If you are having trouble hearing, it’s important to understand what kind of hearing loss you may have. The first step is to have a qualified hearing loss professional give you a medical evaluation. But knowing some basic facts before you head to your appointment will make it easier to understand the diagnosis and relieve any anxiety you may have about the process.
There are two principal kinds of hearing loss — sensorineural, due to damage to the hearing nerves in the inner ear, and conductive hearing loss, when the organs in the middle ear that transmit sound from the ear drum to the inner-ear hearing nerves stop working properly.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
The vast majority of hearing loss is sensorineural hearing loss. It frequently occurs with age, and also with prolonged exposure to loud noise. It is caused by failure of the hearing hair cells in the cochlea in the inner ear to translate the auditory signals that arrive through the middle ear into signals that the cochlear nerve transmits to the auditory cortex region of the brain. Very often this type of hearing loss is permanent and irreversible, and cannot be treated medically or surgically. The good news is that amplification with hearing aids can help enormously, especially for mild or moderate hearing loss.
Conductive Hearing Loss
Conductive hearing loss occurs when the organs in the outer and middle ear stop working properly. Sound waves traveling into the ear are processed by the ear drum and the small “anvil and stirrup” bones in the middle ear (the malleus, incus and stapes, which are the smallest bones in the body). These organs act as conductors of the audio signals to the hearing hair cells in the cochlea, which translate the signals into electrical impulses that the brain recognizes as sound. Conductive losses are often treatable with either medicine or surgery.
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- Click here to find out about causes of hearing loss.
- Click here for information on tinnitus and other noises in your ears.
- Click here to learn about cochlear implants and other surgical solutions.