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Hearing Loss

There are many types and causes of hearing loss, some of them minor enough to be easily cured with hearing aids. One type is called conductive hearing impairment and is caused by obstructions between the inner and outer ear. Generally the quality of sound is good, there is just not enough. This type can usually be cured with the right hearing aid.

Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by insensitivity in the inner ear or impairment of the auditory nervous system. It can be severe enough to cause deafness, but is more commonly has mild to moderate symptoms. The most common form of this is caused by abnormalities to the hairs inside the ear. These hairs vibrate as sound passes them and translate into messages that can be understood in the brain. Often there is enough sound, it is just indiscernible, speech cannot be understood.

Exposure to loud noises is one of the leading causes of hearing loss. Freeways, music concerts, guns, car stereos, even hair dryers create enough sound to cause hearing damage over the long term. Other causes are genetics, hearing loss can be inherited from both dominant and recessive genes, of which there are many that can cause hearing impairments. Disease, physical trauma or illness can also cause it, as well as some medications.

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