Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) results from damage to the tiny hair cells in the inner ear. Causes of sensorineural hearing loss can be age, noise and diseases.

What is sensorineural hearing loss?

A sensorineural hearing loss (also known as SNHL) results from loss of or damage to the tiny hair cells in the inner ear. The tiny hair cells transmit sound from the inner ear through the hearing nerve to the brain.

Causes of sensorineural hearing loss

A sensorineural hearing loss is typically be caused by:

• Ageing
• Noise
• Certain types of diseases
• Genes (inherited)
• Rubella during pregnancy
• Low birth weight
• Head/ear injuries.

But a sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by other causes as well.

Everybody loses some of the tiny hair cells in the cochlea throughout life, while their hearing gradually becomes less acute. This is a natural part of aging. Ageing is one of the major causes of a sensorineural hearing loss. A sensorineural hearing loss caused by age is called an age-related hearing loss or Presbyacusis.

However, the hair cells can also be damaged by excessive noise. As a result of prolonged exposure to high intensity noise either from the work environment or from listening to loud music, sensorineural hearing impairment is becoming more common.

You can also suffer from sensorineural hearing loss having been exposed to diseases such as mumps, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, ménières disease or if you have used certain drugs, in particular aspirin, cisplatin, quinine or the antibiotics streptomycin and gentamicin.

Sensorineural hearing impairment may also occur if your mother has had rubella (German measles) during pregnancy, or if your birth weight was low.

Sensorineural hearing loss can be inherited (genetic hearing loss) and finally you may lose your hearing ability due to head/ear injuries.

A ski slope hearing loss and a cookie bite hearing loss are two classical types of a sensorineural hearing loss. A ski slope hearing loss mostly affects the high frequencies, whereas a cookie bite hearing loss mostly affects the mid-frequencies.

If you have a sensorineural hearing loss in both ears (bilateral sensorineural hearing loss) and there is a great difference in the hearing loss between the ears, it is called an asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss.

Symptoms of a sensorineural hearing loss

Typically, a sensorineural hearing loss develops gradually and slowly becomes worse and worse. It does not happen from day to day unless it is a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (see below). In this way, we often do not notice that our hearing has becomes worse. But if it has become more difficult to hear voices in places with background noise, e.g. at parties, restaurants or family gatherings, or it has become more difficult to hear or understand females’ or children’s voices, you might have a sensorineural hearing loss. Problems hearing soft or high sounds such as the clock ticking, the refrigerator humming or the birds singing may also be an indication of a sensorineural hearing loss.

Get your hearing checked

If you think that you might have a sensorineural hearing loss, we recommend that you get your hearing checked by a hearing professional.

Is a sensorineural hearing loss permanent?

Yes, unfortunately a sensorineural hearing loss is permanent as the hair cell in the inner ear cannot be repaired or replaced. And the hearing does not recover fully or partly over time or by itself. The hearing that is lost is lost permanently. An age-related hearing loss, for example, typically worsens over time.

Can a sensorineural hearing loss be cured? In most cases unfortunately not. A sensorineural hearing loss is normally treated with hearing aids or hearing implants. Certain types of sudden sensorineural hearing losses can in some cases be cured but here it is important to seek medical help immediately.

Treatment of sensorineural hearing loss

People with sensorineural hearing loss cannot regain their hearing, but most people can benefit from hearing aids. A more severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss can be treated with hearing implants. A few cases of sensorineural hearing loss can be (partly) treated by means of surgery.

A hearing test carried out by a hearing professional will detect if you have a sensorineural hearing loss.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss

A certain type of sensorineural hearing loss is called sudden sensorineural hearing loss or just sudden hearing loss. If you experience a sudden sensorineural hearing loss you should contact a doctor as soon as possible.