What is Hearing Loss?

Do you experience difficulty hearing someone talking in a noisy room? Do you have to ask people to repeat themselves often? If yes, you may be experiencing some form of hearing loss.

Some hearing loss can be corrected through medical and/or surgical means, however, most are helped with properly selected hearing aids. A comprehensive hearing evaluation will determine if you have a conductive, sensorineural or a mixed loss (a combination of the two). This evaluation will also assess the degree or amount of loss in each ear ranging from normal to profound.

Types of Hearing Loss

Conductive Hearing Loss

The most common causes are:

• Simple wax build-up in the ear canal
• A hole in the eardrum
• A change in the normal vibrating action of the small sound transmission
• Bones on the other side of the eardrum.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

The most common causes are:

• Exposure to loud noises over an extended period of time
• General aging of the ear
• Infection or disease
• A combination of any or all of these

More comprehensive information about these forms of hearing loss and others can be found on our HearUSA website.