Sensorineural Hearing Loss Defined
By Ellen Mclaughlin

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

When we encounter someone with a hearing loss, chances are very high that their type of loss is sensorineural hearing loss, or “nerve deafness” as it is more commonly known. Of those who suffer hearing loss, approximately ninety (90) percent of them will suffer from sensorineural hearing loss.

To call sensorineural hearing loss “nerve deafness”, however, is not quite accurate. Yes, it involves the nerves that are directly responsible for hearing, and yes, any problem with those nerves will cause at least some level of hearing loss. But the term does not take into account specific disorders of the hair cells of the inner ear. When doctors and audiologists use the term “sensorineural hearing loss”, they are specifically referring to either cochlear damage or an eighth nerve lesion.

A diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss is usually made through a type of graph called audiometry, in which a pattern is made of the severity of the hearing loss. In sensorineural hearing loss, there is a large amount of loss without the usual “air-bone” conduction gap that is found in other types of hearing loss.

The primary cause of sensorineural hearing loss is some type of damage to any part of the pathway through which sound waves travel from the inner ear’s hair cells to the auditory nerve and the brain. The causes of such damage may include age, viral infections of the inner ear, noise-induced trauma damage, and drugs such as aspirin and antibiotics.

Meniere’s Disease, a disorder of the ear which causes tremendous and abnormal pressure in the inner ear, resulting in extreme dizziness and ear-ringing, can cause damage which results in sensorineural hearing loss. Benign tumors of the inner ear, such as acoustic neuroma, although rare, may also be a cause of sensorineural hearing loss.

If possible, it is important to try to determine the exact cause of the damage resulting in sensorineural hearing loss. Often, if a cause is determined, steps can be taken to minimize and/or halt the damage, which will prevent further hearing loss and make treatment of the hearing loss that’s already occurred work better. In many cases, however, the exact cause of the sensorineural hearing loss may never be discovered.

Sensorineural hearing loss accounts for about twenty-three percent (23%) of cases of hearing loss among individuals sixty-five and older. The main reason for such a percentage of sensorineural cases among this population is, quite simply, age. When people age, their nerves and nerve pathways start to wear out; this is as true of nerves involved in the intricate and complex process of hearing as it is for any other kind of nerves in the body.

People who suffer from moderate to more severe sensorineural hearing loss are also far more likely to suffer from tinnitus, which is better known as “ringing in the ears.” The main reason for this is because, as the hearing nerve cells die off or become damaged, they still send their signals through the auditory nerve to the brain, which interprets such signals as noise.

Ellen Mc Laughlin is a prolific writer and has been active in the field of hearing loss, tinnitus and deafness for a number of years.