For people with hearing loss even simple conversations can be tiring. Trying to follow a conversation in competing speech and/or noise can often be impossible and thus, requires intense listening effort. Active communication is difficult and must be relearned to be a successful hearing aid wearer, if you can’t keep up or choose not to wear hearing aids then it can which can quickly lead to isolation.
Hearing loss has many causes, but in most cases, can be addressed successfully. There are three common ways to manage hearing loss, these include medical, surgical or audiological management.
The most common cause of hearing loss in the outer ear is compacted ear wax, foreign bodies (insects, beads, peas, sand), and outer ear infections. Usually, addressing these problems is very easy but it’s important to act quickly in order to avoid long term hearing or structural damage.
Inflammation, middle ear infections, perforations of the eardrum, cholesteatoma, and otosclerosis (a stiffening of the bones in the middle ear) are the most common causes of hearing loss in the middle ear. Middle ear hearing loss causes the transfer of sound through to the inner ear to be compromised. Most outer ear and middle ear hearing problems are transient and can be addressed either medically or surgically, however, this isn’t always possible, consequently conductive hearing loss can be compensated with a well fitted hearing aids or BAHA implants behind the ear.
The majority of hearing loss issues we treat are directly related to damage to the inner ear (inner and outer hair cell function of the cochlear). The most common cause of inner ear (nerve) hearing loss is presbycusis (aging hearing loss) followed closely by noise induced hearing loss.
There are many other causes of inner ear hearing loss; genetics, ototoxic medication, sudden sensori-neural hearing loss, skull fractures, and Meniere’s disease just to name a few. All have a negative impact on a person's hearing ability. These influences can significantly damage the inner and outer hear cell function including the structures of the inner ear, thus significantly affecting the transmission of speech to the auditory cortex of the brain.
It’s unlikely that inner ear hearing loss can be addressed medically. This type of hearing loss is most commonly treated with a well fitted hearing aids or cochlear implants. It is also possible for both middle and inner ear hearing loss to occur together, this type of hearing loss is called a mixed hearing loss. A mixed hearing loss requires a more complex audiological management strategy.