Introduction

Hearing Impairments

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Children's Hearing Booklet

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Hearing Loss

The Ear

The outside part of the ear is called the pinna. It is used to direct sound into the outer ear canal. The sound hits the eardrum making it vibrate which then makes three tiny bones in the middle ear vibrate. This vibration is sent to the cochlea, in the inner ear, which has tiny hairs that transmit electrical signals to the auditory (hearing) nerve to send to the brain.

Hearing Impairments

There are 3 kinds of hearing loss. One is conductive. This is because something is blocking the sound and it can't go through the ear properly. One possible reason would be an ear infection. Fluid builds up in the middle ear and blocks the sound coming through. For this hearing loss you need to make things louder to hear them. The second is sensori-neural. This results from the tiny hairs in the cochlea being destroyed which are then unable to transmit the electrical signal to the auditory nerve. The third kind of loss is a mixed loss. This is a combination of both a sensori-neural and conductive loss.

Degrees of Hearing Loss

To learn more about the degrees (sefverity) of hearing loss and characteristics associated with them go to:

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