What are the different types of hearing impairments?

Answer

When a hearing test is completed, the audiologist is looking at several things....namely, IF there is a hearing loss and IF there is a loss, what the degree of that loss is and what type of loss is present. This information is important to the suggestions that will be made.

There are 3 major divisions within the ear....the outer ear (that you can see and wash) and the ear canal (that you should not put q-tips in), the middle ear cavity (that houses the bones of hearing) and the inner ear (that houses the nerves of hearing). Beyond the inner ear we travel up the auditory neural pathway to the auditory processing center in the brain.

If you have a CONDUCTIVE hearing loss, travel of sound through the outer and middle ear is being interrupted. Typically, this may be treated medically or surgically.

If you have a SENSORI/NEURAL hearing loss, travel of sound through the inner ear and/or pathways of sound to the auditory processing center in the brain are interrupted. Typcally, if there are no other contraindications, hearing aids are very useful for these patients (that is a discussion for another question).