Hypoacusis is the decrease in hearing capacity, that is, more decibels are needed to hear the same as a person with normal hearing. Its causes are various, although we can group them into three main groups: 1) Perceptual hearing loss, which affects the auditory nerve and its derivations in the central nervous system. 2) Transmission hearing loss, in which the nervous system is intact but some part of the mechanism that transmits sound to the auditory nerve and its derivations fails, and 3) Mixed hearing loss, in which both types are mixed.
Symptoms of hearing loss
The symptoms of hypoacusis generally affect two qualities: hearing and understanding. That is to say, the person does not hear at normal intensities, but above all does not understand words, even if they are spoken at high intensities. In addition, other symptoms may be added such as the presence of noises in the ear (tinnitus), balance disorders, headaches, pain, social adaptation problems or language disorders in the case of children…
Treatment of hypoacusis
There are 4 types of treatment: medical, surgical, prosthetic (by means of conventional or surgically implantable hearing aids) and/or rehabilitative, either alone or in combination, depending on each problem. The Hearing specialist is the Otolaryngologist and he/she will be in charge of defining the most appropriate therapeutic strategy in each case, always from the perspective of individualization of each situation, and defining the time and the way in which these 4 therapeutic modes can or should be combined.