Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Also referred to as nerve loss. This type of hearing loss involves damage to the tiny hair cells in the cochlea or damage along the hearing nerve to the brain. There typically is no surgery to improve this type of hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by age, noise exposure, genetics/family history of hearing loss, ototoxic medications, and other causes. The most common course of treatment for this type of hearing loss is hearing aids.

Conductive Hearing Loss
This type of hearing loss involves a problem with the outer or middle ear, with the inner ear working normally. Conductive hearing losses include middle ear infections and/or fluid in the middle ear, holes in the ear drum, impacted ear wax (also called cerumen) and other blockages of the ear canal. Often, this type of loss can be corrected with medications and/or surgery. However, there are times when the only treatment is hearing aids.

Mixed Hearing Loss
This type of hearing loss includes characteristics of both sensorineural and conductive hearing losses. If the conductive portion of the hearing loss can be corrected, then the medical or surgical course of treatment is tried first. Then, if hearing aids can improve communication for the sensorineural hearing loss, they are tried after the medical or surgical treatment of the conductive component. If it is determined that there is no medical or surgical treatment for the conductive portion, then hearing aids are recommended if appropriate.

Tinnitus

Tinnitus is what is commonly known as “ringing in the ears” – it is defined as the perception of sound in the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound(s).

Some people describe tinnitus as :
- high pitch whining
- crickets
- chirping
- eggs frying
- sizzling
- beeping or buzzing

This can be perceived in one ear, or in both ears, or sometimes in the “middle of the head”. Tinnitus is not in an of itself a “disease” but rather a symptom of some underlying pathology in the ear. It can also be associated with certain medications.

It is very hard to “measure” tinnitus because it is a subjective phenomenon, however if you expericene tinnitus, you should consult one of Ear-Nose-Throat physicians or audiologists in order to appropriately evaluate your symptoms.

For more information, click on the following link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tinnitus.html

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How We Hear
(Courtesy of www.mayoclinic.org)

Sound waves are collected by the outer ear and channeled along the ear canal to the eardrum. The impact of sound hitting the eardrum creates vibrations that cause three bones in the middle ear -- the malleus, incus, and stapes (hammer, anvil and stirrup) -- to move. The smallest, the stapes, fits into the oval window between the middle and inner ear. When the oval window vibrates, fluid in the inner ear transmits the vibrations into the hearing organ, called the cochlea.

In the inner ear, thousands of microscopic hair cells are bent by the wavelike action of fluid inside the cochlea. The bending of these hairs sets off nerve impulses that are then passed through the auditory nerve to the hearing center of the brain. This center translates the impulses into sounds the brain can recognize.

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