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Health Dictionary

Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.

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Hearing impairment classification

Introduction

Overview

Overview

Classification is based on laterality, severity, cause, anatomy of ear, symmetry, clinical characteristics, age of onset, and associated symptoms.

Classification

Classification

Hearing losses can be classified according to:[1]

  1. Laterality
  2. Symmetry
  3. Clinical characteristic (syndromic or not)
  4. Time of onset (congenital, perinatal, or postnatal)
  5. Hereditary (genetic or not)
  6. Time of manifestation (prelingual, perilingual, or post-lingual)
  7. Intensity (mild, moderate, severe, and profound)
CLASSIFICATION BASED OF SEVERITY OF DISEASE[2]
MILD MODERATE SEVERE DISABLING
HEARING LOSS 26–40 dB HL 41–60 dB HL 61–80 dB HL >80 dB HL
DESCRIPTION Patient hears fine Hear with some difficulty

People Mumble

Difficulty in hearing Patients rely on reading lips.

The term deaf is often used by persons

with profound hearing loss with >80 dB HL.

INTERVENTION Communication strategies Communication strategies

Amplification

Communication strategies

Hearing aids

Cochlear implant

Communication strategies

Hearing aids

Cochlear implant

Sign language

Lip reading

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON ANATOMY OF EAR[3]
CONDUCTIVE SENSORINEURAL MIXED
CHL occurs when sound is not conducted efficiently through the outer ear canal to the middle ear due to any cause. SNHL occurs when there’s damage to the internal ear or to the nerve pathways from the ear to the brain that is vestibulocochlear nerve or sensory relay center for auditory stimulus. So injury at the cochlea or proximal to the cochlea is termed as SNHL. Mixed HL is defined as CHL and SNHL.
CHL accounts for 90%–95% of all childhood HL. SNHL is more common in adults.
With pure conductive hearing loss, the quality of hearing and speech discrimination is good.
Often only mild and is never worse. It can be mild, moderate, or severe, including complete deafness.
Common causes in adults include: If SNHL takes hours or days to develop it can be due to:

If hearing loss develops in weeks:

If happens in years:

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CAUSE[4][5]
CONGENITAL ACQUIRED
  • Neoplastic: Direct compression of the cochlear nerve by the tumor, occlusion or vascular compression of the internal auditory artery, intratumor bleeding, internal auditory channel occlusion, and toxic substances produced by the tumor that result in degeneration of the inner ear.
References

References

  1. ↑ Nieman CL, Oh ES (2020). “Hearing Loss”. Ann Intern Med. 173 (11): ITC81–ITC96. doi:10.7326/AITC202012010. PMID 33253610 Check |pmid= value (help).
  2. ↑ Nieman CL, Oh ES (2020). “Hearing Loss”. Ann Intern Med. 173 (11): ITC81–ITC96. doi:10.7326/AITC202012010. PMID 33253610 Check |pmid= value (help).
  3. ↑ Kral A (2017). “[Pathophysiology of hearing loss : Classification and treatment options]”. HNO. 65 (4): 290–297. doi:10.1007/s00106-016-0183-1. PMID 27299892.
  4. ↑ Kral A (2017). “[Pathophysiology of hearing loss : Classification and treatment options]”. HNO. 65 (4): 290–297. doi:10.1007/s00106-016-0183-1. PMID 27299892.
  5. ↑ Kenna MA (2015). “Acquired Hearing Loss in Children”. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 48 (6): 933–53. doi:10.1016/j.otc.2015.07.011. PMID 26452421.

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: