Symptoms of mixed hearing loss

Because mixed hearing loss is a combination of sensorineural hearing loss and conductive hearing loss, the symptoms of mixed hearing loss are usually a combination of symptoms from each type of hearing loss. If you experience any of the following symptoms, you should have your hearing tested by your audiologist.

Symptoms of sensorineural hearing loss

If you have a sensorineural component to your hearing loss, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• You have trouble understanding or hearing speech when there is background noise (for example, in a restaurant or cafe).
• You feel people whispering
• Others complain about the loudness of the TV
• You experience ringing in your ears (tinnitus).
• You often ask others to repeat what you say
• You have trouble understanding others over the phone
• Others notice that you do not hear well.

Symptoms of transitional hearing loss

If you have a conductive component to your hearing loss, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• Pain in both ears can indicate a problem and may cause hearing loss
• Ears feel too tight or pressured and can’t be flattened. This can indicate a problem in the middle ear.
• Muffled sounds that make it difficult to hear the sounds around you
• Fluid coming out of the ear, especially if it is yellow, green, or pus-colored, or has a foul odor.
• Ringing in your ears (tinnitus)
• Your voice sounds louder and unusual to you
• Your hearing is better in one ear

Examples of mixed hearing loss

An example of mixed hearing loss is someone who has a growth in the ear canal (causing conductive hearing loss) and an underlying cause that can be damage to the inner ear (causing sensorineural hearing loss) from sound impact.

Treatment of mixed hearing loss

Mixed hearing loss is usually treated with hearing aids. Since there is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss, treatment should consider both components. Therefore, the treatment of mixed hearing loss can require a combination of different approaches. Other than conductive hearing loss, it can often be treated through medical means, including the physical removal of problems such as bulging earwax or objects in the ear canal that block sound waves. If the transmitted hearing loss is caused by an infection, medications such as antibiotics can be used to treat it. In the case of physical abnormalities, tumors, or certain diseases, surgical procedures can repair the damage, such as making a hole in the eardrum or removing tumors or diseases such as cholesteatoma. The sensorineural part of mixed hearing loss is treated with hearing aids. Implantable devices called cochlear implants can also be used to treat sensorineural hearing loss through surgical intervention. Cochlear implantation produces sound by electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve with small electrical impulses. In this method, there is also an external receiver and hearing aid. This option is for people with significant hearing loss who get little or no benefit from conventional hearing aids