Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

[oapcarer]

I suffered from this in childhood in my left ear and, three weeks ago, it hit my right ear.

Thankfully, some of my hearing came back on its own and some more came back with a week's worth of steroids. I'm currently nearly at the end of a week's course of steroid injections into the middle ear but, tbh, I haven't noticed any further improvement. If anything, I feel worse as the tinnitus has really ramped up high and I struggle to hear conversation over it.

I can't really remember how long it took to stabilise last time as it was so long ago and it wasn't treated as my parents just thought it was wax.

Someone gave me a ball park figure of 3-6 months. I also really want this tinnitus to come down as this is the worst part. It even wakes me from sleep.

I do already have hearing aids in both ears as I have a bit of age related deafness in my right ear but the prescription is totally wrong now and will need adjusting when things settle down

I had this in my 20s. I came on here to say that it's vital that you get IMMEDIATE treatment, but I see you've already done that.

I didn't get treated at all and my hearing loss was permanent, so I can't help there either.

I don't know how you get on with your audiologist, but I would bear in mind that sudden sensorineural loss can ultimately leave you with a very unusual audiogram and you'll need someone with skill and experience in this area. I've had four audiologists, both the NHS ones were out of their depth as was the first private one. I finally went with a personal recommendation and found a private one who is brilliant.The aids and the programming I have now has genuinely turned my life around but it was a long journey to get here.

I hope it settles down soon (or perhaps I should hope that it continues to improve for a while) . Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. My audiogram is weird, too. I have cookie bite loss in my left ear and a sloping loss in my right ear, which has=d now gone down about 30db. Then it came up about 15db but feels like it's gone back down again. I don't know if that's the tinnitus, though.

I will bear that in mind what you say about the audiologist. I actually found my first NHS audiologist the best but I think she's retired. I see a different one every time now.

I would love to force my left ear to work a bit harder so I can hear a bit more speech. The hearing aid is otherwise quite good for ambient sound.

Did you lose hearing in both ears? How old are you now? Do you have any age related loss on top?

DD (age 20) developed SSHL in her left ear nearly 3 months ago.

She simply woke up one morning with barely any hearing in that ear and very loud tinnitus. Unfortunately both an audiologist and a GP failed to recognise the seriousness of the situation, leading us to believe it was just the after effects of impacted wax that would resolve on its own. It wasn’t until day 5 post-loss that she saw an ENT and began oral steroids, so slightly outside the ideal period to start treatment.

She was very lucky that a lot of her hearing came back by itself - on the first day of loss she could hear absolutely nothing but by the time we got to see ENT it was only high frequencies that were still missing. The oral steroids gave her some slight but encouraging improvement. Unfortunately the intratympanic injections didn’t help at all and she found them quite traumatic.

The first 6 weeks were absolutely awful, she really struggled in public places as loud noises were so distorted + screechy to the point that she couldn’t hear. Her tinnitus was always much worse afterwards too, she’d often have to come home and just sit in complete silence in order for things to settle down again. It was all very isolating for her and she became quite depressed and worried for her future.

Now we’re 3 months down the line things are much easier and life has returned to a new version of normal. The tinnitus is still very much there however it is not so severe/loud. Her brain has adjusted (as the ENT said it would) and most of the time she is able to automatically block it out. The only time she really hears it is when she consciously thinks about it. Hearing wise things have stayed the same however she has mostly gotten used to it. Since she’s only missing high frequencies it doesn’t effect her too much on a daily basis.

If in a loud place like a busy restaurant/pub she uses Loop Engage earplugs - they have been an absolute gamechanger and just filter out the harsh noise whilst still allowing for conversation to be heard. Definitely worth investing in. She finds that if she keeps her ears ‘happy’ and keeps the volume down a bit on life then things are much more manageable.

@oapcarer to answer your questions, I'm early 70s now. Originally I lost pretty much all hearing in both ears. Some came back spontaneously in one ear but I've effectively heard in mono for pretty much 50 years now. Most of the loss was in the lower frequencies so I could still manage speech until age-related loss kicked in, that's when I first got HAs. I tried two aids but there was so little left in my bad ear that it just wasn't worth it, and I was well practiced at coping in mono. However in the last couple of years CROS aids have become more sophisticated and I now have one in my bad ear. It filters sounds on that side and transmits them to the other aid. I still hear in one ear only but now I can hear sounds coming from the wrong side, which is a big improvement. DM me if there's anything else you'd like to know, I could go on for ever!

Were you ever investigated for an autoimmune cause? I’ve been doing extensive reading because of DD and apparently bilateral loss is often an indicator of underlying autoimmune issues

No I wasn't . How do you test for that?

Apologies - I was replying to @MontyDonsBlueScarf with that question! Sudden loss of both ears at the same time would be suspicious of autoimmune, not the same as your case I don’t think. The thought of DD experiencing SSHL in her ‘good’ ear later in life like what has happened to you is heavily playing on my mind though. Did the ENT say it is common?

Op I'm so pleased you're getting steroid injections as they will give you a better outcome. I had this after a very bad cold when I was 14. Most of my hearing came back but not all. I subsequently discovered there is a gene for hearing loss in my family and I then lost my hearing gradually, exacerbated by stress. I wore hearing aids most of my adult life but now in my 50's have cochlear implants, and now find friends who always had perfect hearing struggle in noisy restaurants.

I don't think it is common, no. I think I was jus unlucky. I was told by an ENT that I was genetically susceptible when I started to get age related loss early (40s) in my better ear

I didn't know stress was a possible cause. How does that happen? I have been very stressed the last couple of years. I feel this is a wake up call for better self care

@Malahide it was so long ago I can't say. I recall that a brain tumour was high on the suspect list and that investigations eliminated that. In the end they put it down to a virus but I always felt that that was just the default. I understand your fears for the other ear and I remember asking what were the chances of it happening again, and being distinctly unimpressed when they said it was minimal.
My symptoms were partly similar to your daughter's, I woke up one morning completely deaf. I didn't have tinnitus but I did have vertigo and I couldn't get around without hanging on to the furniture for about 3 days. If it helps, I haven't had any further problems in the intervening 50 years.