[Wiljen]

So the other morning, I woke up partially deaf. I had no other ailments and had gone to bed perfectly content only to wake up with no hearing below about 1.5kHz on my left side. Bizarre. To make matters worse, I was 900 miles from home and my normal doctor so I flew home that day with every pop of my ear on the plane making me cringe thinking it might be the last I heard.

I got in with my ENT as quickly as I could and found out what I have is not super uncommon and unfortunately there is a growing body of evidence that it is getting more common. It is a problem of the nerve and requires heavy steroid treatment to aid recovery. My treatment has been both oral steroids and shots directly through the eardrum to introduce steroid at the nerve itself. I say this not to garner sympathy but because I thought I was fairly educated on hearing loss and was doing the things I should be to prevent it. The idea that you could wake up deaf without any prior warning was not something on my radar but it should have been and it should be on your radar too.

SSNHL or SSHL is diagnosed by having three consecutive frequency ranges (usually the lower end of the audible range 50,100,200Hz) with a marked decrease in sensitivity. It doesn't have to be completely lost, just decreased enough to sound imbalanced. it is most common in ages 40-60 but can occur at any-time, and is usually one-sided but rare cases of both ears doing it at once have been reported.

If that defines you, get to an urgent care and have them start treatment then. Even better, get in with an ENT, if you can go that day. Waiting to see if maybe it is allergies or congestion only lessens the odds of a full recovery.

I'm half-way through weeks of shots and impatiently waiting and hoping for some sign of life below 1.5kHz from my left ear, but it's not recovering as quickly as I would like (not sure that was possible short of divine intervention).

Protect yourselves so we can all enjoy this hobby of ours for years to come. I thought I had a pretty good grip on hearing loss, but now with first-hand experience I can say it is different and worse than you think, do everything you can to prevent it and treat it if you find yourself in a similar spot.

Wiljen

 

[msing539]

Oh no... hope you have a full recovery and thanks for the heads up.

 

[ostewart]

So the other morning, I woke up partially deaf. I had no other ailments and had gone to bed perfectly content only to wake up with no hearing below about 1.5kHz on my left side. Bizarre. To make matters worse, I was 900 miles from home and my normal doctor so I flew home that day with every pop of my ear on the plane making me cringe thinking it might be the last I heard.

I got in with my ENT as quickly as I could and found out what I have is not super uncommon and unfortunately there is a growing body of evidence that it is getting more common. It is a problem of the nerve and requires heavy steroid treatment to aid recovery. My treatment has been both oral steroids and shots directly through the eardrum to introduce steroid at the nerve itself. I say this not to garner sympathy but because I thought I was fairly educated on hearing loss and was doing the things I should be to prevent it. The idea that you could wake up deaf without any prior warning was not something on my radar but it should have been and it should be on your radar too.

SSNHL or SSHL is diagnosed by having three consecutive frequency ranges (usually the lower end of the audible range 50,100,200Hz) with a marked decrease in sensitivity. It doesn't have to be completely lost, just decreased enough to sound imbalanced. it is most common in ages 40-60 but can occur at any-time, and is usually one-sided but rare cases of both ears doing it at once have been reported.

If that defines you, get to an urgent care and have them start treatment then. Even better, get in with an ENT, if you can go that day. Waiting to see if maybe it is allergies or congestion only lessens the odds of a full recovery.

I'm half-way through weeks of shots and impatiently waiting and hoping for some sign of life below 1.5kHz from my left ear, but it's not recovering as quickly as I would like (not sure that was possible short of divine intervention).

Protect yourselves so we can all enjoy this hobby of ours for years to come. I thought I had a pretty good grip on hearing loss, but now with first-hand experience I can say it is different and worse than you think, do everything you can to prevent it and treat it if you find yourself in a similar spot.

Wiljen

So sorry to hear this and I really do hope your hearing comes back - take care and I hope to see you back reviewing soon.

 

[Jon L]

Wish you quick recovery. We think our medicine/science is advanced, but there are numerous conditions that are labelled "idiopathic," including SSNHL and Bell's Palsy that we throw the usual steroid/antiviral at..

 

[Tanalasta]

SNRI is an ENT emergency and there is evidence that early treatment (steroids) improves outcomes. Intra-auricular steroids are more controversial

Not everyone makes a full recovery. But similar to 'burn-in' (sorry couldn't resist) ... the brain does adapt to the loss. If I concentrate, I notice the frequencies I am missing. But on the whole, I can still enjoy music with the equipment I have. And it's improved over time.

 

[redrol]

It could be you have a estuation tube problem and it is pressurizing your eardrum. Try a Benadryl to see if its allergies.

