If you have a hearing problem, it could be something wrong in your ear’s ability to conduct sound or your brain’s ability to process impulses or both depending on your specific symptoms.
Brain function, age, general health, and the genetic makeup of your ear all play a role in your ability to process sound. You might be dealing with one of the following types of hearing loss if you have the aggravating experience of hearing people speak but not being able to understand what they are saying.
Conductive Hearing Loss
You may be suffering from conductive hearing loss if you have to repeatedly swallow and tug on your ears while saying with growing irritation “There’s something in my ear”. The ear’s ability to conduct sound to the brain is lessened by problems to the outer and middle ear including wax buildup, ear infections, eardrum damage, and fluid buildup. You may still be capable of hearing some people with louder voices while only partly hearing people with lower voices depending on the severity of your hearing loss.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Where conductive hearing loss can be triggered by outer- and middle-ear issues, Sensorineural hearing loss impacts the inner ear. Sounds to the brain can be stopped if the auditory nerve or the hair like nerves are damaged. Voices may sound slurred or muddy to you, and sounds can come across as either too low or too high. You’re experiencing high frequency hearing loss, if you have difficulty hearing women and children’s voices or cannot distinguish voices from the background noise.