Website: www.NardelliAudiologist.com Blog: www.Hearing-Aids-Bridgeport=WV.com

Website: (304) 933-4329 111 Steele Street Bridgeport, West Virginia 26330

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Why Do I Have Hearing Loss?

The cause of your hearing loss is individual

to your situation. There are multiple issues

that produce impaired hearing sensitivity.

Sometimes those causes are easily

determined, while others are based on

presumption and may remain vague and

indistinct. Predominantly, hearing

impairment is caused by the following (in

no particular order): aging, middle ear infections, excessive

noise exposure, head trauma, ear injury, congenital

defects, genetic disorders, or pharmaceutical means

(ototoxic medications or treatments). There are three main types

of hearing impairment: conductive, sensorineural, and mixed

loss. Each type of loss has multiple causes.

Conductive hearing impairment is due to disorder,

dysfunction, or malformation of the outer ear, middle ear, or

combination of the two. Congenital malformations of the external

ear causing a lack of full formation of the auricle/pinna and/or ear

canal may cause this type of impairment.

Perforations or holes in the ear drum from disease or trauma are

also known causes. Very commonly, middle ear infections (otitis

media) cause conductive impairments. Impaired or broken

connections of the middle ear bones due to trauma will also cause

a conductive loss of hearing. Most conductive impairments can be

treated medically and improved upon.

Website: www.NardelliAudiologist.com Blog: www.Hearing-Aids-Bridgeport=WV.com

Website: (304) 933-4329 111 Steele Street Bridgeport, West Virginia 26330

Call Us

304-933-4329

Sensorineural hearing impairment is due to disorder,

dysfunction, lesion, or malformation of the inner ear or auditory

nerve, or a combination of the two. Congenital and genetic

disorders may cause a sensorineural hearing loss. Maternal

infections during pregnancy (e.g., herpes, toxoplasmosis,

bacterial infections) may result in sensorineural impairment for

the child.

Sensory hearing impairment is often the result of typical aging

processes (presbycusis), excessive noise exposure,

pharmaceutical intervention (ototoxic medications or treatments),

vascular diseases and disorders, and head trauma. Other causes

may include kidney disease and acquired infections (e.g.,

meningitis, labyrinthitis, influenza, and mumps).

Meniere’s disease is a disease of the inner ear, typically

presenting dizziness, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), and

progressive sensorineural hearing loss as its main symptoms. The

loss may be centered only in the area of the auditory nerve. This

impairment is often call neural loss or nerve deafness, and is

typically due to tumors (e.g., acoustic neuroma) on or near the

hearing and balance nerve.

Mixed hearing impairment is a combination of conductive and

sensorineural components. Causes may be a mixture of any of

the sources of loss from the outer/middle ear and inner

ear/auditory (hearing) nerve. Rehabilitation for mixed losses may

combine therapies used for both types of hearing loss.