Sudden Hearing Loss and Helicopter Noise in Ear — Please Help Me

Thursday morning while leaving work I have no idea what on Earth happened. I have no idea how this is for real. I got in my car and noticed I could only hear the radio clearly with my right ear. It was as if I suddenly lost almost half of my hearing in in my left ear. I suffer from regular tinnitus in my left ear but it has been stable for a while now. I got home and noticed that my left ear felt completely clogged and soon began hearing what I can only describe as a legitimate helicopter noise in my ear. Nonstop. Propellers. This was serious.

From someone who has been to hell and back with Tinnitus in general, this was something that could only be described as surreal as it was happening. This clogged sensation and this insane noise was constant. This was not gone by night time. This was not gone by Friday morning. I took a sick day and ran to an Urgent Care walk-in and after seeing no wax or fluid they prescribed me a low dose of Prednisone to help with whatever may be going on inside my ear.

Then I was up all Friday night because of this helicopter sound. It also gets worse with noises such as the faucet, the toilet flushing, my air conditioner, etc. It's reactive. I cannot even watch TV comfortably as of right now. This is without question the most frightening and horrible thing I have ever experienced in my life. Saturday morning, with now two doses of the Prednisone already in me and no relief yet, panic mode began to set in. I realized there is no way I could ever return to work with this noise and distraction, not to mention sudden hearing loss. I also felt some dizziness/off balance as well. What on EARTH happened to me here I thought. I made an emergency appt with my ENT and he said what's going on must be in the inner ear, a "viral infection", since nothing else could be seen. He instructed me to stop taking the low dose of Prednisone and instead prescribed me a powerful dose of the same drug which he claims will clear things up and get my hearing back which will also subsequently make the noise go away. This was yesterday and I took 60 MG of Prednisone throughout the day, and the same today (Sunday), and I still have not had one bit of relief.

Can someone, anyone, please explain to me what is happening to me. I sit on my couch writing this right now with a sound that nobody on these forums would ever believe. I truly mean that. I cannot live right now.

 

@Smartone202,

You could have Labyrinthitis, a virus in your middle ear that can take a while to settle.
If you get motion sickness or vertigo then there are medications that can help.
Anaemia can cause tinnitus and blood pressure and hearing loss so good to get them checked out also.

Tinnitus can be mental torture for some people so try keep background sound on so your ears work hard trying listen to it and help take your mind off it so no need to play music or tv any louder.

Stay strong and if no better in 4 weeks I would see your doctor or ENT again.

love glynis

 

You don’t understand. It feels like an earthquake starting inside of my skull (coming from ear). There is no way I would live to 4 weeks. Praying that the prednisone stops this now at day 3 of the medication. Anyone else please help.

I am at work right now but feel like I should be in an emergency room with what is going on in my head.

 

Have you done a hearing test? Fork tests? (Rinne/Weber)
If so, are you comfortable posting your audiogram here? (blank out any personal info)

 

ENT did hearing test when I went in on Saturday. No big change from last test which confirms my hearing didn’t LITERALLY get worse within a matter of a few minutes and it’s maybe more the noise along with inflammation that’s causing me to not hear clearly out of my left ear. He said this means there is likely a viral infection in my ear and put me on powerful dose of Prednisone. 140 milligrams later and still no relief. But the fact that my left ear is already suspect by already having tinnitus in it makes me nervous more than anything. Please pray.

 

@Smartone202,

Have you started or come off medication around the time your tinnitus started?

As tinnitus is from the brain and ear your signals in your brain can be misfiring causing you a severe sound.

If the steroids don't help you then I would ask to be tried on Cinnarizine 15mg, two pills three or four times a day.
It is used to lower tinnitus with inner ear problems like Labyrinthitis and Meniere's.

love glynis

 

I don’t have results of the papers. The result was the same it was a year ago after tinnitus onset.

 

How are you now? Is the noise subsiding? I also had the helicopter/engine sound, but mine was from a drug. Since we don't know what caused your problem, its difficult to say what you can do. But I do hope for a speedy recovery because low frequency tinnitus is horrible.

 

I have a helicopter type bass tinnitus that also ramps up with noises and cut´s through pretty much everything. I have have trouble with low frequency background noise (traffic, compressors, air conditioning, vehicles, etc... and oh yes helicopters) and it sounds like drumming in helicopter as my ears can´t apparently separate those frequencies that well until some frequency becomes much louder than the surroundings. I didn´t have a SSHL, and as the low frequencies are not really tested below 125hz, I don´t know how much hearing loss I have in the problematic area.

It´s not really easy to cope with tinnitus and distorted hearing like this, but things usually get at least little better with time. Don´t give up all hope yet.

 

The clogged sensation could be caused by ETD, in which case you should go to an ENT to get a proper diagnosis.
Unfortunately there is not much I can advise you other than trying to relax and wait it out, it's impossible to tell at this point if this is temporary or not.

 

How’s it going? Are you dizzy with it? Could it be cochlear hydrops?
Please sleep as much as you can as I am a firm believer that the brain resets itself at night.

 

Hello everyone.

The noise went away while taking Prednisone. About 2.5 days in. Hearing returned along with this. Thank God. Back to normal tinnitus.

 

Great that the new issues went away. Sorry you still have tinnitus .