Conductive Hearing Loss Treatment: Know Your Options

Over 48 million Americans suffer from some form of hearing loss. This can range from struggling to hear noises that are far away to not being able to hear anything at all. One form of hearing loss is conductive hearing loss, which can be treated in a few different ways.

What is Conductive Hearing Loss?

According to ENT Health, conductive hearing loss occurs when sound cannot travel to your inner ear because of problems with the parts in your outer or middle ear. Some symptoms of conductive hearing loss include:

• Muffled hearing
• Dizziness
• Pain, pressure, or tenderness in your ear

Treatment for Conductive Hearing Loss

Hearing aids— Depending on the state of your hearing nerve, hearing aids are one option. “Patients with conductive hearing loss are often excellent candidates for hearing aids when compared with patients who have sensorineural hearing loss,” Lilach Saperstein, AuD, tells ishonest Connect to Care. “When there is conductive hearing loss in the outer or middle ear,” Saperstein says, “the patient generally requires sounds to be amplified to overcome the hearing loss, and then they are then able to clearly understand the sounds in their environment, and what was said to them.”

Hearing aids may be surgically inserted into the ear or taken on and off like a pair of glasses.

Medication— According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, one potential cause of conductive hearing loss is an ear infection or fluid in the ear. To treat this, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics or antifungal medication.

Surgery — ENT Health advises that, if the cause of the hearing loss is due to a damaged eardrum or damaged middle ear bones, surgery may be needed.

Signs of hearing loss may be obvious or subtle at first, which can make them easy to ignore until the damage is permanent.

Hearing Loss Can Be Treated and Managed.

In many cases, hearing loss is a treatable condition. It is worth taking the time out to get the answers and treatment you or your loved one deserves. Don’t wait. Start today.

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