The degree of loss can be decreased through the use of a hearing aid or by surgery. People with conductive loss might speak softly, hear better in noisy surroundings than people with normal hearing, and might experience ringing in their ears.
Sensorineural loss affects the inner ear and the auditory nerve and can range from mild to profound.
People with sensorineural loss might speak loudly, experience greater high-frequency loss, have difficulty distinguishing consonant sounds, and not hear well in noisy environments. Mixed loss results from both a conductive and sensorineural loss. Given the close relationship between oral language and hearing, students with hearing loss might also have speech impairments. Those born deaf or who become deaf as very young children might have more limited speech development. Some deaf students are skilled lip-readers, but many are not.