 

[ryanmatic]

SSNHL or SSHL is diagnosed by having three consecutive frequency ranges (usually the lower end of the audible range 50,100,200Hz) with a marked decrease in sensitivity. It doesn't have to be completely lost, just decreased enough to sound imbalanced. it is most common in ages 40-60 but can occur at any-time, and is usually one-sided but rare cases of both ears doing it at once have been reported.

If that defines you, get to an urgent care and have them start treatment then. Even better, get in with an ENT, if you can go that day. Waiting to see if maybe it is allergies or congestion only lessens the odds of a full recovery.

So sorry to hear you experienced this. The same thing happened to my right hear back in 2017. The steroidal therapy helped a bit, and since then the imbalance has become less perceptible to me although the tinnitus that came with it remains

Never take your hearing for granted, and ***, just like @Wiljen said: if your hearing suddenly drastically changes, go see an ENT right away! The window of (partial) recovery is narrow.

 

[Tanalasta]

It could be you have a estuation tube problem and it is pressurizing your eardrum. Try a Benadryl to see if its allergies.

SNRI is somewhat more serious than this and requires rather urgent intervention to have a good likelihood of an outcome. The thought is that an immune process leads to inflammation of the auditory nerve and early damage may attenuate the damage to the nerve.

It doesn't (in my experience) make a full recovery and the tinnitus can be irritating. It is a well recognised entity and a thorough evaluation should readily tell the difference between SNRI and a conductive problem.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

So the other morning, I woke up partially deaf. I had no other ailments and had gone to bed perfectly content only to wake up with no hearing below about 1.5kHz on my left side. Bizarre. To make matters worse, I was 900 miles from home and my normal doctor so I flew home that day with every pop of my ear on the plane making me cringe thinking it might be the last I heard.

I got in with my ENT as quickly as I could and found out what I have is not super uncommon and unfortunately there is a growing body of evidence that it is getting more common. It is a problem of the nerve and requires heavy steroid treatment to aid recovery. My treatment has been both oral steroids and shots directly through the eardrum to introduce steroid at the nerve itself. I say this not to garner sympathy but because I thought I was fairly educated on hearing loss and was doing the things I should be to prevent it. The idea that you could wake up deaf without any prior warning was not something on my radar but it should have been and it should be on your radar too.

SSNHL or SSHL is diagnosed by having three consecutive frequency ranges (usually the lower end of the audible range 50,100,200Hz) with a marked decrease in sensitivity. It doesn't have to be completely lost, just decreased enough to sound imbalanced. it is most common in ages 40-60 but can occur at any-time, and is usually one-sided but rare cases of both ears doing it at once have been reported.

If that defines you, get to an urgent care and have them start treatment then. Even better, get in with an ENT, if you can go that day. Waiting to see if maybe it is allergies or congestion only lessens the odds of a full recovery.

I'm half-way through weeks of shots and impatiently waiting and hoping for some sign of life below 1.5kHz from my left ear, but it's not recovering as quickly as I would like (not sure that was possible short of divine intervention).

Protect yourselves so we can all enjoy this hobby of ours for years to come. I thought I had a pretty good grip on hearing loss, but now with first-hand experience I can say it is different and worse than you think, do everything you can to prevent it and treat it if you find yourself in a similar spot.

Wiljen

So sorry. Wishing you the very best of luck with it.

 

[redrol]

SNRI is somewhat more serious than this and requires rather urgent intervention to have a good likelihood of an outcome. The thought is that an immune process leads to inflammation of the auditory nerve and early damage may attenuate the damage to the nerve.

It doesn't (in my experience) make a full recovery and the tinnitus can be irritating. It is a well recognised entity and a thorough evaluation should readily tell the difference between SNRI and a conductive problem.

It's def not a cure, but it would help to show the issue. My wife has this going on. Pressurized ear drums due to blocked tubes.

 

[benhatchins]

How are you doing now? Two weeks ago, it started in my left ear. Treatment was started the day after. Yet, after 2 weeks, I don't notice revovery, although the first evaluation after 1 week, showed a bit of recovery that I couldn't notice in real life. I'm really worried about the prognosis now. My life is built around music (composing, recording, playing). It is very heavy psychologically impacting my life quality. Please people: don't mess with your ears. You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone. Seek medical help as soon as possible. The first doctor I saw on the day I had the hearing loss, was certain that it was a cold coming up. So she sent me home with the message to not worry. Later that day I went to the Audiology Island and was referred to an emergency consultation with an ENT.

 

[Wiljen]

I have been lucky and gotten some of it back but still have lost lows below about 500Hz on that side so not a complete recovery, but more than some. Tinnitus is still off and on with some good days and others pretty rough with my own 5 alarm fire drill in my head.