One Year After Sudden Hearing Loss: Right Ear Relapse, Tinnitus Spike, and Recurring Symptoms

[Head Tone]

This week marks one year since I lost most of the hearing in my right ear. My tinnitus went from a bilateral level 2 to level 2 in the left ear and level 5 in the right. It took months to go through all the treatments for a suspected inner ear issue.

Over time, I regained about 50 percent of the hearing that was lost and managed to overcome hyperacusis after another two months. At the ten-month mark, I got a hearing aid for the right ear. It helped restore the remaining hearing loss and included a notch filter for the 8 kHz ringing. The device also has a mode with Brownian noise, which I find helpful in quiet situations.

The difficult part is that this week, my right ear experienced a complete relapse to where I was a year ago. I use Nuheara earbuds, and it was striking to see the audiogram circles nearly match the ones from last year.

I have an ENT appointment next week to get everything checked, and I will likely receive a referral for another formal audiogram.

Has anyone else experienced recurring hearing loss like this?

 

[Dad88]

Hello!

I don't have much to offer except that I share the experience of sudden hearing loss, with no improvements despite the steroids they've given me. They tell me that my only hope for restoring my hearing is a cochlear implant. Have they said anything like that to you? Please keep us posted, and I'm sending you my best wishes for good news.

 

[Head Tone]

Hello!

I don't have much to offer except that I share the experience of sudden hearing loss, with no improvements despite the steroids they've given me. They tell me that my only hope for restoring my hearing is a cochlear implant. Have they said anything like that to you? Please keep us posted, and I'm sending you my best wishes for good news.

Hey @Dad88,

I was prescribed several weeks of oral steroids, as well as one steroid injection through the eardrum, which was not pleasant at all. I also went through 15 rounds of one-hour Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, done daily. While at depth, my tinnitus seemed to subside by about fifty percent, but it returned promptly at the end of each treatment.

The Lenire device, for six months, did not help. At the present time, only an R Signia Silk hearing aid gives me partial relief. My tinnitus levels seem to be higher when I am fatigued.

No one has suggested cochlear implants. I assume there is not enough hearing loss to consider that option. I do recall bone-conduction tests being performed during each audiogram, and it seems remarkable that cochlear implants can be an option at all under certain conditions.

I am also receiving TMJ myofascial treatments, myofascial massages, and a Blood Cell Analysis this week.

Prayers going out to you for a speedy solution.