How are conductive hearing loss and sensorineural hearing loss different?

Conductive and sensorineural hearing loss are distinguished by the location of the impairment within the auditory system and the potential for medical intervention.

Conductive Hearing Loss

Conductive hearing loss occurs when a condition in the outer or middle ear prevents sound from being effectively transmitted to the cochlea in the inner ear. This type of impairment is often treatable, and in many cases, it can be corrected through surgery. It is characterized by an "air-bone gap," where air-conduction thresholds are significantly poorer than bone-conduction thresholds.12

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Sensorineural hearing loss involves damage to the sensory transducer cells in the cochlea or, less frequently, the neural pathways leading to the brain. Unlike conductive loss, this condition is usually permanent, and surgery is seldom effective in restoring hearing. In these cases, both air-conduction and bone-conduction thresholds are typically affected, resulting in an air-bone gap close to zero. While hearing aids may assist some individuals, they cannot fully compensate for the loss of suprathreshold abilities, such as frequency resolution.12