Hearing Review

Question 1

What is conductive hearing loss?

Answer 1

Outer/middle ear transmission of sound is interrupted

Question 2

What is SNHL?

Answer 2

Inner ear or hair cells of cochlea or CN VIII are damaged
Loss of hearing through bone conduction

Question 3

What is mixed hearing loss?

Answer 3

CHL and SNHL occurs at the same time

Question 4

What is CAPD?

Answer 4

Neurological
Auditory center of the brain is impacted

Question 5

What is retrocochlear hearing loss?

Answer 5

Damage to auditory nerve or central auditory system

Question 6

What is tinnitus?

Answer 6

Ringing in the ear
Can be chronic or temporary

Question 7

Causes of CHL

Answer 7

Otitis media (poor Eustachian tube function)
Otosclerosis
Tumor, foreign body, external ear infection

Question 8

Causes of SNHL

Answer 8

Hair cells of the cochlea or CN VIII are damaged
Illness/infection, head trauma, drugs, exposure to loud noises, aging, genetic
Requires hearing aids or CI

Question 9

Mixed HL involves which pathways + what is the cause?

Answer 9

Air conduction and bone conduction
Cause is the same as CHL and SNHL

Question 10

CAPD involves the inability to

Answer 10

Process auditory information normally
Hard to localize sound, discriminate speech, noisy and distracting environments are difficult

Question 11

Causes of retrocochlear HL + leads to

Answer 11

Tumor in CN VIII
Speech recognition tasks are harder

Question 12

Causes of tinnitus

Answer 12

Meniere’s disease
Hearing loss
Loud noise exposure
Caffeine
Stress
Head injury

Question 13

What is SLPs role in hearing?

Answer 13

Screening
Consult with audiologists
Carryover treatment at school and at home for hearing aids, accommodations, etc.
Referral: identify and refer out to audiologists and further evals as needed

Question 14

Hearing screenings components

Answer 14

Visual inspection of the outer ear
Pure tone audiometry (1000, 2000, 4000 Hz at 20 dB)

Question 15

What hearing level in dB is considered normal hearing?

Answer 15

-10 to 15 dB

Question 16

What is tympanometry?

Answer 16

Mesure of the flexibility of the TM in response to air pressure
Looking at middle ear function

Question 17

What is speech audiometry?

Answer 17

Measures an individual’s ability to hear/understand speech
Speech reception threshold: lowest dB level that the patient can identify spondee word
Speech recognition: lowest level that patient can hear spondee word

Question 18

What is an ABR?

Answer 18

Measures the health of the cochlea/auditory pathways with the CNS
Usually used with babies and young children who cannot complete hearing assessments

Question 19

What are OAEs?

Answer 19

Measures health of the cochlea
Emitted by hair cells of the cochlea
If no response, cochlear pathology, blockage in outer/middle ear

Question 20

What is the speech banana?

Answer 20

Area where all speech sounds can be found on an audiogram

Question 21

Types of hearing aids: ITE

Answer 21

In the ear
Fits inside the ear
Mild to severe HL
Worn mostly by adults

Question 22

Types of hearing aids: ITC

Answer 22

In the canal
Very small and fits in the ear canal (molded to fit)
CIC (completely in canal) are hidden
Mild to moderately severe HL, primarily for adults

Question 23

Types of hearing aids: BTW

Answer 23

Behind the ear
Worn behind the ear with plastic earmold
Mild to profound HL
Primarily used with children due to frequent ear mold changes