A temporary or permanent hearing loss typically due to abnormal conditions of the outer and/or middle ear. Conductive hearing impairment happens when a sound doesn’t go efficiently through the outer ear to the middle ear. When this happens, a person usually is not able to hear very low sounds, or it can hear slightly worse. This type of hearing impairment can usually be improved with a medical surgery. There is a variety of reasons why this condition happen. These causes are: fluid in the middle from colds, ear infections, allergies, poor eustachian tube function, perforated eardrum, benign tumors, impacted earwax, infection in the ear canal, swimmer’s ear, presence of a foreign body ad absence or malformation of the outer ear, ear canal or middle ear.
Conductive hearing loss is treated in varying ways, depending on the cause. In cases of infection, antibiotics or antifungal medications are an option. Some conditions are amenable to surgical intervention such as middle ear fluid, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis. If conductive hearing loss is due to head trauma, surgical repair is an option. If absence or deformation of ear structures cannot be corrected, or if the patient declines surgery hearing aids, which amplify sounds are a possible treatment option. Bone conduction hearing aids are useful as these deliver sound directly, through bone, to the cochlea or organ of hearing bypassing the pathology. These can be on a soft or hard headband or can be inserted surgically, a bone anchored hearing aid, of which there are several types. Conventional air conduction hearing aids can also be used.
