Hearing loss has a track record for developing gradually. This can make the symptoms difficult to detect. It’s nothing to concern yourself with, you just need the volume on the TV a little louder, no big deal, right? That’s normally the situation, yes, but not always. It turns out hearing loss can also occur abruptly and without much warning.
It can be very alarming when the state of your health abruptly changes. When people’s hair falls out slowly over a very long period of time, for example, they would most likely just blame it on aging and simply assume they’re going bald. But you would probably want to make an appointment with your doctor if you woke up one morning and all your hair had fallen out.
The same is true when you develop sudden hearing loss. When this happens, acting fast is crucial.
What is sudden hearing loss?
Long-term hearing loss is more common than sudden hearing loss or SSHL for short. But it isn’t exactly uncommon for people to experience sudden hearing loss. Around 1 in 5000 people per year suffer from SSHL.
Here are some symptoms of sudden hearing loss:
- As the name implies, sudden deafness typically occurs quickly. This typically means that sudden hearing loss occurs over a matter of hours or days. In fact, most people wake up in the morning questioning what’s wrong with their hearing! Or, they may take a phone call and question why they can’t hear anything on the other end.
- Sudden hearing loss will affect only one ear in 9 of 10 cases. Having said that, it is possible for SSHL to impact both ears.
- 30dB or more of hearing loss. The outside world sounds 30dB quieter than when you had healthy hearing. You won’t be capable of measuring this by yourself, it’s something we will diagnose. However, it will be noticeable.
- A loud “popping” sound sometimes happens right before sudden hearing loss. But that only happens sometimes. It’s possible to experience SSHL without hearing this pop.
- Some people may also experience a feeling of fullness in the ear. Or, in some instances, a ringing or buzzing in the ear.
If you experience SSHL, you might be questioning: is sudden deafness permanent? Actually, within a couple of weeks, hearing will come back for around 50% of individuals who experience SSHL. But prompt treatment is a big key to success. So you will need to come see us for treatment right away. You should make an appointment within 72 hours of the onset of your symptoms.
In most cases, it’s a good plan to treat sudden hearing loss as a medical emergency. The longer you wait, the higher your risk of sudden hearing loss becoming permanent.
So… what causes sudden hearing loss?
Some of the leading causes of sudden hearing loss include the following:
- Head trauma: A traumatic brain injury can do much to disrupt the communication between your ears and your brain.
- Reaction to pain medication: Your risk of experiencing sudden hearing loss is elevated by excessive use of opioids.
- Illnesses: Diseases such as mumps, measles, meningitis, and multiple sclerosis have all been known to cause SSHL, for significantly different reasons. So if a disease has a vaccine, it’s a good plan to get immunized.
- Genetic predisposition: Genetic predisposition can sometimes be responsible for sudden hearing loss.
- Problems with your blood flow: Things like obstructed cochlear arteries and high platelet counts are included in this category.
- A reaction to drugs: This may include common medicines such as aspirin. Typically, this also includes cisplatin, quinine, or streptomycin and gentamicin (the last two of which are antibiotics.
- Autoimmune disease: In some situations, your immune system starts to think that your inner ear is a threat. This type of autoimmune disease can easily result in SSHL.
- Being repeatedly exposed to loud music or other loud sound: For most individuals, loud sound will cause a gradual decline in hearing. But there may be some situations where that hearing loss will occur all of a sudden.
The majority of the time, we will be better capable of helping you formulate an effective treatment if we can ascertain what type of sudden hearing loss you have. But sometimes it doesn’t work like that. Numerous kinds of SSHL are treated similarly, so determining the accurate cause isn’t always required for successful treatment.
What should you do if you have sudden hearing loss?
So what should you do if you wake up one morning and discover that your hearing is gone? There are a couple of things that you should do immediately. Never just try to play the waiting game. That isn’t going to work very well. Instead, you should find treatment within 72 hours. Getting in touch with us for immediate treatment is the best plan. We’ll be in the best position to help you determine what’s wrong and how to deal with it.
While at our office, you will probably undergo an audiogram to identify the amount of hearing loss you’re experiencing (this is a totally non-invasive test where you wear some headphones and raise your hand when you hear a tone). We will also make sure you don’t have any obstructions or a possible conductive cause for your hearing loss.
The first course of treatment will typically include steroids. An injection of these steroids directly into the ear is in some cases required. In other situations, pills might be capable of generating the desired results. Steroids have been known to be quite effective in treating SSHL with a large number of root causes (or with no confirmed root cause). You might need to take a medication to suppress your immune response if your SSHL is due to an autoimmune disease.
If you or someone you know has suddenly lost the ability to hear, contact us right away for an assessment..
