Hearing loss is a reduction in the ability to hear sounds in one or both ears. Conductive loss means sound is blocked on its way through the ear canal, eardrum or middle ear bones. Sensorineural loss means the inner ear or hearing nerve is damaged. Some people have both.
Conductive causes can often be corrected with medical treatment or surgery. Sensorineural loss is usually permanent, but hearing aids, and cochlear implants for severe cases, restore much of the ability to communicate. Untreated hearing loss is linked with isolation, low mood and faster cognitive decline, so it is worth addressing early.
Symptoms
- Difficulty following conversation in noisy places
- Asking people to repeat themselves, or feeling that others mumble
- Turning the television up louder than others like
- Trouble hearing on the telephone or hearing high-pitched voices
- Ringing or buzzing in the ears (tinnitus)
- A blocked feeling in one ear
- In children: delayed speech, inattention or falling behind at school
Causes and risk factors
Age-related loss and noise damage are the leading sensorineural causes. Others include inherited forms, infections such as meningitis, measles and mumps, certain antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs, Meniere's disease, and, rarely, a benign tumour on the hearing nerve, which typically causes one-sided loss. Conductive causes include wax, fluid behind the eardrum, perforation, chronic infection, cholesteatoma and otosclerosis, where the stapes bone becomes fixed. In newborns, genetic causes and infections in pregnancy such as cytomegalovirus are most important.
How it is diagnosed
- Otoscopy and tuning fork tests: Look for wax, fluid or perforation, and give a first indication of whether the loss is conductive or sensorineural.
- Pure tone audiometry: You respond to tones through headphones in a soundproof booth. The audiogram plots your threshold at each pitch and is the basis of all decisions.
- Speech audiometry: Measures how well you understand words at different volumes, which predicts benefit from hearing aids or an implant.
- Tympanometry: Tests eardrum movement and middle ear pressure.
- Otoacoustic emissions and ABR: Objective tests that need no response from the patient, used for newborn screening and young children.
- MRI or CT: MRI of the hearing nerve for one-sided or asymmetric loss. CT of the temporal bone before middle ear or implant surgery.
Treatment options
- Wax removal and treatment of infection: Microsuction, drops or antibiotics restore hearing when the cause is in the canal or an acute infection.
- Ventilation tubes: For persistent middle ear fluid, mainly in children.
- Tympanoplasty and ossiculoplasty: Repair of the eardrum and reconstruction of damaged middle ear bones.
- Stapedotomy: Replacement of the fixed stapes with a tiny piston in otosclerosis. It closes the conductive gap in most patients, with a small risk to inner ear hearing.
- Hearing aids: Digital aids programmed to your audiogram. They require fitting, several adjustment visits and a period of adaptation.
- Cochlear and bone conduction implants: For severe to profound loss with little aid benefit, or for conductive loss that cannot be corrected. Surgery is followed by months of programming and listening rehabilitation.
When it is urgent
Sudden hearing loss in one ear over hours to three days is an emergency even without pain. See a doctor locally the same or next day, because steroid treatment works best when started early. Also seek urgent care for hearing loss with facial weakness, severe vertigo, a discharging ear with headache or fever, or after a head injury.
Travelling to Türkiye for treatment
A visit can cover a full audiological work-up in a day or two and planned operations such as tympanoplasty or stapedotomy, with about a week's stay and clearance before flying. Hearing aids and cochlear implants are different: they need repeated fine-tuning over months. Travel for them only if programming and rehabilitation can be continued near home or you can realistically return for several visits.
Send your reports, scans and a short history and a Clinic-Y coordinator replies within 24 hours with suitable teams and written, all-inclusive proposals side by side. Reviewing your case is free.
الأسئلة المتكررة
Can lost hearing come back?
Conductive loss often can, once the blockage or damage is corrected. Sensorineural loss from ageing or noise is permanent, apart from sudden loss, which sometimes recovers with early treatment.
Will a hearing aid make my hearing worse?
No. A correctly fitted aid does not damage hearing. Waiting for years makes adaptation harder because the brain loses practice in processing sound.
Who is a candidate for a cochlear implant?
Adults and children with severe to profound loss in both ears who understand little speech even with well-fitted aids. Assessment includes scans, speech testing and counselling about rehabilitation.
Are stem cell or regenerative treatments for hearing available?
Not as established care. Hair cell regeneration is under research. Be cautious about any clinic selling it as a treatment.