Fleeting Deafness Instead of Fleeting Tinnitus?

I've experienced many bouts of fleeting tinnitus, where the ringing gets LOUD for a few seconds and immediately trails off in a matter of seconds. I get these attacks maybe twice per week.

Lately though, I've had what I would describe as fleeting hearing loss. These attacks are completely inaudible and there's a slight pressure-change sensation that accompanies them, as it does with fleeting tinnitus. It's been happening every other day.

Scares the shit out of me. Anyone else?

 

Well, try to see if you've taken anything that alters blood pressure / vasoconstriction lately. Even diet for the last while.

Not something you want to play around with, fleeting episodes can lead to a big one, so perhaps have some steroids handy in case you get hit with something sudden, and have a hearing app on your phone to diagnose that it isn't just in your head if your hearing goes out by 10+ dB for more than about 12 hours. That's when I'd begin to freak out, and within the window of "temporary" vs. sudden hearing loss.

Don't use the steroids unless you have an absolute for sure drop that doesn't go away.

At the least, that security blanket is better than waiting in the ER hoping someone will help you for hours.

I've had to do this twice so far for drops of about 10ish dB+ always at 6 kHz, not due to immediate post-noise (or the noise was a day or so before and hearing suddenly got worse). The first one was scary as fuck, hearing came back the next day within 6 hours of taking steroids.

 

Do you have insurance (or money)? If it were me, I would see an audiologist. Steroids are usually indicated for what you're experiencing, but you should try and discover just what the cause is, if possible. Could be a med you're taking, could be a lot of things, but a specialist would be my first step.

Occasionally I have what you're experiencing. It's as if the hearing (usually one ear, sometimes both) just suddenly fades out and my ear(s) feel "full". It doesn't last long and it doesn't happen often, so I have never gone to anyone about it. I think it may have something to do w/ my jaw bones because it seems to happen when I sorta yawn, but it can happen on its own too.

 

Blood pressure 110/70, no meds at all.

This has been going on for 6+ months, so I'm guessing it's autoimmune in nature. I see Prednisone caused some of your tinnitus in the first place? That's frightening knowing how commonly it's recommended here.

 

Which is why I hope you take me seriously saying that if you need steroids, don't delay, and you should really have an emergency supply hidden away.

The last thing you want is less hearing out of nowhere, MORE tinnitus/hyperacusis, and no way to mask it.

I still take steroids in emergencies. If they help tinnitus, that's great, but it's a huge gamble to take them just for the tinnitus because coming off them may cause new permanent noises.

Hence, if you lose significant hearing (a safe threshold, say 10 dB, for more than a few hours... with legit proof), you're freaking out and would go to the ER anyway, that is the only time you should take them.

I lost hearing post-COVID-19 and once post driving. Dexamethasone saved my ass and is a gamble I'd take again.

I agree, steroids are recommended too much like candy and that's insane. They are a heavy fucking drug.

But when you need it? God do you need it (like benzos during a suicidal spike). Not just "I heard a bang, should I take steroids?" It needs to be, "I woke up, and now I can't hear correctly, oh, and I have new garbage sounds from hell." Then and only then take the steroids.

 

I've gotten these episodes for several years, though they became more frequent after my most recent ear disaster caused by a few days of Naproxen. They were terrifying but always resolved within a couple of minutes max. I have a friend with SSRI-induced tinnitus and she said she gets this too.

 

Any particular app you can suggest? Aren't these personal hearing tests a bit too sloppy because of the difference between device speakers, phone settings etc? I use a simple tone generator that I'm kind of used to what volumes I can hear on that.

 

I've always had a few fleeting tinnitus episodes per year pre-tinnitus. But post-tinnitus, they got a lot more frequent. Sometimes once or twice every day of a week, sometimes a few in a week, sometimes a few in a month - the usual with the loud tone, hearing drop, fullness, then back to normal. I also have some very weird, very transient sensations of pressure.

I'm not sure if I've ever had only the hearing loss part - or maybe the hearing loss was only in part and not total. But, I think sometimes fleeting tinnitus can happen, and the tone may be almost inaudible or be dampened quickly by whatever mechanism dampens it. So, the fleeting tinnitus tone is not there, but the pressure and hearing loss remain before they return to normal.

It's only speculations at this point, but I agree you should check your hearing at a professional and have some steroids in hand.

 

There's one called Hearing Test. With good headphones and a quiet environment... I've never had an issue. Keep in mind the app needs to be calibrated with someone with perfect hearing, in quiet. Then it emulates very closely what I've seen at the audiologist. Excellent tool to check for sudden hearing loss.

 

I'm in the same boat as you with the fleeting tinnitus, however, I had an incident in February this year where the usual loud tone, hearing dip and then hearing coming back happened. But the following day I felt absolutely horrific, I woke up, stumbled to the bathroom off balance and then slept for the rest of the day. I woke up with intense hissing tinnitus which I still have at this very moment. My sleep patterns were very bad at the time in general so it's possible my immune system was compromised.

Perhaps these fleeting episodes are instances of our immune system trying to shuck off whatever virus is trying to get the better of our hearing. I saw an audiologist and ENT since then and apparently I have minor hearing loss which didn't really cause concern from either of them, though my tinnitus is quite severe, probably an 8/10.

 

I experience this too! Very strange. I also experience constant daily fleeting tinnitus episodes on top of my baseline tinnitus. Very scary.

 

There is an iOS app called Mimi Hearing Test that is calibrated for AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. I use it with my old AirPods Pros to keep relative data points on my hearing health. It has a regular audiogram as well as speech in noise. It's the only reason I still have AirPods. I don't use them for anything else.

 

How often do you get these fleeting episodes? Did something happen to cause them? Loud noise exposure? Medication?

 

It happens to me too. Maybe it has to do with blood pressure, and also with mechanical tension linked to hearing structures. Muscle tension, tension on neck, jaw, shoulders etc., it's all connected.

After it happens to me, my hearing gets more balanced but usually more dimmed.

 

It actually seemed to settle down. I didn't have any of these episodes at all in the last month. I don't know what caused it, I think stress and psychological distress were factors and also inflammation.

 

This happens to me at least once a month. I no longer pay attention to it, I guess because when you're used to tinnitus, the abnormal becomes part of your normal life.

 

Explain dimmed? Like it’s dampened?

 

Yes, like it's dampened.

 

I wanted to know how you've been doing with the fleeting episodes? Have they come back?