Hearing Loss Affects 31 Million Americans

Consequences of Hearing Impairment
Untreated hearing loss may lead to numerous social and psychological problems. Some hearing-impaired people also experience physical problems because of their hearing loss.

Reactions differ from person to person, but most hearing-impaired people suffer some social, psychological and physical problems as a result of their hearing loss.

Surveys indicate that hearing-impaired people benefit socially and psychologically and improve their quality of life when their hearing loss is treated with proper hearing aids. One of the surveys was carried out by the National Council of Ageing, (NCOA), in the USA.

	“I am much more confident in business situations now that I can rely on the fact that I’m not missing anything.” D.D.   Severn, MD

Types of Hearing Loss

Sensorineural hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by inner ear damage. Sometimes referred to as "nerve losses", these comprise 95% of all hearing losses. Some causes include presbycusis/aging, noise exposure, heredity, viral infection to the brain such as meningitis, and in rare cases, ototoxic medications. Although there is no cure for sensorineural hearing loss, advances in hearing aid technology can help the vast majority of people with this type of hearing problem.

Conductive hearing loss
When sound transmission through the outer or middle ears is prevented or impaired, this is known as a conductive hearing loss. Some causes of conductive hearing losses are obstruction of the ear canal by impacted earwax, head trauma affecting the middle ear bones, perforation of the eardrum, fluid build up in the middle ear, and otosclerosis (a stiffening of the middle ear bones). About 5% of hearing losses are conductive in nature, and many can be treated medically.

Mixed hearing loss
A mixed hearing loss is one that has both sensorineural and conductive components.