Basically, that is what sensorineural hearing loss is...distortion. We can hear but we cannot understand. We have trouble with speech discrimination rather than loudness. With conductive hearing loss, the volume is often the problem, which is why hearing aids can help conductive hearing loss better than SNHL. The majority of hard of hearing people have a combo of these two types of HL, It usually starts with SNHL, and over the years it starts being conductive (volume related) as well. SNHL begins when the hair cells in the cochlea (inner ear) start to die off, one level at a time, over time. Conductive HL is middle ear related. Cochlear implants bypass the cochlea to stimulate the auditory nerve directly....which is why they are so successful. How many of you were told at one time that your auditory nerve was 'dead'?