Let me explain what happened to me. On a Wednesday afternoon back in May 2012 at around 3pm I was typing away at my office desk when suddenly I had a loud ringing in my both ears for about 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds my right ear went back to normal, but I felt like I had lost about 80% of my hearing in my left ear and I have a constant hissing noise in my left ear. Not quite understanding what had happened I initially tried clearing my ears, but with no success. At about 5pm I got to see an ENT doctor. Initial physical examination showed no visible damage to the ear. They gave me an audio test which showed that my right ear was normal, but left ear was showing hearing loss at nearly all frequencies. The doctor decided that this must have been caused by a virus infection and put my on steroids. I was to come back in 2 weeks. 2 weeks later I came back and we did another audio test. This showed once again the right ear was perfect. The left ear showed some improvement. On the "normal" conversational frequencies it was back to normal, but high frequencies was still bad. Now 6 months later nothing has changed. I still have the hissing sound in my ear and have come to understand that the hearing loss that I feel is not actually a hearing loss, rather than whatever I hear has to rise above the hissing noise for me to hear it clearly. Also all sounds that reach the high frequencies sound distorted to me in my left ear. They sound like a speaker that has been broken. This very annoying when listing to music as there they always hit the high frequencies. To summarize: · Constant high frequency hissing sound in my left ear · All external sounds at those high frequencies sound distorted in my left ear Can anyone relate to this? And is there any cure? Regards, Glenn
I can relate to the hissing Glenn - as I'm sure many of us are are able to... it does sound as though the variable results from the hearing tests was your tinnitus was making it harder to hear. Many of us have high frequency loss - mine is very, very slight & apparently totally normal. Distortion of sound could just be the fact that you have hissing in your head. Take a look through the forum to see us trying to figure out the causes and cures & remember that yours may be only temporary. Thousands of people get this and it goes away within a couple of months. At least you don't sound as though it's driving you insane
Glenn, I too can relate to high frequency hissing. I have it constantly in my right ear and though my audiograms showed normal hearing range, I suspect it is because of high frequency loss. Right now there is not a cure, but never has there been more research done in the area of hearing loss and tinnitus than today. You should see an audiologist. You might benefit from the use of a hearing aid. Not only will this balance out your hearing, it may reduce your tinnitus somewhat. Take a read at this Hearing Journal Article. Standford University also has a lot of information about their initiative to cure hearing loss.
