Common Causes of Hearing Loss
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Hearing impairment or loss of hearing mainly falls into one of two main categories, which is either conductive hearing loss or sensorineural. However hearing loss can be a mixture of
these two. All of them are related to how much or to what degree
the ear can conduct sound.
As the name suggests, conductive hearing loss refers to the ability or non ability of the outer ear to conduct sound via the ear canal to the middle ear. This condition can often be temporary, for example as a result of a build up of wax in the ear or because the ear has become infected and inflamed. With this condition the experience of poorer quality hearing comes about in several ways. It could be related to having fluid in the ear, an allergy, or being ‘blocked up’ with a nasty cold. It could also be because something got stuck in the ear and caused a fracture of some sort or perforated the actual eardrum. Or the problem could arise as the result of a tumor in that area.
In most cases you will find that this kind of hearing loss is treatable or can even clear up by itself. whatever symptoms you may be experiencing, it is advisable to make sure you check it out with a doctor before proceeding with any kind of treatment.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss then the condition is a little more serious than the case above. ‘Neural’ is to do with nerves and the nerve pathways from the ear to the
brain and ‘sensori’ refers to the way the nerve sensors work, or not, as the case may be.
If the sensitive area of the auditory nerve and cochlea are subject to damage, unlike the more easily treatable outer and middle part of the ear, permanent hearing loss will ensue ,. Although it may not be a total hearing loss, and some degree of hearing remains, it is usually severely impaired which can make it very difficult to make out what anyone is saying even if they are standing close to you.
Sometimes this can happen very early in life, as in cases of injury at birth or it may be genetic or occur later as a side effect of certain drugs like the antibiotic streptomycin or high doses of aspirin. This kind of hearing loss is known as ototoxic hearing loss. Some other causes of hearing loss include the disease, otosclerosis, the development of an acoustic neuroma (tumor on the acoustic nerve) and as a seide effect of viral meningitis. Noise induced hearing loss comes as a direct result of being exposed to high levels of noise, usually over a prolonged period of time, which increases the wear and tear on the sensitive hair cells of the cochlea.
Presbycusis is the term used to describe hearing loss that occurs naturally with aging where the ear doesn’t perform as efficiently due to gradual wear and tear.Mixed hearing loss is the result of damage to both the outer or middle ear and to the inner ear cochlea or auditory nerve at the same time.
The degree of hearing loss suffered is usually calculated by testing and matching to a threshold scale of decibels, with mild hearing loss typified at around 25-40 decibels, which is the threshold at which sound starts to be recognised, and profound hearing loss typified at over 90 decibels.
More tips, advice and information about all types of hearing loss, symptoms, causes and treatment is available at www.conductivehearinglossandtreatments.com
