Ear Disorders—Birth Defects

A birth defect is a problem that happens while a baby is developing in the mother’s body. Most birth defects happen during the first 3 months of pregnancy. One out of every 33 babies in the United States is born with a birth defect.

A birth defect may affect how the body looks, works or both. Some birth defects like cleft lip or neural tube defects are structural problems that can be easy to see. To find others, like heart defects, doctors use special tests. Birth defects can range from mild to severe. Causes can include

• Genetics
• Exposures to medicines or chemicals. For example, alcohol abuse can cause fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Infections during pregnancy
• Certain medicines. Before you get pregnant, talk to your health care provider about any medicines you take.
• Not getting enough of certain nutrients. For example, not getting enough folic acid before and during pregnancy is a key factor in causing neural tube defects.

For most birth defects, the cause is unknown.

Health care providers can diagnose certain birth defects during pregnancy, with prenatal tests. That’s why it important to get regular prenatal care. Other birth defects may not be found until after the baby is born. Sometimes the defect is obvious right away. Other times, the health care provider may not discover it until later in life.

Babies with birth defects often need special care and treatments. The treatments may include surgery, medicines, assistive devices, and therapies.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Intersex (Medical Encyclopedia)

Your ear has three main parts: outer, middle and inner. You use all of them in hearing. Sound waves come in through your outer ear. They reach your middle ear, where they make your eardrum vibrate. The vibrations are transmitted through three tiny bones, called ossicles, in your middle ear. The vibrations travel to your inner ear, a snail-shaped organ. The inner ear makes the nerve impulses that are sent to the brain. Your brain recognizes them as sounds. The inner ear also controls balance.

A variety of conditions may affect your hearing or balance:

• Ear infections are the most common illness in infants and young children.
• Tinnitus, a roaring in your ears, can be the result of loud noises, medicines or a variety of other causes.
• Meniere’s disease may be the result of fluid problems in your inner ear; its symptoms include tinnitus and dizziness.
• Ear barotrauma is an injury to your ear because of changes in barometric (air) or water pressure.

Some ear disorders can result in hearing disorders and deafness.

• Aural polyps (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Benign ear cyst or tumor (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ear discharge (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ear emergencies (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ear examination (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Earache (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Eardrum repair (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Otosclerosis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ruptured eardrum (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tympanometry (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Wax blockage (Medical Encyclopedia)