2. WHAT IS MIXED HEAR?
• Combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss
• Conductive hearing loss is associated with impaired transmission of sound waves through the external
ear canal to the bones of the middle ear. A blockage of the external ear or dysfunction of the middle ear
will produce conductive loss of hearing.
• A sensorineural hearing loss results when there is dysfunction in either the perception or the
interpretation of sound waves
3. CHARACTERISTICS CAUSES
• Inability to hear people clearly and fully. People
may seem to mumble and those experiencing
hearing loss may not hear all parts of a
conversation. For instance, someone with hearing
loss may miss the essence of a story or punch line
of a joke that someone just told.
• Frequent requests for repetition or clarification.
• Tendency to need to stare at people when they
are talking in order to make it easier to
understand what they are saying.
• Fatigue at the end of the day from straining to
hear.
• Avoidance of social situations because of difficulty
following conversations in noisy environments.
• Tendency to bluff when not hearing someone
because of the fear of asking them to repeat
themselves.
• acquired, meaning that the loss occurred
after birth, due to illness or injury
• build up of fluid behind the eardrum
• ear infections (known as otitis media)
• childhood diseases, such as mumps,
measles, or chicken pox; and
• head trauma
• congenital, meaning that the hearing loss or
deafness was present at birth
• a family history of hearing loss or
deafness
• infections during pregnancy (such as
rubella)
• complications during pregnancy (such
as the Rh factor, maternal diabetes, or
toxicity)
4. SUPPORTS TREATMENTS
• The conductive component
may be amenable to medical
treatment and reversal of the
associated hearing loss, but
the sensorineural component
will most likely be permanent.
Hearing aids can be beneficial
for persons with a mixed
hearing loss, but caution must
be exercised by the hearing
care professional and patient if
the conductive component is
due to an active ear infection.
http://www.nuearhearingcenter.com/
http://hearingloss.org/
