Hearing Isn’t The Problem...

...Understanding Is!

Most hearing losses are of the sensori-neural or “nerve loss” type. This means that the nerve endings in the inner ear are damaged and do not respond to normal volume sounds.

1) Aging

2) Noise Exposure

Some of the causes of “nerve loss” are:

With a “nerve loss”, you hear the words but have a hard time understanding. Similar sounding words get confused, like cat and cap.

(The other kind of hearing loss is conductive. With this type of loss, as long as the sound is loud enough then you can understand very well. This kind of loss responds to medical attention through medicine or surgery; unfortunately, only about 5-8% of all hearing losses are this type.)

Some people have a combination of both of the above losses and this type of loss is appropriately called a “mixed” hearing loss.

“Ringing in the ears”, or tinnitus, is common among people with “nerve loss” and at this time there is no known cure. (You may try reducing your salt intake, relaxing more often and reducing the number of aspirins you use...) This condition is only a need for concern when you have the ringing all the time and just on one side-see an ENT (ear, nose & throat doctor).

3) Certain Antibiotics