Sudden Unilateral Deafness After 3 Years of Tinnitus

Hello, I'm 25 and have had tinnitus in both ears for 3 years almost exactly, but I've been sensitive to sound my whole life. I had normal hearing tests.

I've never been to concerts, etc.. I stopped all headphone use except to protect my ears during flights.

The ringing was miserable and omnipresent but fluctuating and very hard to mask (could hear it clearly in planes but shower usually masked it).

7 days ago suddenly it felt like my right ear exploded in terms of blaring alarms and Morse code. When I turn on the shower or any song the ringing increases and is very easily heard.

It is now a constant low-frequency buzzing jet engine that reacts to everything, unmaskable and unignorable. It's so loud I sometimes can't hear the usual high-frequency ringing in my other ear.

The ear also seems deaf, out of absolutely nowhere.

When I breathe or move my arm I hear weird sounds like rubbing a violin. This happened during the hearing test, too - the white noise played in my good ear reflected in my deaf one.

When anyone talks there is a robotic crunch.

It feels like a buzzing and pulsing pressure suddenly appeared in the entire right side of my head.

It was not earwax so I've been on oral steroids for 6 days, but 0 change. Will get injections this week and MRI on the 22nd. Pressure tests were supposedly normal.

Again no concerts, blasting speakers, smoking, alcohol, etc.

I had something similar last year in my other ear but it lasted a few hours. I had vertigo time to time but it was positional. I have visual snow since October. And TMJ.

Has anyone else had sudden deafness and extreme reactive ringing? What can I do? How can I sleep?

 

Yes I experienced similar sudden hearing loss on my left ear about 18 months ago. Yes it developed a new jet engine like humming tinnitus to add to my original high pitched dentist drill like tinnitus. So now I have a bass and a soprano in my head. Lol. I also had vertigo and constant ear fullness plus hyperacusis. But the hyperacusis has faded. Life is back to as normal as i can now. I even wrote my 2 success stories. So don't worry too much. Things can improve over time. God bless.

 

It is not any better. I feel I'm not allowed to think about anything except the ringing. There is not a sound or environment that masks the piercing, pulsating screaming, beeping and hissing.

I feel that if everyone had this, most research funding would be rerouted within the hour.

 

Did the doctors prescribe steroids or did they treat you like an idiot the same way they initially treated me until I made a formal complaint?

Stuff like this is extremely serious.

 

If you have one ear turning deaf, that could have caused the symptoms. My left ear turned deaf suddenly about 2 years ago and it gave me similar symptoms as yours.

That is something to expect from sudden sensorineural hearing loss or SSHL. I joined some support groups and learned that some people have been helped by a cochlear implant to restore hearing and to somehow reduce other symptoms like loud tinnitus and plugged ears. Check with your ENT about the option of cochlear implant if available in your country.

Take good care. God bless.

 

Did you get Dexamethasone injections inside your eardrum? How did that go?