There are three types of hearing loss you may be diagnosed with:
This means your hearing loss is due to an issue with your ear canal, ear drum or your middle ear (the space behind your ear that connects with your throat). Causes could be, but are not limited to, too much ear wax, a hole in your ear drum or fluid behind your ear drum. This type of hearing loss may be fixable with treatment from an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physician.
This means that your hearing loss is due to an issue with your inner ear, auditory nerve, or even higher in your hearing system. Many issues can cause this type of hearing loss and providers are not able to differentiate them with current tests. One of the goals of APARC is to help develop testing strategies that will allow precise diagnoses of these types of hearing losses to improve treatment options. This type of hearing loss is not yet fixable but is generally treatable with hearing aids or other devices depending on the severity of the hearing loss.
This means your hearing loss is due to a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. With a conductive component to this type of hearing loss, you will be referred to an ENT physician to see if that portion of your hearing loss can be fixed.