The first determination is the kind of hearing loss that you have, whether the hearing loss is problem with sound conduction into the inner ear or with sound conduction from the inner ear to the brain. Once this is deciphered, it must be determined why you have that hearing loss.
For those with a problem with the conduction of sound from the ambient air to the inner ear itself, the option of a hearing aid to amplify sound to the inner ear is available. Surgery may also be an option and is determined in the office.
For those with a profound hearing loss or a profound deficit in speech determination, a cochlear implant is available.
For people with deafness on one side or chronically draining ears and a hearing loss related to conduction of sound to the inner ear, a bone-anchored hearing aid or BAHA is an available option.
Ossicular Reconstruction
The bones of hearing can often be reconstructed if they have been eroded by disease or trauma. Either the bones of hearing are sculpted to bridge the eardrum to the inner ear or a tiny synthetic prosthesis is placed to bridge the eardrum to the inner ear.
Stapedectomy
Stapedectomy is a surgery performed for those with otosclerosis. This procedure results in almost complete restoration of the hearing to the level of the sensorineural hearing or the highest level possible with your inner ear.
Cochlear Implant
A cochlear implant is an option for those people with severe to profound hearing loss related to loss of function of their inner ear. Tremendous strides have been made in these devices such that excellent performers can hear at a level close to normal whereas they were previously deaf or almost deaf.
Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA)
The Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a device that is an option for those with both conductive hearing loss (a problem with sound conduction to the inner ear) and one-sided deafness. This device exploits the fact that stimulation of the skull itself directly stimulates the inner ear. Thus, the problems one has in conducting sound to the inner ear becomes moot. In those with one-sided deafness, a microphone placed on the bad ear acts to stimulate the inner ear on the good side.
Cholesteatoma
Cholesteatoma is a condition where a cyst producing dead skin exists either in the ear behind the eardrum or extends into the mastoid bone behind the ear. Management of cholesteatoma requires that an operation known as a tympanomastoidectomy be performed.
