People generally start losing their sense of hearing due to old age, disease, accumulated noise, and heredity. Hearing loss can cause embarrassment and frustration in some people because they can’t hear others. They may be regarded as being uncooperative or confused. Thus, it’s essential to understand hearing loss to handle it properly.
In this article, you can explore sensorineural vs conductive hearing loss. Once you understand the different types of hearing loss, you will be able to identify them and know how to deal with each of them.
What is Sensorineural Hearing Loss?
Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss, and it’s caused when the controlling nerves for the inner ear’s hearing get damaged. The nerves are known as hair cells or cilia, and when they get damaged, they don’t regenerate, leading to a non-treatable situation most times.
However, it may be treatable if the injury was recently acquired. In such a case, the hearing loss can be treated with corticosteroids to reduce inflammation of the injured nerves. If it’s not treatable, hearing can be managed with a hearing aid. And if the hearing aid doesn’t help, there may be a need for cochlear implants that will circumvent the inner ear and send the sound straight to the auditory nerves.
What is Conductive Hearing Loss?
On the other hand, conductive hearing loss is caused by the middle or outer ear getting damaged. The damage may be from infections, objects put in the ear, bone abnormalities, or earwax buildup. When the injury occurs, sound waves don’t reach the inner ear.
This type of hearing loss can be treated with different means. If it is caused by earwax buildup, it could be treated by cleaning the earwax. Medications can also be prescribed to treat such cases caused by the buildup or ones caused by infections. In the event of a bone abnormality, surgery can be carried out to rebuild the damaged parts.
Causes of Sensorineural and Conductive Hearing Loss
A significant area of difference between both types of hearing loss is the cause. In sensorineural hearing loss, the primary cause is damage to the inner ear through noise exposure, diseases, or heredity. Contrastingly, the primary cause of conductive hearing loss is damage to the middle and outer ear through infections, earwax buildup, tumors, or obstructions.
Treatments of Sensorineural and Conductive Hearing Loss
Generally, treating sensorineural hearing loss is only possible if it’s a recent injury, and it can only be managed with corticosteroids, hearing aids, or cochlear implants. On the other hand, conductive hearing loss can be treated by removing obstructions, surgery, or getting over the infections.
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