Acoustic Neuropathy

The word acoustic refers to hearing and perception of sound. Neuropathy describes any disorder that affects some part of the nervous system, including the auditory nerve. Acoustic Neuropathy is a blanket term for symptoms that affect the auditory nerve, but which often result from other disorders.

Auditory Nerve

• Acoustic neuropathy occurs in the auditory nerve located in the inner ear. This nerve connects the part of the ear that translates sound into nerve impulses with the hearing center in the brain, according to the North Carolina Hearing Loss (NCHL) website.

Definition

• Acoustic neuropathy is defined as any change or decline in hearing that affects the auditory nerve, according to the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Causes

• Any disease or disorder that adversely impacts the auditory nerve and affects hearing can result in acoustic neuropathy, according to the NCHL website. Symptoms of acoustic neuropathy include overall hearing loss, high-frequency hearing loss, vertigo and auditory neuropathy.

Auditory Neuropathy

• Auditory neuropathy is a type of acoustic neuropathy characterized by the inability of the auditory nerve to properly synchronize hearing and understanding. Patients with this type of acoustic neuropathy can hear clearly, but cannot make sense of the sounds they hear, according to the Health Affairs, University of California, Irvine website.

Tumor Trigger

• Acoustic neuropathy symptoms can be triggered by the growth of an auditory nerve tumor known as an acoustic neuroma tumor or a vestibular schwannoma, according to the Journal of Neurosurgery.