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When you start looking into hearing loss a little more closely, it becomes clear that hearing changes can happen for different reasons depending on which part of the ear is affected, and that’s why professionals tend to divide hearing loss into a few main categories. Here’s some information.
Conductive Hearing Loss
Conductive hearing loss happens when sound has difficulty travelling through the outer or middle ear before it reaches the inner ear. Sometimes the cause can be fairly straightforward, such as earwax build-up, fluid behind the eardrum, or an infection that affects how sound moves through the ear, and because of that, conductive hearing loss can sometimes be improved or treated once the underlying issue is identified.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss is the type people most often associate with long-term hearing changes; it happens when the inner ear or the auditory nerve becomes less effective at transmitting sound signals to the brain. If someone begins to notice that speech sounds less clear, or that busy environments make conversations harder to follow, speaking with an audiologist Bristol like https://www.imperialhearing.com/audiologist-near-me/bristol can help determine whether sensorineural hearing loss might be involved and what support could help.
Mixed Hearing Loss
Mixed hearing loss is essentially a combination of the first two types, and that means there may be an issue affecting the way sound travels through the ear as well as a change in how the inner ear processes sound. Because two different parts of the hearing system are involved, mixed hearing loss can sometimes feel slightly more complex.
