Question

Prompt

Sharon has difficulty hearing and, upon consultation with an audiologist, has been diagnosed with sensorineural deafness. She wonders if she might be helped by a bone-anchored hearing aid, a device that is surgically implanted in the temporal bone of the skull so that the bone may be used to amplify sound.

Questions

Please respond to the following questions using information from your textbook and utilizing your newly acquired terminology.

• What is conduction hearing loss versus sensorineural hearing loss?

• What do you think could cause each type of hearing loss?

• Which part of the ear is likely affect by each? (Use your new terminology)

• Will this type of aid help Sharon? Why or why not?

• What other types of hearing loss are possible?

Response

Hi Sharon, so you're wondering if you might be helped by a conductive hearing aid? There's a difference between conductive hearing loss and sensorineural hearing loss. With the former, one of the physical structures, such as the eardrum, inside of the middle ear has stopped functioning. You can think of it like a loose screw inside a tv where a quick hit on the top might bump the screw back in place temporarily. It's ultimately fixable, but a procedure would need to be performed to restore hearing. This type of hearing loss often occurs due to fluid buildup, an ear infection, or a perforated eardrum-commonly caused by loud noises or a q-tip.

The latter type of hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, occurs when the auditory hairs or auditory nerve are damaged. These are the most sensitive parts of the inner ear. The hairs, nestled inside the cochlea, sense minute vibrations in sound waves and transmit those patterns to the cochlear nerve for your brain to interpret. These type of hearing loss can also be caused by loud noises, high-intensity sound waves can bend or break the auditory hairs. Meningitis is another potential cause of sensorineural hearing loss due to the damage it can place on the auditory nerve. Because these structures are deep inside your ear, and directly interfaced with the brain, they are much harder to treat.

Your suggestion of a bone-anchored hearing aid would not help unfortunately. Conductive hearing aids, currently, can only aid in the transfer of sound to the inner ear and auditory nerve. They do not assist in the translation of sounds waves into sounds. Based on your diagnosis, your inner ear has no problem receiving sound waves, it's the translation that is failing.

You can and should look into a cochlear implant which can stimulate the auditory nerve directly, and may possibly help.