Hearing Loss Overview

About 48 million Americans of all ages are living with some type of hearing loss.

That’s about 7% of the total population of the United States. Causes of hearing loss range from genetic birth anomalies to plain-and-simple old age. Indeed, rates of hearing loss tend to increase dramatically as we age. About one-third of people age 60-69 have hearing loss, while about two-thirds of those over age 70 have it. Nearly 100% of centenarians have hearing loss, which suggests that we’ll all deal with hearing loss eventually if we live long enough.

Types of Hearing Loss

Age-related hearing loss is a type of sensorineural hearing loss, meaning the cause of the hearing loss has to do with the parts of the inner ear that deal with converting sound from mechanical energy into electrical energy, and the pathways that transmit that energy to the brain.

There is one other main type of hearing loss, called conductive hearing loss. This type has to do with the pathways in the middle and outer ear that transmit mechanical sound from the outside world to the inner ear.

Anatomy of the Ear

To understand sensorineural and conductive hearing loss better, let’s take a look at the different parts of the ear and what they do.

The outer ear consists of the parts of the ear that you can see, and the ear canal, up to the eardrum. Ear wax is secreted into the ear canal as a means to keep debris and other harmful things from reaching the eardrum, which is the first of many sensitive, delicate parts of the ear. Our ability to detect the direction that sound is coming from depends not only on having two ears, but on the pinna, which is the most visible part of the ear. By scooping sound that comes from the front and, to some degree, blocking sound that comes from the rear, the pinna helps us distinguish between sounds that are coming from behind or in front of us. The eardrum vibrates sympathetically with whatever sound it encounters. Hearing loss due to a perforation or tear in the eardrum would be considered a type of conductive hearing loss.

The middle ear is the tympanic cavity and all that it contains. Here we find a chamber of air containing the three tiniest bones in the human body: the malleus, incus, and stapes. These bones connect the eardrum to the entrance of the inner ear. The middle ear also contains the Eustachian tube (or auditory tube) which connects to the throat and helps equalize the pressure between the two sides of the impermeable eardrum. Sometimes, especially in children, the middle ear can become filled with fluid due to infection. The hearing loss created when this happens would be considered a kind of conductive hearing loss.

The inner ear consists of two components: the cochlea and the labyrinth (vestibular system). The cochlea is concerned with sound, while the labyrinth is connected via fluid to the cochlea but is used by our brain to keep us balanced. The cochlea is filled with tiny, hair-like cells called stereocilia. These are tiny nerve cells that vibrate sympathetically with different frequencies of sound. When activated, each one sends a notification to our brain that sound is happening at a particular frequency. When the 16,000 or so stereocilia in the cochlea send all their information to the brain, the brain is able to make sense of what kind of sonic information is actually outside in the world.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids

Sensorineural hearing loss is typically the result of damage to or death of the stereocilia inside the inner ear, though problems affecting the auditory nerves (which transmit the information collected by the stereocilia to the brain) can also be the root cause. Stereocilia can be damaged or destroyed by loud sound, insufficient nutrition (restricted blood flow), or aging. Once stereocilia die, they cannot be repaired or regrown. This is why most types of sensorineural hearing loss are permanent.

The best treatment for permanent sensorineural hearing loss is hearing aids. The goal of treatment for any hearing loss is to restore the flow of information to the brain that hearing loss has cut off. By using hearing aids, your brain can continue to receive an amount of information from the world that is similar or identical to that which it received prior to the advent of hearing loss. This helps to avoid any complications from hearing loss.

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Ashland

1901 Beaser Ave.
Ashland, WI 54806

Phone: (715) 682-9311
Fax: (715) 682-9313

Office Hours:

Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Hearing Aid Clean & Check Hours:

Monday - Friday:
8:30 am – 3:30 pm

*Please note that the office will be closed from 12-1 pm daily for lunch. A secure drop box is available to drop off hearing aids during this time.

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