We normally think of hearing loss as something that advances slowly. This can make the symptoms easy to miss. It’s nothing to concern yourself with, you just need the volume on the TV a bit louder, no big deal, right? In some cases that’s true but in some cases, it isn’t. In some situations, hearing loss can occur all of a sudden without any early symptoms.
It can be quite alarming when the condition of your health abruptly changes. For instance, if your hair falls out a little bit at a time, it’s not a big deal, you’re just going bald! But if all of your hair fell out overnight, you would likely feel obliged to make a doctor’s appointment as soon as possible (and rightfully so).
When you suddenly lose your ability to hear, it’s the same thing. When this happens, acting fast is crucial.
What is sudden hearing loss?
Long-term hearing loss is more prevalent than sudden hearing loss or SSHL for short. But it isn’t really uncommon for people to experience sudden hearing loss. Each year, 1 in 5000 people experience SSHL.
Here are a few symptoms of sudden hearing loss:
- In 9 out of 10 instances, sudden hearing loss impacts only one ear. Having said that, it is possible for SSHL to impact both ears.
- As the name indicates, sudden deafness usually occurs rapidly. This generally means that sudden hearing loss occurs over a matter of hours or days. In fact, most individuals wake up in the morning wondering what’s wrong with their ears! Or, they may take a phone call and question why they can’t hear anything on the other end.
- 30dB or more of hearing loss. The outside world sounds 30dB quieter than when your hearing was healthy. You won’t be capable of measuring this by yourself, it’s something we will diagnose. However, it will be noticeable.
- Some people might also experience a feeling of fullness in the ear. Or, in some cases, a ringing or buzzing in the ear.
- Some individuals hear a loud “pop” before their hearing starts to fail. But that only happens sometimes. It’s possible to experience SSHL without hearing this pop.
So, is sudden hearing loss permanent? Well, approximately half of everybody who experiences SSHL will get better within two weeks. But rapid treatment is a major key to success. This means you will want to get treatment as quickly as you can. You should schedule an appointment within 72 hours of the onset of your symptoms.
In most cases, it’s a good strategy to treat sudden hearing loss as a medical emergency. Your risk of sudden hearing loss becoming permanent increases the longer you wait.
So… what triggers sudden hearing loss?
Some of the leading causes of sudden hearing loss include the following:
- Illnesses: There are a number of health conditions that, for vastly different reasons, can cause SSHL, like multiple sclerosis, meningitis, measles, and mumps. This is a good reason to get immunized against diseases for which there is a vaccine.
- Problems with your blood flow: This may include anything from a high platelet count to an obstruction of the cochlear artery.
- Ongoing exposure to loud sound, such as music: For most people, loud sound will cause a slow decline in hearing. But for some people, that decline in hearing may happen suddenly.
- Head trauma: The communication between your ears and your brain can be disrupted by a traumatic brain injury.
- Genetic predisposition: Genetic predisposition can sometimes be responsible for sudden hearing loss.
- A reaction to drugs: Common medications 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.
- Reaction to pain medication: Overuse of opioid-related drugs and pain medication can increase your risk of experiencing sudden hearing loss.
- Autoimmune disease: In some situations, your immune system begins to think that your inner ear is a threat. This type of autoimmune disease can easily lead to SSHL.
The majority of the time, we will be better capable of helping you develop an effective treatment if we can figure out what type of sudden hearing loss you’re dealing with. But this isn’t always the case. Knowing the precise cause isn’t always essential for effective treatment because many types of SSHL have similar treatment methods.
If you experience sudden hearing loss – what’s the best course of action?
So what action should you take if you wake up one day and find that you can’t hear anything? Well, there are a couple of essential steps you should take as soon as possible. First of all, you should not just wait for it to go away. That’s not a good idea! You should wait no longer than 72 hours to find treatment. It’s best to schedule an appointment with us immediately. We’ll be able to help you figure out what went wrong and help you find the most effective course of treatment.
We will probably conduct an audiogram in our office to find out your degree of hearing loss (this is the examination where we have you put on headphones and raise your hand when you hear beeping, it’s entirely non-invasive). We can make certain you don’t have an obstruction or a conductive problem.
For most people, the first course of treatment will very likely include steroids. An injection of these steroids directly into the ear is in some cases required. For others, pills might be able to generate the desired effects. SSHL of many root causes (or no known cause) can be successfully treated with steroids. You may need to use a medication to inhibit your immune response if your SSHL is caused by an autoimmune disease.
If you or somebody you know has suddenly lost the ability to hear, contact us right away for an assessment..