A: There are three categories of hearing loss.
Conductive Hearing Loss:
Such a defect is since the sound does not reach the inner ear ( i.e. Cochlea ). This is due to the obstruction or destruction of the outer and/or middle ear and occurs when there is a distance between the air conduction and bone conduction of sound. The popular reasons that may have caused the same may be the presence of wax, a punctured ear drum, the existence of fluid in the middle ear, or the damage of the middle ear bones.
Sensorineural Loss:
This is a condition caused by inner ear dysfunction, which could be the Cochlea (sensory component) or the hearing nerve (neural component) and occurs when the difference between air to bone conduction of sound is very small.
Mixed Hearing Loss:
Mixed hearing loss is a mixture of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. This occurs when the conductive pathway (outer and middle ear) has an issue and also when the nervous component (inner ear) has an issue.