Hearing loss is caused by many factors, most frequently from natural aging or exposure to loud noise.
The most common causes of hearing loss are:
- Aging
- Noise exposure
- Head trauma
- Virus or disease
- Genetics
- Ototoxicity
Things that can cause sensorineural hearing loss are:
- Aging
- Injury
- Excessive noise exposure
- Viral infections (such as measles or mumps)
- Shingles
- Ototoxic drugs (medications that damage hearing)
- Meningitis
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- High fever or elevated body temperature
- Ménière’s disease (a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance)
- Acoustic tumors
- Heredity
- Obesity
- Smoking
- Hypertension
Things that can cause conductive hearing loss are:
- Infections of the ear canal or middle ear resulting in fluid or pus buildup
- Perforation or scarring of the eardrum
- Wax buildup
- Dislocation of the middle ear bones (ossicles)
- Foreign object in the ear canal
- Otosclerosis (an abnormal bone growth in the middle ear)
- Abnormal growths or tumours
