Contributed by -Healthians Team
If you often find people around you mumbling and speaking softly or if it’s difficult for you to understand what they are saying unless they look at you directly while speaking then you probably have hearing problems. If you have had these problems for a while now, you probably know that they can influence how you function in your daily life. To be able to control the effects of hearing loss on your life and to seek early treatment, it’s important that you do not shy away from your condition. The first step you can take is to understand the possible types and causes of hearing loss and what their commonly reported symptoms are.
Types of hearing loss
There are three types of hearing loss – sensorineural hearing loss, conductive hearing loss, and mixed hearing loss.
Sensorineural hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss. It is a permanent loss of the ability to hear due to the damage to either the tiny hair-like cells of the inner ear or to the auditory nerve which is responsible for the transfer of nerve signals to the brain. This type of hearing loss can be genetic or due to an infection passed from the mother to the fetus inside the womb. Or, it may develop later in life as a part of aging or due to exposure to loud noises. These are also often considered as the common causes of sensorineural hearing loss. Other not-so-common causes include –
- Heart diseases
- Diabetes
- Infections like mumps
- Meniere’s disease
- Side effects of medications
- Cancerous growths in the inner ear
- Damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve due to traumatic injuries
- Autoimmune diseases
Symptoms of sensorineural hearing loss
In this case, both the loudness and clarity of sound get affected. Most people experience high-frequency hearing loss which may result in the following symptoms:
- Others speech may seem mumbled
- Feeling that you can hear but not understand
- Difficulty following a conversation when two or more people are speaking at the same time
- Consistent ringing in the ears
- Problems listening in noisy environments
- Difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds, including voices of women and children
- Feeling dizzy
Conductive hearing loss
This type of hearing loss occurs due to some kind of obstruction or damage to the outer ear or middle ear which prevents sound from being conducted to the inner ear. Conductive hearing loss may be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause. These causes can be differentiated by which part of the ear is affected –
Outer ear:
- Narrowing of the ear canal
- Wax buildup
- Exostoses
- Obstructions caused by foreign bodies inserted into the ear
- Microtia
Inner ear:
- Breach in the eardrum due to injury, ear infections, or rapid air pressure changes
- Thickening of the eardrum
- Blockage in the tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose and throat
- Abnormal growths and tumors that form within the middle ear
Symptoms of conductive hearing loss
Here, since the inner ear and auditory nerve are intact, the overall difficulty with hearing could be with the loudness of sounds and not the clarity. Usually, turning up the volume is all it takes to deal with it. The symptoms that come with this type of hearing loss are:
- Easier to hear with one ear
- Pain in one or both ears
- Sensation of pressure in one or both ears
- Trouble having conversations over the phone
- Foul odor from the ear canal
- Feeling that your own voice is louder or different
Mixed hearing loss
A combination of sensorineural hearing loss and conductive hearing loss results in mixed hearing loss. It mostly occurs when the ear sustains some sort of trauma. Or, it can gradually develop when one hearing loss issue is compounded by another. For example, those with age-related hearing loss may have temporary mixed hearing loss due to wax impaction. The symptoms of mixed hearing loss are also a combination of the above-stated symptoms of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss.
It’s always best to understand your condition before doing anything about it. Therefore, if you are experiencing any of the above-mentioned symptoms, then consult with a doctor as soon as possible to know your causes of hearing loss and get a correct diagnosis. Based on that, you can decide your further steps.
