Heard It Through The Grapevine Audiology, PC

What types of hearing loss are there?

There are two main types of hearing loss:

1) CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS occurs when something interferes with a sounds ability to be conducted into the outer ear, down the ear canal, to the ear drum, through the middle ear via the bones or ossicles, and to the cochlea (organ of hearing). Conductive hearing losses can usually be reversed with medical intervention.

Causes of conductive hearing loss include:

• Wax buildup or impaction
• Outer or middle ear infection
• Perforated ear drum
• Absent or malformed outer ear
  
• Middle ear diseases
• Damage to the bones of the middle ear
• Middle ear growth
  

2) SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS occurs when the cause of the hearing loss is in the cochlea, auditory nerve, or in the auditory system of the brain. Sensorineural hearing losses are considered to be permanent hearing losses and are generally treated with amplification.

Causes of sensorineural hearing loss include:

• Hair cell damage in the cochlea due to the effects from aging
  
• Noise exposure
• Ototoxic drug exposure
• Tumors
• Autoimmune diseases
• Multiple sclerosis
• Diabetes
• Auditory neuropathy