[Conservative and surgical rehabilitation of hearing loss]

According to WHO 360 million people are hard of hearing. Hearing disorders are not only seen in elderly but also in children. Clinically we differentiate between hearing disorders concerning the transmission of sound from the outer ear to the cochlea (conductive hearing loss) and disorders with reduced sound perception concerning the inner ear an related structures (sensorineural hearing loss). This article summarizes common surgical and technical possibilities for rehabilitation. For each pathology we graphically illustrate the generic working principle of the rehabilitation including the indication range in an exemplary audiogram.