Hearing Loss Bothering Me — Sensing Lack of Sound, Dullness

I had 35 dB 6 kHz hearing loss in my left ear at onset of my tinnitus 2 months ago. Lately I find it to be most bothersome. At night if I have the window open and crickets are chirping, I can hear them well in my right ear, then if I roll over, I hear them a lot less out of my left.

I have days of fullness which I know subsides for most after time, but it just feels dull.

When I scratch my head, I can sense the lack of sound in that left ear in a conductive loss type sensation, like I can hear it but muffled somewhat.

Does this sensation resolve for any? I know it's technically mild loss but it's near moderate.

I read an article where after a few years after acoustic trauma, you can gain back 5 dB or so from the loss.

I know hearing loss is permanent so please don't chime in with negativity. I just want to know if this conductive loss feeling subsides. It feels unequal.

 

No one can say if it'll go away or not completely, but the brain is capable of adapting to things of this like, so whose to say?

 

Anyone else?

 

Hey,

I lost some hearing in right ear after an incident involving a jet engine. To cut a long story short I instantly noticed a hearing loss in my right ear and spent 3 years! focusing on it. I had the feeling of fullness all the time. I convinced myself I was going deaf... Even tho it was a mild hearing loss in reality. Every second of every day I tested it, focused on it, tried to pop it using Valsalva etc. I drove myself to the brink of suicide.

Fast forward 3 years and my brain had completely adapted to it. These days I only notice it when I listen and try to notice the difference... My hearing now feels 99.9% good.

If I could go back I'd tell myself don't listen out for it. Stop testing it. Let your brain adapt... And it will! It's just hard at the time to believe it! If I'd followed my own advice I think I'd have adapted much much quicker and avoided so much distress.

I promise you'll be fine. Your brain will adapt and you'll forget all about it. You've just gotta give it time.

Shaun.

 

Thanks Shaun for taking the time to respond. The hardest part is the wait.

 

If your hair cells in your ears are damaged, then your hearing loss might become/be permanent. I have way more hearing loss than you do and I face fullness in my ears almost daily. It is what it, is.. I accept it and live my life. I been to many ENTs while having the fullness and they saw nothing wrong with my ears.

Acceptance is the key to tinnitus and life, if you face obstacles...embrace it and try to find ways to live your life. It's never easy, but It can be done!

 

Hey there. I have mild, constantly audible tinnitus (masked by moderate noise or when immersed in things) and mild visual snow. So I don't have exactly the same symptoms as you, but I can attest that for me mindfulness training has helped a lot in getting a much more neutral approach to tinnitus and VS. If you need some convincing watch the video of this guy:

Visual Snow Conference 2018: Matthew Renze

His symptoms seem to be quite a bit worse than mine, but he says that he lives a fulfilling and productive life because mindfulness (alongside exercise) helps him cope with stress and anxiety caused by tinnitus and VS. I found that pretty convincing. So I would recommend giving mindfulness a shot.
Also keep remembering that tinnitus and hearing problems will probably be curable within the next 10 years, so it's not for the rest of our lives. In the mean time let's just try to do the best with our situation, even if it sucks. At the same time I'm always glad that I'm not that girl in our village who got Crohn's disease at the age of 22.

 

There's a certain and poorly understood brain-processing component on how hearing loss affects us, the brain can readapt to a new situation to bridge the hearing gaps caused by excessive noise exposure. I think some dips due to conductive hearing loss can resolve by themselves, dips up to 35 - 40 dbs, and sometimes due to inflammation the dip can be a combination of conductive and SSNHL, so up to that threshold there is a certain hope.

Hearing los is progressive and one has to be careful with sound after noticing the first symptoms.

 

Progressive meaning, if you continue to subject yourself to loud noises you'll make it worse correct? Not that it just continues to get worse if you protect yourself-

 

Progressive means that you will continue to get worse if you are exposed to loud noises. In the worst cases you can continue losing hearing even if you are exposed to a brief but very loud sound like the ones made by power tools, peak sounds from traffic (bikes, car horns etc).. Also in a severe case one cannot be around these sounds even wearing earplugs or earmuffs, the sound will just go through them.

Being prone to more or less hearing loss is different for every person.

 

Appreciate your wisdom, on many occasions.
Thank you for the uplifts.

 

Did your hearing improve or you just adapted to this new situation?

I am losing hearing too and very worried...

 

Shaun, what a great success story. Did you also have severe tinnitus? How are you doing these days?