Recurring Issue with Flying: Unilateral Pain and Temporary Hearing Loss

Hey y'all, this is not technically a tinnitus issue although it does most certainly coincide with a temporary increase in tinnitus.

Out of my last four flights, two of them had me feel pain in my right ear during the descent and when I took my earplugs out at the airport, I noticed that my hearing in my right ear was significantly reduced, which was extremely disturbing to put it plainly. Or should I say planely... OK, forgive my stupid pun, please.

In both instances, my hearing returned to normal after some rest. When it happened a few weeks ago, it was about two or three hours of reduced hearing, which I think is slightly longer than when it happened to me about a year ago.

Anyone else experience this issue on flights? Any fliers here with thoughts on how to prevent this or similar issues from occuring? I have a flight in about a week and I would rather not have to deal with this ever again.

 

Do you equalize the pressure on both sides of your eardrum when the airplane climbs or descends? You can do that by yawning or swallowing.

I've had success with noise-canceling headphones on flights. I don't think I'd want to wear earplugs while flying, as I imagine their sealing may prevent air pressure from equalizing easily in the canal.

 

I've come across suggestions on here, recommending taking a decongestant pill and nasal spray just before the descent to prevent the risk of equalization issues or barotrauma. You can also try @GregCA’s smart suggestion of yawning and swallowing as well. Maybe chewing gum when the plane goes up and then down, too. Consider using earmuffs rather than earplugs.

I hope this helps.

 

I do try to yawn and drink a lot of water, especially on the ascents and descents. Interestingly, both times that the issue occurred were when I was chewing gum on the way down, though I certainly wouldn't claim that chewing gum was the cause.

The possibility of the earplugs preventing air pressure from equalizing, as @GregCA hypothesizes, had not occurred to me, but I suppose there might be something to that. I can try using earmuffs or noise-cancellation headphones next time and see how it feels. Also, I do have some Sudafed left over from when I had a cold a couple of months ago, so I suppose I can take one before these upcoming flights. I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

I fly at least once a month. Sometimes only 2-3 hours, often around 10 hours.

I also had problems with the pressure in the past, and once, I didn't hear anything in one ear for 4 days after landing.

I now only fly with earplugs that are specifically made for flying. Please pay attention to how these are to be used, as you should not remove them during take-off and landing. These also dampen noise, but I can't say to what extent. I would have to check the packaging.

Furthermore, I always take a nasal spray an hour before the departure.

 

Is your flight next week? I would definitely appreciate hearing about your experience because I’m curious about flight travel myself and how it would affect my ears. I’m concerned that my ETD might affect me badly when flying.

Thanks.

 

Yes @ZFire, it's coming up. I'll have two flights, one later this week and one early next week.

For what it's worth, last month I had three flights and was only affected in the way I described after one of them.

 

Some observations from my trip:

I took a decongestant (Pseudoephedrine) about an hour before the first flight and wore earmuffs as opposed to earplugs. I was hearing like usual when I got off the plane, but it's worth noting while on that flight I took my earmuffs off for a moment here and there during the descent just to check on how my ears were doing. I did indeed lose a bit of hearing on my right side while on the flight, but by the time I landed, it was all balanced out and normalized. No severe pain or anything like that during this flight either.

For the flight home, I was unable to take any Pseudoephedrine because someone who I shared the hotel room with threw it away, having mistaken the pills for someone else's. No big deal, though. I wore the earmuffs, and by the time I landed, there were no issues at all. I did not periodically remove the earmuffs on this flight to check on my ears, so I don't have any anecdotal data to share there, but at the end of the day, I made it home hearing like I usually do, and I didn't experience any severe pain.

I did not chew gum for either of these flights. I just made sure to have a bottle of water on hand and was doing other things one would normally do to equalize the air pressure, like swallowing, yawning, and burping. I do not do that thing where I pinch my nostrils and then blow hard because that has blown up my left ear too much and caused muffled hearing a time or two, so I'm reluctant to try again.

For future flights, I'll probably want to look into getting a more comfortable pair of earmuffs or noise-cancellation headphones, but what I had was fine for a short flight.

CC: @ZFire

 

Thanks for sharing your flight travels. Seems like it was a bit more pleasant this time around.

So would you say that frequently equalizing pressure while flying was beneficial for you?

 

All I know is that even before I had hearing disorders, this is something I've always been told you need to do when adjusting altitude, especially at a fast rate, like during ascent and descent. Don't quote me on this, but as I understand it, once you're already up in the air at a steady altitude, you can relax for a while. It's really just towards the beginning and end of the flight that I try to be cognizant of this.