Many adults will have some element of hearing loss, which increases as you get older. Often this is due to noise-induced damage, degradation in the inner ear hearing mechanism as you get older, or other less common problems such as trauma, drugs, or viral infections.
Types of hearing loss
Conductive hearing losses affect the portion of the hearing mechanism that includes the ear canal, eardrum, the middle ear and its’ tiny bones. This may be in the form of wax, outer ear infections, eardrum disease, or middle ear problems.
Sensorineural deafness relates to problems of the inner ear, the nerve to the brain or the brain itself.
Cholesteatoma
Cholesteatomas are where the normal migratory action of the skin of the eardrum is disrupted andthe skin cells of the eardrum ball up and produce pressure damage to the structures around it. If there is concern that there is a cholesteatoma present, then the patient should be reviewed by an ENT.