The discovery that hearing loss may be impacting your everyday life can be a frightening experience. But you're not alone. Disabling hearing loss is a fact of life for about one-third of Americans over 65 years of age, and 2 percent of adults aged 45 to 54.1 The good news is, no matter what your degree of hearing damage, the prognosis is usually good, with as many as 95% of hearing loss patients finding success through hearing aids — and, in some cases, through other hearing loss treatment methods.

To start on the road to hearing improvement, it can help to better understand the three types of hearing loss — sensorineural hearing loss, conductive hearing loss and mixed hearing loss. Here, we look at hearing loss symptoms, causes of hearing loss and treatments for each type of hearing impairment.

Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when a person suffers physical damage to the hair-like cells of the inner ear or the auditory nerve. This can permanently block the nerve signals responsible for hearing.
1. Symptoms may include trouble distinguishing words, dizziness or ringing in the ears, struggling to hear in noisy environments and hearing voices as slurred.
2. Causes can result from exposure to loud noises, a traumatic injury, aging, blood vessel and autoimmune diseases, infections and cancer.
3. Treatments cannot completely cure sensorineural hearing loss damage. However, hearing aids, cochlear implants and assistive listening devices may provide patients with noticeable hearing improvement.
Conductive hearing loss results from a blockage or injury to the outer or middle ear, ultimately preventing the transfer of sound to the inner ear. This type of hearing loss can be temporary or permanent.
1. Symptoms may include ear pain, trouble with sound volume but not clarity, feeling pressure in the ears, difficulty hearing people on the phone and ear odor.
2. Causes of outer-ear hearing loss may include wax buildup, narrowing of the ear canal, swimmer's ear or ear obstruction. Causes of middle-ear hearing loss may include an ear infection, fluid in the ear, thickening of the membrane or tumors.
3. Treatments may allow patients to improve their hearing through procedures to remove the obstruction, hearing aids, implantable devices, middle-ear implants and assistive devices.
Mixed hearing loss can be a combination of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss, often resulting from some sort of physical trauma to the ear. In some cases, patients develop hearing loss gradually as one type of hearing loss is left untreated and becomes exacerbated by a second type of hearing loss. Efforts to help patients hear better is tailored based on the specific conductive or sensorineural hearing loss causes.

Seeking medical attention at the first signs of hearing difficulty can improve the likelihood of returning to normal hearing. If you notice any degree of hearing loss in yourself or a loved one, schedule a hearing test with an audiologist.

Remember that you can use the CareCredit credit card to help pay for co-pays and other hearing care expenses not covered by health insurance.* To find a qualified hearing provider near you that accepts CareCredit, use the Acceptance Locator Acceptance Locator or download the CareCredit Mobile App.