Jobs where loud noise is constant, such as farming, construction or factory work, can lead to damage inside the ear.

Your genes may make you more likely to have ear damage from sound or from aging. Or the damage can come from a short blast of noise, such as from a gunshot.

Damage can happen by being around loud noises over time. Being around loud sounds can damage the cells of the inner ear. Risk factorsįactors that damage or lead to loss of the hairs and nerve cells in the inner ear include: For the Mayo Clinic News Network, I'm Vivien Williams. Once health care professionals figure out your type of hearing loss, they can tailor treatment that's best for you. For people with profound hearing loss, cochlear implants work by bypassing the hair cells and sending signals directly to the hearing nerve and brain. Vivien Williams: …become fewer or don't function well. Carlson: The hair cells, which are the end part of the inner ear that actually take the mechanical sound and turn it to electrical sound… Carlson says just about all types of sensorineural hearing loss have to do with the loss of the function of hair cells in your inner ear.ĭr. Vivien Williams: …or having a history of loud noise exposure. The most common is probably just being over the age of 50… There are thousands of different causes of sensorineural hearing loss. Carlson: We call it sensorineural hearing loss. Nerve-related hearing loss is usually permanent.ĭr. Matthew Carlson says temporary hearing loss can happen when your ears are plugged with wax or fluid behind the ear drum, for example. Matthew Carlson, M.D.: There's a lot of different types of hearing loss. Vivien Williams: Hearing loss is very common. Loud blasts of noise, sudden changes in pressure, poking an eardrum with an object and infection can cause the eardrum to burst. Ruptured eardrum, also known as tympanic membrane perforation.In the outer or middle ear, any of these can cause hearing loss. Ear infection or unusual bone growths or tumors.Over time, earwax can block the ear canal and keep sound waves from passing through. It may be hard to pick out words against background noise. Damaged or missing hairs or nerve cells don't send electrical signals well. Aging and loud noise can cause wear and tear on the hairs or nerve cells in the cochlea that send sound signals to the brain. How hearing loss can occurĭamage to the inner ear. The brain turns these signals into sound. The electrical signals are transmitted to the brain. There, the vibrations pass through fluid in a snail-shaped part of the inner ear, known as the cochlea.Īttached to nerve cells in the cochlea are thousands of tiny hairs that help turn sound vibrations into electrical signals. The eardrum and three small bones of the middle ear make the vibrations bigger as they travel to the inner ear. Sound waves pass through the outer ear and cause the eardrum to vibrate. The ear has three main parts: the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The snail-shaped cochlea is part of the inner ear. The middle ear connects to the back of the nose and throat by a narrow area called the eustachian tube. The eardrum lies between the middle ear and outer ear. They are the hammer, called the malleus the anvil, known as the incus and the stirrup, known as the stapes. The middle ear includes three small bones.

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