What are the causes of hearing loss?

Question

What causes hearing loss? What is actually going on inside the ear when this happens? What are some other hearing disorders? What are the causes of those other disorders?

Answer 1

Wow! That is a loaded question and a concise answer could fill many books. I have a masters degree in Audiology and can tell you that one of my text books that looked at pathologies of the ear was about 800 pages. Here is a condensed version (and not to be all inclusive of the problems that can occur):

Hearing loss can involve the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear and you can also have auditory processing problems with normal ear structures but impaired centers in the brain where auditory processing occurs.

Some problems that involve the outer ear can be minor infections like swimmers ear, excessive earwax, growths in the ear canal, collapsing ear canals, or malformed ear canals from prenatal development. All of these conditions may be treatable through medical / surgical procedures.

Some middle ear problems can involve middle ear infections, middle ear fluid, middle ear bone stiffness (otosclerosis), middle ear tumors, middle ear bone misarticulation, and middle ear malformation. As with outer ear conditions, middle ear conditions may be treatable with medical / surgical procedures.

Some inner ear problems may be caused by excessive noise exposure which is often permanent, hearing loss due to the aging of the inner ear, hearing loss due to heredity problems with a degenerative inner ear, viruses that can cause sudden hearing loss, autoimmune conditions that can cause progressive hearing loss, hearing loss caused by ototoxic substances, hearing loss caused by inner ear tumors, inner ear hearing loss that was present by malformation of the inner ear during prenatal formation, hereditary loss present at birth, and hearing loss due to blows to the skull resulting in fracture of the temporal bone that houses the inner ear.

Hearing loss can be associated with tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Hearing loss is very prevalent, affecting about 30 million Americans. Only 20% of these 30 million actually seek help for their hearing problems.

I would recommend that you see an audiologist today to have a complete audiological evaluation. This audiologist would be more than happy to explain the results and let you know if you have a treatable condition.

I have condensed my training into a 20 second overview for you. I hope that helps.

Answer 2

I am not a doctor of any kind, however, I am the mother of a 10 year old boy with minor hearing loss. I know from personal experience that some hearing loss, especially in children can be caused by repeated ear infections, which, in my son's case, led to ruptured ear drums twice. My son has lost approximately 10% of his hearing because of them.

Answer 3

Damage to the nerve will cause hearing loss. Severe ear infections, constant exposure to loud music or even loud blasts. My boyfriend has 90% hearing loss in one ear and 60% loss in the other ear. He got that way from when he was in the Army not wearing ear protection while shooting off his weapon.

Answer 4

Loud noise. Quick like gunfire or slow like loud music. It damges the little hairs in your inner ears that connect to the nerves. Infections cause a lot of hearing loss. Damages to the ear drum and little bones that connect it coclea is frequent.

Answer 5

OK the loss of hearing occurs when you hear very loud noise for a while daily (ipods, Cd's, Music in general)

your ear is just like a drum when noise enters it hits the skin that's stretched over it and that signals to your head. hearing loss happens 2 ways
1.) if your exposed to loud noise daily your stretched skin stretches even more and it wont be able to vibrate as well and your brain wont receive as much signals.

2.) is when your skin rips, cuts, etc. so it wont be able to vibrate at all and this when you are no longer to hear at all from that ear

i hope this answered your question

Answer 6

A hearing impairment is a decrease in the ability to perceive sound. This article discusses the biologic basis of hearing impairment in humans and other animals.

Explanation
Hearing impairment can affect any creature that hears. Sound varies in amplitude (loudness) and frequency (pitch). Most animals are able to sense sound energy, but no individual animal species can detect all frequencies of sound at all amplitudes (levels of loudness). In fact, although there is much overlap, each species has a different set of audible sounds. Within that range of audible sound, each species is attuned to an even narrower range of pitches that it hears best — usually the sorts of sounds that are important for survival. In social animals, like humans, who use sound as a primary means of communication (spoken language), hearing is most sensitive for the pitches that are produced in speech.

The medical term hearing impairment has become controversial due to very strong objections from the deaf community who refute the implication of a disability. Those who consider themselves part of Deaf Culture feel offended by the term "impaired". However, not all people, especially those who become deaf in later years, may make this distinction. (See Models of Deafness)

You could get more information from the link below...

Answer 7

Hearing loss happens in different ways, one is nerve damage, another is missing bones or malformed parts. Most are caused by human activity, loud music or work environment or old age. Sorry I don't know any names. I have malformed and missing bones in the middle ear but I'm not deaf and probably won't. Most people who are deaf have nerve damage and are deaf at birth or become deaf over time.

Answer 8

Every day we experience sound in our environment such as the television, radio, washing machine, automobiles, buses, and trucks. But when an individual is exposed to harmful sounds--sounds that are too loud or loud sounds over a long time--sensitive structures of the inner ear can be damaged, causing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).

Answer 9

hearing lose is caused by a number of things. some is hereditary. a head or ear injury. a severe head cold or infection. or even a short curcuit in your brain.

Answer 10

LOUD MUSIC-bottom line. Don't know what is going on inside. Check with a ear doctor maybe they can ans. that.