What types of hearing losses are found in children?
There are basically three types of hearing loss. 1) The kind of hearing loss that is permanent and is the result of something affecting the inner ear, or the nerve that deals with hearing (the auditory nerve) is called sensorineural hearing loss. There are many different causes of sensorineural hearing loss, including congenital infections, medications, noise, and genetics. Congenital hearing loss is present in three to six out of every 1000 newborns and is detectable at birth. Sensorineural hearing loss can also develop later in life for various reasons, one of which is excessive exposure to loud noise. 2) Another type of hearing loss is called conductive hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss is the result of something affecting the outer or middle ear, such as ear infections associated with fluid in the middle ear space. Middle ear infections are the second-most common reason children see physicians. Any time children have middle ear infections with fluid in their ears, they have an
