Types of Hearing Loss

Our auditory systems can endure three types of hearing loss: sensorineural, conductive or mixed. Each one can develop at any age, can have a number of different causes and varying degrees of severity.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Sensorineural is the most common type of hearing loss, occuring when the inner ear or hearing nerve is damaged and sound is no longer processed normally. It can be caused by aging, noise exposure, head trauma, disease, genetics or medications. Fewer than 10 percent of sensorineural hearing loss cases are treatable. This is almost always a permanent loss. However, hearing aids can provide significant benefit.

Conductive Hearing Loss
This type of hearing loss occurs in the middle or outer ear when sound waves are blocked from reaching the inner ear. Children with recurrent ear infections or foreign objects in the ear canal commonly experience this type of hearing loss. Other causes include a block of earwax, fluid or infection in the middle ear or an injured eardrum. Many of these causes can be remedied, which means that conductive hearing loss is often temporary and can be resolved with medical attention or surgery. Hearing aids can help conductive hearing loss, too.

Mixed Hearing Loss
Sometimes, you can experience some conductive hearing loss and some sensorineural hearing loss at the same time with damage occurring in both the inner ear and the outer or middle ear. In this case some of the hearing loss may be treatable, while some may be permanent. Again, hearing aids can provide help.