Causes Of Deafness

            Deafness can range from mild to profound and can be caused by several factors such as injury, disease and genetic defects. Deafness that occurs from birth is known as congenital deafness and deafness that occurs after birth is called adventitious deafness. There are various ways to categorize deafness but the main two are Conductive hearing loss and Sensori-neural hearing loss.

            Conductive hearing loss is caused by the failure of three tiny bones inside the middle ear to pass along sound waves to the inner ear. Another cause is the failure of the eardrum to vibrate in response to sound waves. Problems can also occur from a build up of fluid in the ear canal which could dampen the movement of the eardrum. Treatment is available in many cases of conductive deafness and in some patients normal hearing can return.

Causes of conductive hearing loss:

·         Malformation of outer ear, ear canal, or middle ear structures

·         Fluid in the middle ear from colds

·         Ear infections

·         Allergies

·         Poor Eustachian tube function

·         Perforated eardrum

·         Benign tumors

·         Impacted earwax

·         Foreign body in the ear

·         Otosclerosis

Sensori-neural (Nerve) deafness is caused by a fault in the inner ear or auditory nerve. It is often caused by disease, trauma or some type of disruptive event that affects the cochlear nerve. The rest of the ear, including the tiny bones and eardrum may be working but the electrical impulses are not able to reach the brain. In some cases the problem is the brain itself, which can not translate the messages from the cochlear nerve. Most cases of sensori-neural hearing loss do not respond to treatment.

Causes of sensori-neural hearing loss:

·         Head trauma

·         Exposure to loud noises

·         Hereditary disorders

·         Virus or disease

·         Autoimmune inner ear disease

·         Aging

·         Malformation of the inner ear

·         Tumors