What Does Episodic Hearing Loss Mean?

So today I had an audiogram. Right ear perfect. Left ear showed mild hearing loss for one tone only in my left ear around 1500 Hz. I was originally diagnosed with bilateral tinnitus in 2015 with no hearing loss on audiogram. It pretty much resolved itself over the coming year and I have been quiet for 3 to 4 years now. Two weeks ago I end up with a strange noise in my left year only. And lots of aural fullness.

Today, my audiogram showed mild hearing loss for one tone only in the left ear. The one tone is on the lower end not in a higher end in terms of tones. The covering ENT finally called me back after I insisted on a phone call. He said, my hearing is actually pretty much in normal range and that people with normal hearing tend to be very sensitive to changes in their hearing. Not sure what he means by that. Both the ENT and the audiologist suggested that the hearing loss may in fact be temporary and may be what they call episodic, He said particularly with my aural fullness he suspects there may be some inflammation in my inner ear. Perhaps a virus. He told me I really wasn’t anywhere near the threshold for a steroid prescription but to talk to my regular ENT who has yet to call me back.

I spoke with a support person at the American Tinnitus Association who told me she has spoken to a number of people who had a irregular audiograms and then recovered fine and then had normal audiogram and no more tinnitus. Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

An audiogram can fluctuate due to a number of reasons, like congestion, exposure to noise, bad nose, eustachian tuve problems etc.

My audiograms fluctuate sometimes. I think that's common, but it actually depends on what your particular audiogram shows. There are shapes on the hearing curve that point to a certain problema and different shapes can give you hints to what's going on with your hearing...

 

Hi @Juan,

Thank you for your response. The test was difficult to take because it is a sound tight room and I had a hard time concentrating due to my anxiety and the fact that I was acutely aware of my heart beating, well racing in fact, and the tinnitus noise in my head that had me distracted which I would guess was a factor in some of my responses. On the graph all looked fine and consistent except that dip in one tone at 1500 Hz. The rest of it meant nothing no to me.

Best.

 

I take my own hearing tests regularly at hearingtest.online. I have observed episodes of hearing loss, sometimes at high frequencies, sometimes low, and they always resolve within a week or so. I experience ear fullness after loud noise which seems linked to these episodes.

I do worry that one day the episodes will turn into a permanent change so I'm not throwing my earplugs away.