Confused and Concerned — Are My Symptoms Common with SSHL (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss)?

Hello to all!

I have been lurking on Tinnitus Talk for a while to find some answers and finally made the push to tell my story to hopefully get some advice or assurance from the community.

Three months ago I had a normal day and a normal night, in fact a normal week. When I woke up on a Friday morning I noticed that my ear felt off. Felt like a slight pressure or irritation. As I progressed through my morning routine I discovered that certain higher pitched voices sounded robotic and slightly distorted. I left for work and as I had some social interaction I noticed it was still there some hours later. It was most noticeable from the radio or telephone. Being generally concerned I went into my local clinic to be seen. They took a look in my ears and noticed some impacted earwax and cleaned them out with some warm water and ear drops. This didn’t solve the problem.

I spent the next three days with this issue and upon waking up on the fourth day, like magic the robotic sounds were gone! Woo victory! But yet the ear sensation remained and now I have tinnitus in that ear.

it’s been three months with no change to the ear sensation that I can best describe as dull pressure or irritation. I see the term fullness but it feels different than when you fly in an airplane or drive up a mountain. I don’t have muffled hearing either. It just feels like there is something there just kinda softly poking the deep insides of my ear. The amount of pressure changes from time to time but for the most part is constant.

luckily for me the tinnitus is not intense but does fluctuate. Some days I don’t notice it at all and others it’s annoying when going to sleep. I rarely notice it during the day.

An ENT visit concluded that I may have had sensoneural hearing loss. A hearing test showed that My good ear has one 20db drop in mid tone and my bad ear shows two mid tone frequencies of 20db drop. The doctor said that even with these drops the hearing is still considered within the normal range.

I went in for a second visit after two months had gone by concerned that the annoying ear sensation had not gone away and that tinnitus was still present but the conclusion didn’t change much and the doctor had said that I could get an MRI if I wanted to to put my mind at rest. I’m typically an anxious person and so when something doesn’t go away after a week or two I tend to think the worst.

The source of this issue is relatively unknown. I wasn’t sick, but I do listen to headphones and play games on a nightly basis. And I can admit that a week or two before this I had been turning up the volume. Dumb I know.

Waking up every morning with my ear feeling goofy/full/pressure etc is starting to break me down especially after three months. Is this common with SSHL? Does this eventually subside? Should I be concerned?

Thank you for taking the time!

 

I'm guessing it was the loud earphones.

 

Sorry for the delayed response. I’m betting that the loud earphones had something to do with it as well. I’m 8 months into this and nothing has changed sadly. I wake up everyone morning with this dull ache or sensation. I also tend to get days and days of dull pain at my temple and back of my neck on the same side. It’s frustrating.

 

It sounds like it is noise induced. This is why we have to be constantly mindful of noise exposure. Problems like what you have been experiencing happen so suddenly that you aren’t mentally prepared for the impact.

 

I can 100% say that I was unprepared.

I’m working on gaining the strength to do some more testing (MRI) to rule out anything sinister. As chronic dull pain and dull headaches are concerning. But alas my anxiety really doesn’t want to see me in a tube.

still yet I appreciate knowing that this type of sensation I’m dealing with is not surprising to the community. Puts me at ease and that means a lot at this particular moment.