What are some other causes of hearing loss?
Noise affects the hearing organs (cochlea) in the inner ear. That is why noise-induced hearing loss is sensory-neural type of hearing loss. Certain medications and diseases may also cause damage to the inner ear resulting in hearing loss as well. Generally, it is not possible to distinguish sensory-neural hearing loss caused by exposure to noise from sensory-neural hearing loss due to other causes. Medical judgement, in such cases, is based on the noise exposure history. Workers in noisy environments who are also exposed to vibration (e.g., from a jack hammer) may experience greater hearing loss than those exposed to the same level of noise but not to vibration. Some chemicals are ototoxic; that is, they are toxic to the organs of hearing and balance or the nerves that go to these organs. This means that noise-exposed workers who are also exposed to ototoxic chemicals (e.g., toluene, carbon disulfide) may suffer from more hearing impairment than those who have the same amount of noise
