3 Different types of hearing loss

The type of hearing loss incurred depends on which part of the ear is affected.

This picture is a diagram of an ear. It’s 2D and you can see the External, Middle, and Inner. The External ear is what we recognise as an ear lobe. The fleshy part of the ear is labelled ‘Auricle’. The ‘Ear canal’ is the tube that leads into the Middle Ear. In the Middle Ear, the labels are ‘Malleus’, ‘Incus’, Tympanic membrane, Tympanic cavity, and the ‘Stapes (attached to oval window)’, and the ‘Round window’. In the Inner ear section the labels are ‘Vestibule’, ‘Vestibular nerve’, ‘Cochlear nerve’, ‘Cochlea’, ‘Eustachian tube’.
Figure 5 Parts of the ear
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This picture is a diagram of an ear. It’s 2D and you can see the External, Middle, and Inner. The External ear is what we recognise as an ear lobe. The fleshy part of the ear is labelled ‘Auricle’. The ‘Ear canal’ is the tube that leads into the Middle Ear. In the Middle Ear, the labels are ‘Malleus’, ‘Incus’, Tympanic membrane, Tympanic cavity, and the ‘Stapes (attached to oval window)’, and the ‘Round window’. In the Inner ear section the labels are ‘Vestibule’, ‘Vestibular nerve’, ‘Cochlear nerve’, ‘Cochlea’, ‘Eustachian tube’.

Figure 5 Parts of the ear

I would suggest the majority of hearing loss is a ‘Sensorineural’ loss. This is caused by a malfunction in the cochlear. The cochlear is situated in the inner part of the ear.

The other types of hearing loss are: Conductive (when there is damage in the middle ear) and Multi Conductive and Sensorineural which would suggest the middle and inner ear are impaired.

Activity 4: Communication tactics

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

If you were to meet someone who is deaf or hard of hearing how should you communicate with them? Make a list of the sorts of things you should and shouldn’t do.

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Answer

Things you should do:

  • Get the person’s attention
  • Face the person at all times
  • Use gestures and body language
  • Take your time/slow down your speech
  • Switch off TVs, radios or anything else that might impere hearing
  • Use an expressive face.

Things you shouldn’t do:

  • Say ‘it doesn’t matter’
  • Stand in a position where they can't see you properly
  • Shout
  • Cover your mouth

The tactics discussed may help communicating with deaf people. For those people who are profoundly deaf or struggle to communicate using English it may be that they are most comfortable communicating in sign language. Section 4 considers British Sign Language in more detail.

2 Hearing loss and the ear

4 British Sign Language (BSL): an introduction