What is Sudden Hearing Loss?
Imagine waking up in the morning and finding out that one of your ears couldn’t hear well. Now you’ll be wondering why you are having trouble hearing, is it because you went swimming yesterday, is it because of wrong sleeping position or maybe because you attended a concert last night? Do not wait to see if it comes back or not. The sooner you receive treatment, the more likely to reverse or fix the problem.
Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency and it needs your immediate attention. Just like its name, hearing loss can happen suddenly or develop within hours. The severity of the case also can be caused by several health factors. This may also occur together with tinnitus. If you suspect that you are experiencing trouble in hearing, we highly recommend you contact your ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor or audiologist as soon as possible.
Causes of Sudden Hearing Loss
There are studies and researches done on how sudden hearing loss can happen and until today, the finding in this topic is still limited. Most of the time the cause is unknown. The known cause includes infections, trauma, neoplasia, autoimmune disease, Meniere’s disease and etc.
- Idiopathic: 90% of cases, probably viral in origin (Influenza B, Rubella, Mumps, etc)
- Autoimmune disease: Cogan’s syndrome, polyarteritis nodosa, vasculitis
- Trauma: Barotrauma, blow to the head
- Neoplasia: Acoustic neuroma
- Meniere’s disease (associated with tinnitus and vertigo)
- Conductive hearing loss: Impacted earwax, otitis media
Studies have shown sudden hearing loss can strike 1 out of 5,000 people typically to those in their 40’s and 50’s. The actual numbers could be much higher because the condition often goes undiagnosed. Do not take the risk when it comes to hearing disability. Many people recover and never seek medical help. We advise you to not not gamble this away and get treated to get treatment immediately as it could cause irreversible damage to your hearing. It may also be associated with severe medical conditions.
Symptoms of Sudden Hearing Loss
The symptoms usually occur at once or after a couple of days, usually in one ear. Although the severity may vary from case to case, the worst case scenario is permanent deafness. Its symptoms include:
- Trouble hearing on one ear
- Muffled sounds
- Inability to hear background noise in one ear
- Ear ringing
- Tinnitus
- Feeling full in one ear
- Vertigo
Treatment and Prevention
Early treatment may increase your chances for a full recovery. We at SoundLife Hearing will try to find out the cause of your sudden hearing loss and make recommended referral if needed. If the case is serious (hearing dropped more than 50%), we urge you to seek medical attention or consult an ENT doctor as soon as possible, best within 24 hours after the incident happened. Some doctors may even prescribe you steroids in pill form because it is capable of reducing inflammation, swelling, and strengthening the body to fight illness.
If all the medical treatment had been carried out by doctors and yet unfortunately your conditions result in permanent hearing loss, we audiologists at SoundLife Hearing will do our best to improve your hearing ability by prescribing suitable hearing aids to reduce the strain of listening. It’s our duty to improve your quality of life, contact us to gain back your confidence in hearing again ????.
