Evaluating Hearing Loss

One of the most common causes of hearing problems such as tinnitus is exposure to loud noise. Tinnitus is any sound that you hear in your ears or your head such as ringing, buzzing, pulsing, hissing that does not have an external sound source. The cause of tinnitus is poorly understood. The most common theory on the cause of tinnitus is that it is a result of cochlear hair cell damage, which is often caused by noise.

The three main causes of hearing loss are conductive (a problem getting sound to the ear), sensorineural (usually a problem within the cochlea or the ear itself) and a combination of both.

Assessing and treating hearing and hearing loss is a multi-step assessment. The healthcare provider will collect information about the patient's medical history, then do a physical examination of the ear. Following that the physician will make a diagnosis and discuss treatments.

There are a variety of different hearing aids available to treat hearing loss, including behind the ear, receiver in the canal, in-ear, canal, completely in the canal and invisible in the canal.

If there's a hole and/or scarring in the eardrum, or the issue is with the bones of hearing that sit in the middle ear, you may need surgery.