Types of Hearing Loss and Causes

Types of Hearing Loss

There are a 3 different types of hearing loss: conductive, sensory, mixed (conductive and sensory combined), and neural.

• Conductive hearing loss. This happens when there is a problem with a part of the outer or middle ear. Most kids with conductive hearing loss have a mild hearing loss and it is usually temporary because in most cases medical treatment can help.
• Sensory hearing loss. This happens when the cochlea is not working correctly because the tiny hair cells are damaged or destroyed. Depending on the loss, a kid may be able to hear most sounds (although they would be muffled); may be able to hear in quiet but not in noise; only some sounds; or no sounds at all. Sensory hearing impairment is almost always permanent and a kid’s ability to talk normally may be affected.
• Neural hearing loss. This happens when there is a problem with the connection from the cochlea to the brain. Neural means related to nerve, so neural hearing loss means the nerve that carries the messages from the cochlea to the brain is damaged.

Causes of Hearing Loss:

• Exposure to noise
• Disease
• Infections
• Drugs
• Inherited
• Serious injury
• Ageing
• Prematurity

To check out statistics on the number of people with a hearing loss, go to http://library.gallaudet.edu/Library/Research