Hearing loss due to disease of the auditory pathways which originate in the cochlear muscle of the pons and then ascend bilaterally to the midbrain, the thalamus, and then the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe. Bilateral lesions of the auditory pathways are usually required to cause central hearing loss. Cortical deafness refers to loss of hearing due to bilateral auditory cortex lesions. Unilateral brain stem lesions involving the cochlear nuclei may result in unilateral hearing loss.

The symptoms of central hearing loss include – difficulty in comprehension of the word which is known as word deafness, some psychological problems occur such as Schizophrenia which is responsible of misdiagnosis of the actual diseased state, hearing loss that occurs suddenly. Other Symptoms are inability to recognize random sounds such as ringing of the telephone or music.