Sudden Deafness and Tinnitus

Hi there! This is my story: almost three months ago I woke up with no hearing in my left ear. I went to the ENT in the morning thinking it was earwax, even thought I had no balance at all. I got the diagnostic not long after, was prescribed some medrol for two weeks, waited and hoped but despite early treatment my hearing didn’t evolve.

The tinnitus was the cherry on the cake, it grew louder one week after onset.
So for all of you who feel frustrated that you did not benefit from early treatment I think it often doesn’t matter: some people recover spontaneously some like me don’t, with or without cortisone. One of the ENT told me that the treatment is not even a real/effective one. This medical issue is a complete mystery when the loss is idiopathic. So if your loss was below 90 dB like me, your chances of recovery were anyway slim. Don’t blame yourself if you didn’t go to the ENT right away but the odds.

Anyway, I struggle quite a bit right now, at 28, with no hearing in my left ear and this constant tinnitus. All of sudden I feel old and inappropriate especially with other people and when there is background noise.

If it happened to you, I was wondering how you managed to get better, how much time did it take and if you have any advice to cope with this tinnitus + hearing loss condition.

Thank you very much

Louise

 

Hi Louise,

Sorry about your hearing loss and T: the combination is particularly difficult to cope with as it prevents you from leveraging any masking.

Do you have an audiogram that you'd be willing to share? (you can blank out personal info)

Have you been offered a hearing aid?

 

Thank you for your support! Here is my latest audiogram. Not amazing as you can see.

I will do another test next week for my appointment with the audiologist (yeay).

I basically had to beg the ENT to get a prescription for a hearing aid (CROSS) as he did not see the use...

 

Wow, yes indeed, it's pretty tough!
What I do find surprising is the air-bone gap in the low frequencies - not sure why you'd have conductive losses there. Have you done any CT scan of the temporal bone?

Have you discussed a cochlear implant with your docs? (it sometimes help significantly with T)

 

Hi Louise,

I also woke up one morning with profound SSHL in my left ear and severe ringing. My initial audiogram looked alot like yours, but I was lucky enough to recover partial hearing over the next 4 months, to the point where my hearing up until 2K is normal, and above that my thresholds are mostly in the 60-70K range. I do wear a hearing aid, and while it does not help that much with speech understanding (everything is very garbled through the left ear, even when it is amplified), it definitely makes my tinnitus less noticeable because of the amplification of ambient noises. Not sure if that would help with your current level of hearing loss, but maybe worth a shot. Also sounds like you might want to try a different ENT. You seem like the poster child for a CROSS device, not sure why your ENT would think differently.

 

how loud is your tinnitus?

 

Jessica Jane Clement talks about her sshl following a head cold. She uses a hearing aid to help although she does not mention tinnitus.

Jessica-Jane Clement talks about hearing loss

 

Sorry to read you story, @Lou38.

I have hearing loss and tinnitus from a virus — I thought it was just a cold at the time. The specialists I have seen frequently told me that even seemingly mild viruses can inflict more damage than most people realize.

I took oral steroids and underwent intratympanic steroid injections — all within the recommended timeframe. However my ear specialist did tell me that once your loss is past 70dB, it’s not as likely to improve with steroids.

I’m both shocked and not shocked that your ENT did not recommend a hearing aid. Some doctors feel that if one ear can hear, it’s fine if the other does not. I cannot find it now, but I read an article last year that this viewpoint is starting to shift as more research shows the benefit of hearing balance and the value of hearing higher frequencies.

 

Be sure to get a MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma. I also had a sudden hearing loss in my left ear and it slowly started coming back after 15 hours all distorted along with terrible tinnitus. It happened again (SHL) a year later though not quiet as bad but symptoms lasted a month , and that got the ball rolling for an MRI to rule out a AN.. Unfortunately they found one. Best to know cause it can get worse over time. I cope with T by staying busy as possible. I focus on a task and though i can hear it , I don't listen to it and it becomes a noise like a noisy fan in the background. This takes time , to learn to live with it. Some do better than others. I still have days where I'm tired of it when it's all spiked up.