We normally think of hearing loss as something that advances slowly. This can make the symptoms difficult to detect. It’s nothing to concern yourself with, you simply need the volume on the TV a little louder, no big deal, right? In some cases that’s true but in some cases, it isn’t. In some situations, hearing loss can happen all of a sudden without any early symptoms.
It can be truly alarming when the condition of your health suddenly changes. For example, if your hair falls out a little bit at a time, it’s not a 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 lose your ability to hear, it’s the same thing. When this happens, acting fast is essential.
Sudden hearing loss – what is it?
Long-term hearing loss is more common than sudden hearing loss or SSHL for short. But it isn’t really uncommon for individuals to experience sudden hearing loss. Every year, 1 in 5000 individuals experience SSHL.
The symptoms of sudden hearing loss commonly include the following:
- Some individuals might also have a feeling of fullness in the ear. Or, in some cases, a ringing or buzzing in the ear.
- 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.
- Sudden hearing loss happens very quickly as the name indicates. Sudden hearing loss develops within a few days or even within a few hours. As a matter of 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.
- 30dB or more of hearing loss. That is, the environment sounds 30dB quieter from whatever your past baseline had been. You’ll definitely notice the difference, but you will need our assistance to measure it.
- Some individuals notice a loud “pop” before their hearing starts to fade. But this is not always the case. It’s possible to experience SSHL without hearing this pop.
So, is sudden hearing loss permanent? Actually, within a couple of weeks, hearing will recover for about 50% of people who experience SSHL. However, it’s important to note that one key to success is prompt treatment. So you will need to come see us for treatment as soon as possible. You should schedule an appointment within 72 hours of the start of your symptoms.
The best thing you can do, in most instances, is to treat SSHL as a medical emergency. Your risk of sudden hearing loss becoming permanent increases the longer you wait.
So… what causes sudden hearing loss?
Some of the leading causes of sudden hearing loss include the following:
- Genetic predisposition: Genetic predisposition can in some cases be responsible for sudden hearing loss.
- Illnesses: Diseases such as mumps, measles, meningitis, and multiple sclerosis have all been known to cause SSHL, for significantly different reasons. This is a good reason to get immunized against diseases for which there is a vaccine.
- A reaction to drugs: Common drugs such as aspirin are included in this list. This list can also include some antibiotics, like streptomycin and gentamicin, and other common medications including cisplatin and quinine.
- Being continuously exposed to loud music or other loud sound: For most individuals, loud noise will cause a slow decline in hearing. But there may be some circumstances where that hearing loss will happen suddenly.
- Head trauma: A traumatic brain injury can do much to disrupt the communication between your ears and your brain.
- Problems with your blood flow: This could include anything from a high platelet count to an obstruction of the cochlear artery.
- Reaction to pain medication: Your risk of developing sudden hearing loss is elevated by overuse of opioids.
- Autoimmune disease: In some situations, your immune system starts to think that your inner ear is a threat. Sudden hearing loss can absolutely be caused by this autoimmune disease.
For a portion of patients, knowing what kind of sudden hearing loss you have will help us develop a more effective treatment plan. But sometimes it doesn’t work that way. Numerous kinds of SSHL are addressed similarly, so knowing the exact cause isn’t always necessary for successful treatment.
If you experience sudden hearing loss – what’s the best course of action?
So what should you do if you wake up one day and find that your hearing is gone? There are a couple of things that you need to do as soon as possible. First of all, you should not just wait for it to clear on its own. That isn’t going to work very well. Rather, you should seek treatment within 72 hours. It’s best to make an appointment with us immediately. We’ll be able to help you figure out what happened and help you find the best course of treatment.
We will most likely conduct an audiogram in our office to identify your degree of hearing loss (this is the test where we have you put on headphones and raise your hand when you hear a beep, it’s completely non-invasive). We can make sure you don’t have an obstruction or a conductive problem.
The first round of treatment will typically include steroids. An injection of these steroids directly into the ear is in some cases required. In other situations, oral medication may be enough. Steroids have been known to be very effective in treating SSHL with a large number of root causes (or with no confirmed root cause). For SSHL caused by an autoimmune disease, you may need to take medication that suppresses your immune response.
If you or someone you know has suddenly lost the ability to hear, contact us right away for an assessment..