Hearing Loss

Hearing loss can vary from mild to total loss of hearing and occur in one or both ears. It can be caused by many different factors, some of which can be successfully treated with medicine or surgery, depending on the disease. Hearing loss usually comes on gradually but may occasionally develop suddenly.

Overview and Symptoms

Common experiences where you begin to notice changes in your hearing include:

Difficulty hearing on the telephone
Difficulty understanding speech when there is a noisy background
Difficulty following a conversation when two or more people are talking at once
Misunderstanding what other people are saying
Misunderstanding words that sound similar
Asking people to repeat what they said
Difficulty understanding the speech of women and children, which is higher pitched
You have the TV or radio volume too high
Withdrawing from conversations because you have trouble hearing

Causes of hearing loss may include:

Malformation of outer ear, ear canal, or middle ear structures
Fluid in the middle ear from colds
Ear infection
Allergies
Perforated eardrum
Benign tumors
Impacted earwax
Foreign body in the ear
Otosclerosis
Hereditary
Aging
Tumors, disease
Trauma to the head

Depending on the type of hearing loss you have, your doctor may order specific tests. As part of your diagnosis, your doctor may try to determine the following:

Location of the problem
Degree of loss
Cause

Treatment

The goal of treating hearing loss is to improve hearing as much as possible. The kinds of treatment used depend on the type of hearing loss and the underlying cause.

Conductive hearing loss, when hearing loss is due to problems with the ear canal, ear drum, or middle ear and its little bones, can often be corrected by medical or surgical treatment. Most types of sensorineural hearing loss, when hearing loss is due to problems or injuries of the inner ear, are permanent and cannot be corrected medically or surgically, but hearing can be improved with hearing aids and assistive devices.