Hearing loss has a reputation for advancing slowly. It can be easy to miss the symptoms due to this. (After all, you’re just turning up the volume on your television now and then, it’s nothing to be concerned about, right?) In some cases that’s true but often, it isn’t. In some situations, hearing loss can occur abruptly without any early symptoms.
When our health abruptly changes, it tends to get our attention (one could even describe the emotion as “alarm”). For instance, if your hair falls out a little bit at a time, it’s no big deal, you’re just balding! But if all of your hair fell out in a single day, you would likely feel obliged to make a doctor’s appointment as soon as you can (and rightfully so).
When you suddenly develop hearing loss, it’s the same thing. When this occurs, acting fast is essential.
Sudden hearing loss – what is it?
Sudden hearing loss (sometimes known as sudden deafness or sudden sensorineural hearing loss, or simply SSHL for short) isn’t generally as common as the longer-term type of hearing loss most people experience. But sudden hearing loss isn’t exactly rare, either. Every year, 1 in 5000 people experience SSHL.
The symptoms of sudden hearing loss commonly include the following:
- In 9 out of 10 instances, sudden hearing loss impacts only one ear. That said, it is possible for SSHL to affect both ears.
- It might seem like your ear is plugged up. Or, in some cases, a ringing or buzzing in the ear.
- Sudden hearing loss occurs very quickly as the name suggests. Sudden hearing loss happens within a few days or even within a few hours. In fact, most individuals wake up in the morning questioning what’s wrong with their ears! Or, they might take a phone call and question why they can’t hear anything on the other end.
- A loud “popping” sound sometimes occurs just before sudden hearing loss. But that only occurs sometimes. It’s possible to experience SSHL without hearing this pop.
- 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 on your own, it’s something we will diagnose. However, it will be apparent.
So, is sudden hearing loss permanent? Well, around half of everybody who experiences SSHL will get better within two weeks. However, it’s important to note that one key to success is rapid treatment. So you will need to come see us for treatment right away. You should schedule an appointment within 72 hours of the onset of your symptoms.
The best thing you can do, in most instances, is to treat SSHL as a medical emergency. Your chances of sudden hearing loss becoming permanent increases the longer you wait.
So… what causes sudden hearing loss?
Here are a few of the leading causes of sudden hearing loss:
- Head trauma: A traumatic brain injury can be disruptive to the communication between your brain and your ears.
- A reaction to drugs: Common drugs such as aspirin are included in this list. Normally, this also includes cisplatin, quinine, or streptomycin and gentamicin (the last two of which are antibiotics.
- Recurring exposure to loud noise, like music: Hearing will decline slowly due to ongoing exposure to loud sound for most people. But there may be some circumstances where that hearing loss will occur suddenly.
- Problems with your blood flow: Things like obstructed cochlear arteries and high platelet counts are included in this category.
- Genetic predisposition: In some instances, an increased risk of sudden deafness can be passed along from parents to children.
- Autoimmune disease: Your immune system can, in some instances, begin to view your inner ear as a threat. This type of autoimmune disease can easily result in SSHL.
- Reaction to pain medication: Overuse of opioid-related drugs and pain medication can increase your risk of developing sudden hearing loss.
- Illnesses: Diseases such as mumps, measles, meningitis, and multiple sclerosis have all been known to trigger SSHL, for significantly different reasons. This is a great reason to get immunized against diseases that have a vaccine.
For a portion of patients, knowing what kind of sudden hearing loss you have will help us formulate a more effective treatment plan. But at times it doesn’t work like that. Knowing the exact cause isn’t always essential for effective treatment because many forms of SSHL have similar treatment methods.
If you experience sudden hearing loss – what should you do?
So what should you do if you wake up one day and discover that your hearing is gone? Well, there are a couple of essential steps you should take as soon as possible. Don’t just attempt to play the waiting game. That’s a bad plan! Rather, you should get treatment within 72 hours. It’s best to make an appointment with us immediately. We’ll be in the best position to help you establish what’s wrong and how to address it.
While at our office, you may take an audiogram to figure out 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 can make sure you don’t have an obstruction or a conductive problem.
For most individuals, the first course of treatment will most likely include steroids. For some people, these steroids may be injected directly into the ear. In other situations, oral medication may be enough. Steroids have proven to be quite effective in treating SSHL with a wide variety of root causes (or with no known root cause). You may need to use a medication to reduce your immune response if your SSHL is triggered by an autoimmune disease.
If you or somebody you know has suddenly lost the ability to hear, call us right away for an assessment..
