A broken eardrum can affect hearing. Because the eardrum is a very important structure in air conduction, sound waves in the air cause the eardrum to vibrate, which causes the auditory chain to vibrate, which transmits energy to the inner ear, generating nerve impulses that travel to the auditory center to produce hearing, which is a very classical hearing conduction pathway. A broken eardrum affects sound transmission, but a broken eardrum will not cause total deafness. Clinical statistics show that hearing loss is about 20 decibels when the eardrum is broken, which means that if you speak loudly, you can still hear the sound. There is another way of hearing conduction, bone conduction, through the vibration of the cranial bones causing the vibration of the lymphatic fluid in the inner ear, which is transmitted to the auditory center through the auditory nerve.