Types of hearing loss
Audiologist and Speech Pathologist
There are three basic types of hearing loss
- Conductive hearing loss
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- Mixed hearing loss
Conductive Hearing Loss (CHL)
A conductive hearing loss happens when sounds cannot pass through the outer and middle ear. This can happen due to multiple reasons like earwax, infection, fluid buildup, rupture/hole in eardrum, damage to bones (ossicles), tumors etc. A person with conductive loss has multiple options for treatment(like medication, surgery etc).
Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL)
This is the most common type of hearing loss and happens due to damage in cochlea or due to damage in nerve pathways which conducts sound signals to brain. SNHL can happen due to multiple reasons like aging, medications, head injury, exposture to loud noise etc. Most of the time, SNHL cannot be fixed by medicine or surgery. Hearing aids are recommended to improve hearing.
Mixed Hearing Loss
In some cases, a person may be affected by both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss at the same time.