Diagnosis & Counseling

Classifying Hearing Loss

After testing is completed, the audiologist will explain the results to help you understand the symptoms you're experiencing. To best illustrate the nature of your hearing loss, the audiologist will refer to your audiogram. This is a graphical representation, completed during testing, that records the specific pitches (frequencies) and loudness (intensity) levels that you can hear with each ear. The audiologist will use this information to classify your level and type of hearing loss, and to recommend appropriate treatment options.

The terms used to indicate the degree of hearing loss are mild, moderate, severe and profound. Most hearing losses range from mild to moderate.

Treatment Options

Depending on your diagnosis, the audiologist may recommend medical intervention and/or rehabilitation with hearing aids or other assistive devices.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss in adults is not usually a medical condition. In other words, 80 percent of adults with hearing loss suffer from nerve deafness (sensorineural hearing loss), which is not medically or surgically treatable. The treatment for sensorineural hearing loss is often the use of hearing aids.

Center for Hearing Health staff members provide complete services for the selection, fitting, dispensing and management of hearing aids, as well as other amplifying devices. If you require a cochlear implant, the audiologist will refer you to a physician in the PAMF Department of Ear, Nose & Throat.

Conductive Hearing Loss

In approximately 20 percent of adult cases, conductive hearing loss is diagnosed. Conductive hearing loss usually occurs from a blockage of sound in the outer or middle ear, and is often medically treatable. If you have a conductive hearing loss, the audiologist will refer you to a physician in the PAMF Department of Ear, Nose & Throat.

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