Hearing loss can affect people of any age. One in six adults have some degree of hearing loss, which increase to three in four above the age of 75. Children can also be affected, usually due to fluid or infection in the middle ear but also due to congenital problems or viral illness during early childhood.

The mechanism of hearing
We can hear sounds via the ear canal and eardrum by vibrations of the eardrum, ossicles (small bones in the ear) and then the inner ear or cochlea where the sound waves are changed into electrical signals which are passed on to the brain along the auditory nerve.

Types of deafness
The causes of deafness can be broadly grouped into conductive problems in the ear canal and middle ear (conductive hearing loss) or sensori-neural problems, which is a problem with the translation of the sound waves into an electrical signal by the inner (sensorineural hearing loss).

A conductive hearing loss can occur due to wax blocking the ear canal, or infection, a collection of fluid, trauma or fixation of the ossicles in the middle ear. Fortunately they can usually be treated.