHO classifies hearing impairment into four categories: mild, moderate, severe and profound. Those with an average hearing threshold greater than or equal to 81dB are considered to have extremely severe hearing impairment, also known as deafness. 2.The classification of deafness can be divided into conduction deafness, sensorineural deafness and mixed deafness according to the site of lesion; congenital deafness and acquired deafness according to the time of onset; prelingual deafness and postlingual deafness according to the degree of language function development. 3.Does senile deafness need treatment? Age-related deafness is a progressive sensorineural hearing loss due to aging. The main problem for most people with age-related deafness is that they cannot hear clearly, and it gets progressively worse. The elderly need to pay attention to their hearing, and after discovering hearing problems, they should be examined and treated in a timely manner. 4.How to protect hearing in daily life? (1) Avoid all kinds of noise. Long-term exposure to noise can cause permanent sensorineural deafness. Listen to music with headphones at no more than 60% of the maximum volume, and do not listen for more than one hour continuously. It is best not to use them in noisy places such as buses or streets, and do not listen to them when you sleep, as the damage to the cochlea will be more obvious after you fall asleep. (2) Avoid digging your ears. Don’t dig your ears with unclean sticks or hairpins to prevent damage to the tympanic membrane deep in the ear canal, which can cause traumatic tympanic membrane perforation and purulent otitis media, resulting in varying degrees of hearing loss. (3) Avoid the use of ototoxic drugs. Such as streptomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, quinine and its derivatives, etc., to avoid drug toxic deafness. These drugs should be prohibited in infants and young children. (4) Avoid the influence of high air pressure around the ear. For example, when participating in sports such as swimming and diving, be careful not to let your ears touch the water first; when you encounter firecrackers, you should be 3 meters away from the scene or cover your ears with your hands; you should not hit people’s ears with your palms. (5) Actively treat colds. The cold can affect the degree of ventilation of the eustachian tube (the tube from the pharynx to the middle ear cavity). In addition, if you blow your nose improperly, the germs in your nose will accidentally enter the middle ear cavity, which can easily cause septic infection in the middle ear and affect your hearing.