DAVID COX: We have learned that the transfer

of sound waves from the auditory canal to the inner ear

is a necessary first step before sensory neurons can send signals to the brain.
But what happens if the first step is blocked?
Conductive hearing loss results from anything
that blocks sound waves from reaching your inner ear.
Blockage could result from anything from sticking your finger in your ear,
to damaging your eardrum, to damaging your ossicles.
Beethoven, the famous composer, suffered from conductive hearing loss
because of a condition called otosclerosis,
which slowly damages the ossicles.
Beethoven was known to press his ear against the piano
as he played so that the vibrations of the music he composed
were conducted directly through his skull bone,
rather than through his ossicles.
It's also possible to hear in the case of conduction loss
by biting down on the object making the sound--
a piano, for instance-- allowing the skull
to mechanically couple to the vibration of the sound-producing
object through the object itself, rather than through the air.
Some newer headphones rely on the skull conduction effect
to allow the user to hear without producing an actual external sound.
There are a number of diagnostic tests that
can distinguish conduction deafness, which can be typically treated
with external hearing aids, from the more serious forms of deafness, caused
by inner ear, or auditory cortex, damage.
More on these later.
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