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If you find that you’ve been cranking up the volume of your TV recently in order to hear it, you may think that you have age-related hearing loss and that there’s not much you can do about it. But consider this: Your hearing loss may be temporary.
It’s true that in most cases, it’s not. Around 90 percent of hearing impairment in people over 50 is classified by experts as sensorineural hearing loss, typically a permanent condition that occurs when there’s a problem with the inner ear or auditory nerve. But that leaves a minority of people who have what’s known as conductive hearing loss, which is usually temporary and treatable.
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“There isn’t a clear-cut way to distinguish hearing loss as either sensorineural or conductive without a full diagnostic hearing evaluation,” says audiologist Bria Collins, associate director of audiology professional practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). “Listeners with conductive hearing loss (CHL) predominantly will experience a loss in the volume of sound, whereas those with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) will more likely have both a loss of sound volume and speech clarity.”
Here’s what you need to know about conductive hearing loss.
What it is
Hearing loss can happen when any part of the ear or hearing system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. Unlike SNHL, which occurs because of damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve (and is a result of normal aging as well as factors like noise exposure), CHL happens when sounds can’t make their way through the outer or middle ear en route to the inner ear, usually due to an infection or obstruction.
Symptoms
People with CHL struggle to hear sounds at a low volume, which is why some adapt by simply adjusting the volume on their TV, radio or computer. Symptoms can come on suddenly, with sounds — including your own voice — seeming muffled or blocked. Pain, pressure and fullness in one or both ears are also signs of CHL.
Causes
Common culprits include fluid buildup from a cold or allergies, ear infections like swimmer’s ear, benign tumors, a punctured eardrum or problems with the way the outer or middle ear is formed, explains Ishraq Alkibsi, a clinical audiologist at Next Level Hearing Care.
The most common cause? Earwax. That’s right. The very thing the body produces within the ear canal to protect and moisturize the ear can become a problem if there’s too much of it.
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