Which of the following is a characteristic of sensorineural hearing loss?

Sensorineural hearing loss is characterized by damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or the auditory nerve pathways. In this type of hearing loss, both air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) thresholds are affected, but one key aspect is that air conduction thresholds are generally worse than bone conduction thresholds.

This occurs because the inner ear structures that can lead to sensorineural loss impact the overall auditory function and are involved in the processing of sound in a way that affects both types of conduction, but typically air conduction measures show greater impairment. Thus, the observation that AC thresholds are worse than BC thresholds accurately reflects the nature of sensorineural hearing loss, distinguishing it from conductive hearing loss, where AC thresholds are significantly poorer due to problems in the outer or middle ear, while bone conduction remains relatively intact.

Understanding these auditory threshold relationships is crucial in diagnosing the type of hearing loss a patient may be experiencing, guiding appropriate intervention strategies.