Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when the hair cells in the inner ear and/or the auditory pathway to the brain are damaged. The most common cause of a sensorineural hearing loss is age-related, referred to as presbyacusis. The decline in hearing that many people experience as they get older is due to hair cell fatigue.
Possible causes of sensorineural hearing loss include:
- Presbyacusis (Age related hearing loss)
- Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)
- Meneire’s Disease
- Viral Infections such as Measles, Meningitis or Chicken Pox
- Maternal Rubella
- Congenital
- Acoustic Neuroma
- Vascular episodes eg. a stroke
- Hereditary
- Physical damage to the inner ear via an injury
- Side affect of certain drugs
Sensorineural hearing losses can be likened to an electrical problem, which can be more difficult to deal with than a pure conductive (mechanical) problem. There are often other side effects and symptoms related to these types of losses including tinnitus, intolerance to loud sounds and distortion. Most sensorineural problems are difficult to treat medically but with sophisticated digital hearing aid technology we can help overcome many of these complications. When setting up a hearing aid for sensorineural loss we need to provide a balance of volume and clarity resulting in the clearest sound possible.
