Sensorineural hearing loss is hearing loss that is caused by damage or malformation of the cochlea or auditory nerve. Unlike conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss is usually considered permanent.
The amount of hearing impairment caused by sensorineural hearing loss can range from a mild hearing loss to complete deafness. There are no effective medical treatments or surgeries to cure sensorineural hearing loss.
Nerve deafness is another name for sensorineural hearing loss. This is because sensorineural hearing loss is a condition in which the auditory nerve cannot transmit the sensory information to the auditory processing center of the brain.
People with sensorineural hearing loss may experience other symptoms such as tomatoes or dizziness. Hearing phantom sounds that are not in the person's environment such as ringing in ears is the characteristic symptom of tinnitus.
The toxicity of some medications, disease, heredity, birth injury, and genetic syndromes are potential causes of sensorineural hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be caused by aging, head trauma, tumors, or exposure to noise.
Many genetic syndromes that cause sensorineural hearing loss also cause additional impairment. An example of an illness that can cause sensorineural hearing loss is bacterial meningitis. Some viral infections that can cause sensorineural hearing loss include varicella-zoster and pertussis.
In some cases, the cause for the sensorineural hearing loss is not able to be identified. In these cases, they hearing loss may be called idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss. Some cases of idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss results on their own without treatment.
While diagnosing sensorineural hearing loss, the physician may ask a series of questions related to the onset and possible causes of the hearing impairment. Hearing tests may be performed to determine the severity of the hearing loss.
If the sensorineural hearing loss is due to damage to the auditory nerve, medical treatment is not likely to improve the condition. If the person has sustained damage to the cochlea, a cochlear implant may be the recommended treatment. Mild cases may have improvement with the use of regular hearing aid.
Conductive hearing loss is generally easier to treat than sensorineural hearing loss. The blockage of sound in the middle ear that causes conductive hearing loss can sometimes be surgically corrected. Hearing aids are often more effective for people with conductive hearing loss than they would be for sensorineural hearing loss.
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