Hearing Disorder

Hearing Disorder is a disruption in the normal hearing process that may occur in outer, middle or inner ear, whereby sound waves are not converted to electrical signals and nerve impulses are not transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.

There are two main types of hearing disorder: One happens when our inner ear or auditory nerve is damaged. This type is permanent. The other kind happens when sound waves cannot reach to our inner ear. Earwax build-up, fluid or a punctured eardrum can cause it.

Some possibilities of hearing loss are:

• Heredity


• Diseases such as ear infections and meningitis


• Trauma



• Certain medicines


• Long-term exposure to loud noise


• Aging

There are three types of hearing disorder:

1. Sensor neural: Sensor neural hearing loss is a type of hearing loss (or deafness) which is caused by a problem in the inner ear (sensory) or the nerve pathways to the brain (neural). Damage occurs to tiny hairs within the inner ear which are responsible for transmitting sound waves to the brain.


2. Conductive: This is a type of hearing loss which is caused by a failed transmission of sound waves through the outer ear to the inner ear. It can be caused by excess ear wax, a blockage in the inner ear or fluid discharged as a result of an ear infection. It can also be caused by the presence of a foreign body in the ear (especially in children), colds or sinusitis, adverse reaction to medication or a genetic disorder.



3. Mixed: This is a combination of the other two forms of hearing loss. It can involve damage to the outer, middle and inner ear which can be a result of an accident and injury.

Hearing Devices:

• Assistive listening devices: These devices make certain sounds louder by bringing the sound directly to our ear. Commonly used listening devices include telephone amplifiers, personal listening systems and hearing aids.


• Alerting devices: These devices alert us to a particular sound (such as the doorbell, a ringing telephone, or a baby monitor) by using louder sounds, lights, or vibrations to get our attention.


• Television closed-captioning: Television closed-captioning makes it easier to watch television by showing the words at the bottom of the screen so that we can read them. Most new TVs have a closed-captions option.



• TTY (text telephone): TTYs (also called TDD or telecommunication device for the deaf) allow us to type messages back and forth on the telephone instead of talking or listening. When messages are typed on the TTY keyboard, the information is sent over the phone line to a receiving TTY and shown on a monitor.

Treatment depends on the cause and severity of your hearing loss. For people with sensor neural hearing loss, the condition is permanent. This is because once the sensitive hair cells in the cochlea (the coiled, spiral tube located in the inner ear) are damaged; they cannot be repaired, so they remain damaged for the rest of a person’s life.

Possible treatments include hearing aids, cochlear implants, special training, certain medicines and surgery.