In this Section:

Leading Causes of Hearing Loss

Adults

Excessive noise exposure
Presbycusis-aging process
Heredity
Vascular and circulatory disorders
Tumors and other space occupying lesions

Children

Middle Ear Problems
Before the age of six, 90% of all children in the United States will suffer from Otitis Media, which is more often known as a Middle Ear Infection.
Congenital
- Craniofacial Anomalies
- Family history of hearing loss
- Congenital infections

Other

Bacterial Meningitis
Head trauma
Ototoxic medications
Childhood infectious diseases, such as mumps and measles

Types of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss can be caused by problems in different parts of the ear. The different types of hearing loss need to be treated or managed differently.

Conductive hearing loss

This is a type of hearing loss that occurs in the ear canal up to the ear drum (outer ear) or behind the ear drum (middle ear). Some causes of conductive hearing loss in the outer ear include a build up of ear wax or foreign bodies such as a bead or other small objects. In the middle ear conductive losses can be caused by ear infections or problems with the bones of the middle ear.

Ear drum

Perforation, infection, retraction and pocket cholestotoma are all problems that can affect the ear drum.

Middle ear and ossicles

Infection can cause damage to the ossicles "glue" that binds them together.