Neural Hearing Loss

Neural hearing loss involved the innermost portions of the hearing system, that which is the auditory nerve, the VII cranial nerve, and the brain. This type is one of two subcategories of sensorineural hearing loss, the other being sensory hearing loss, and is the most difficult to assess due to location.

Depending on exactly where the damage or abnormality is situated, symptoms may involve wispy, unintelligible sounds or absolutely no sounds whatsoever. If the first circumstance is the case, the anomaly is not likely to be solely in contact with the auditory or VII cranial nerves or that severe. No sound heard is an indication that the anomaly is situated around or on the auditory and/or VII cranial nerves and is irreparably severe. In either case, some burning or “fullness” might be detected, if the cause is viral, bacterial, or disease- or tumor-oriented. Hearing loss or deafness in that ear is a primary symptom.

As for causes of neural hearing loss, head trauma, such as getting whacked in the side of the head with a baseball bat; birth defect, where the auditory nerve might be altogether missing; hereditary, depending on family medical details, which can also allude to a possible solution to correct the abnormality and restore hearing; noise-induced hearing loss, such as rock concerts, loud machinery, and racecars; a perforated eardrum; serious diseases including Autoimmune Disease, Wegener’s Granulomatosis, Mumps, AIDS/HIV/ARC, Syphilis, Measles, Meningitis, and, for newborn babies, Chlamydia and Fetal Alcohol Intake, which is common with alcoholic mothers.

Treatments for neural hearing loss involve mostly tests, like the Auditory Brainstem test, to determine exact where along the nerves the anomaly is located. Sometimes tumors can be removed, but in all other cases, no correction can be made and hearing loss is permanent. This is due to the fact that sound impulses cannot get through the auditory nerve into the brain where they can be interpreted. If, as in the case of a birth defect, the auditory nerve is missing altogether, sound impulses cannot get past the cochlea.

One solution that might help involves an Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) to restore at least some of the hearing that had been lost, but this rectification doesn’t always work, especially of such problems are severe or centered in the brain itself.

Other forms of assistance that allow the deaf or hard-of-hearing to communicate include text messaging, light signals and vibration mechanisms on phones, and amplified sound devices (for those who do not have total hearing loss). These instruments play a crucial role in helping those with hearing loss to live interactive lives.

Neural hearing loss might be the end of hearing in a general sense, but it need not be the end of life. With patience and faith, those who endure irreparable hearing loss can live normally and happily.