Types of hearing loss

• July 15, 2020
• Tony Guo
• no comments

Types of hearing loss

• Conductive hearing loss 
  • Sound transmission to inner ear impaired
    • Patients actually hear better in noisy environments
    • Patient often speaks softly
    • Identify and treat cause
    • Suggest hearing aid
  • Caused by 
    • Otitis media with effusion
    • Impacted cerumen
    • Perforation of TM
    • Otosclerosis
    • Narrowing of the external auditory canal
• Sensorineural hearing loss  
  • Results in ability to hear sound but  inability to understand speech
    • Can lead to misunderstanding by others 
    • Hearing aids make sounds louder but not clearer
  • Caused by
    • Impairment of the inner ear
    • Vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII) damage
    • Congenital and hereditary factors
    • Noise trauma
    • Aging (presbycusis)
    • Meniere’s disease
  • Ototoxic drugs
    • Aspirin
    • NSAIDs
    • Antibiotics
    • Loop diuretics
    • Chemotherapy drugs
• Mixed hearing loss
  • Central and functional hearing loss

• • • Deafness in other family members often present
    • Can be psychologically or emotionally related
• Sudden hearing loss
  • Sudden deafness
    • Unexplained, rapid loss of hearing
    • Usually affects just one ear
    • Medical emergency
• Tinnitus
  • Perception of noise without an actual source of sound
  • “Ringing in the ears”
  • May be first symptom of hearing loss
    • Most commonly caused by noise
    • More than 200 drugs cause tinnitus