This type of hearing loss occurs when the delicate inner ear and its sensory cells or nerve fibres get damaged. This stops them transmitting sound to the brain properly, which reduces your ability to hear and can cause the distortion of sounds. The most common causes of sensorineural hearing loss are the natural process of ageing or excessive exposure to noise. In most cases this condition is permanent.
Symptoms of Sensorinerual Hearing Loss
If you suffer from this type of hearing loss, you may feel that people mumble or you hear what people say, but do not understand it. If you have this condition in both ears you may have difficulty understanding speech in many situations. If it is only in one ear, you may have difficulty locating sounds or hearing in background noise.
Causes of Sensorinerual Hearing Loss
The aging process is the most common cause of sensorineural hearing loss. As we age the inner ear nerves and sensory cells gradually die. Other causes may include:
- Injury
- Excessive noise exposure
- Viral infections, such as measles or mumps
- Ototoxic drugs, which are medications that damage hearing
- Meningitis
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- High fever
- Meniere’s disease
- Acoustic tumors
- Heredity