Conditions
There are different degrees of hearing/hearing loss. It is important to know that even a 'mild' hearing loss is considered both communicatively and educationally significant for a child as it will impact language-learning.
Degrees of hearing/hearing loss include:
- Normal
- Mild
- Moderate
- Moderate-severe
- Severe
- Profound
There are different types of hearing loss:
- Sensorineural: involving the cochlea (inner ear) and/or VIII (auditory) nerve
- Conductive: involving the outer and/or middle ear systems
- Mixed: a combination of both sensorineural and conductive
Hearing loss has many causes. Some of the more common include:
- Blockage in outer ear (for example, wax, foreign body)
- Damaged eardrum or middle ear bones
- Ear infections
- Exposure to loud noise
- Genetic conditions/inheritance
- Head injury (for example, skull fracture)
- Infections
- Congenital (for example, toxoplasmosis, rubella, CMV, herpes, syphilis)
- Acquired (for example, influenza, meningitis, labyrinthitis, mumps, syphilis)
- Medications that are ototoxic (toxic to the ear)
