In cases where the causes are environmental, the treatment is to eliminate or reduce these causes first of all, and then to fit patients with a hearing aid, especially if they are elderly. When the loss is due to heredity, total deafness is often the end result. On the one hand, persons who experience gradual deterioration of their hearing are fortunate in that they have learned to speak. Ultimately the affected person may bridge communication problems by becoming skilled in sign language, speech-reading, using a hearing aid, or accepting elective surgery to use a prosthetic devices such as a cochlear implant.
Post-lingual deafness
Nonsyndromic deafness
Cortical deafness
Hearing loss with craniofacial syndromes
Optic nerve hypoplasia
Septo-optic dysplasia
Prelingual deafness
Vibroacoustic disease