Hearing loss is a common condition—it’s estimated that almost 30 million Americans have hearing loss that would be helped with hearing aids—but there are different varieties and nuances that make it unique for every individual. Broadly speaking, we can sort hearing loss into three different types, and into smaller subtypes after that.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
The first big type of hearing loss is sensorineural hearing loss. This is also the most common type. Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when there is a problem with the inner ear, the home of the main hearing organ and the connection to the nerve pathways that transmit information to the brain.
Subtypes and Causes of Sensorineural Hearing Loss
There are two major subtypes of sensorineural hearing loss, which together account for the vast majority of hearing loss cases.
- Presbycusis. Presbycusis is the medical term for age-related hearing loss, and it’s considered a subtype of sensorineural hearing loss. It occurs when the cells in the inner ear naturally wither away with age.
- Noise-induced hearing loss. As the name suggests, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) results from hearing damage following exposure to loud noise. This can happen after a single exposure to a very loud sound (e.g., an explosion or rock concert), but it can also happen if you’re exposed for prolonged periods to elevated sound levels that don’t necessarily seem “too loud” at first (e.g., headphones at max volume, traffic).
Here are some other things that can cause sensorineural hearing loss but aren’t large enough to be named subtypes.
- Ototoxic (literally, “poisonous to the ear”) medications
- Cardiovascular conditions, such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes
- Some autoimmune disorders
- Some viruses
- Inner ear disorders, such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) or Ménière’s disease
- Head or neck injury or trauma
Conductive Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss results from issues in the inner ear; conductive hearing loss results from issues in the outer or middle ear. These areas are comprised of the pinna (the outer “shell” part of your ear), the ear canal, the eardrum, the ossicles bones (the tiniest bones in your body, which conduct sound waves into the inner ear) and the small chamber in which the ossicles reside.
Causes of Conductive Hearing Loss
Conductive hearing loss is almost always structural in nature, involving damage, deformity or blockage of the outer or middle ear. Here are some things that can cause conductive hearing loss:
- Foreign object stuck in the ear
- Compacted earwax
- Perforated eardrum
- Ear infection
- Allergies
- Eustachian tube dysfunction
- Growths such as cysts and tumors (both benign and malignant)
Mixed Hearing Loss
This is a combination of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. Mixed hearing loss can occur for a variety of reasons: a patient may wear hearing aids to treat presbycusis and develop conductive hearing loss due to earwax buildup behind their devices, or an ototoxic drug taken to treat a virus may cause conductive hearing loss that later progresses to sensorineural hearing loss.
How to Know Which Type of Hearing Loss You Have
The best way to determine which type of hearing loss you’re experiencing is to take a comprehensive hearing test with an audiologist. Using different types of tests, particularly pure-tone testing and bone conduction testing, an audiologist can identify the cause and type of your hearing loss and prescribe the best treatment for that type.
Clarity is invaluable when it comes to health conditions like hearing loss. Don’t guess at the cause and get the treatment best suited for your needs. Call Heuser Hearing Institute to schedule a hearing test and discover which type of hearing loss you’re experiencing and how we can help.