Deafness

Deafness is a general term meaning loss of ability to hear.  Deafness may be due to disease, toxic drugs, trauma, or an inherited disorder.  Regardless of cause, deafness may be classified as conductive, sensorineural, or both.  A conductive hearing loss results from damage to those portions of the ear that transmit sound vibrations in the air to the fluids of the inner ear, usually through the external ear canal, the eardrum, or the small bones (ossicles) of the middle ear cavity. In a conductive hearing loss sound intensity is reduced although sound is not distorted.  Such deafness can often be reversed by medication, or in some causes, in the eardrum , or by repairing damaged ossicles.  Sensorineural hearing loss or nerve deafness is more resistant to therapy . Some of the fragile sensory cells of the organ of corti, located in the cholea, or the auditory nerve fibers, are damaged.  Sensorineural hearing lose involves both loss of sound intensity and distorted sound (the selective decrease of certain frequencies of sound waves.)

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