We usually think of hearing loss as something that develops little by little. It can be difficult to detect the symptoms due to this. (After all, you’re only turning up the volume on your TV once in a while, it’s nothing to worry about, right?) That’s normally the situation, yes, but not always. In some situations, hearing loss can occur all of a sudden without any early symptoms.
It can be rather alarming when the state of your health suddenly changes. For instance, if your hair falls out a little bit at a time, it’s not a big deal, you’re just going bald! But if all of your hair fell out in a single day, you would likely feel obliged to schedule a doctor’s appointment as soon as possible (and rightfully so).
When you suddenly develop hearing loss, it’s the same thing. When this occurs, acting fast is crucial.
Sudden hearing loss – what is it?
Sudden hearing loss (sometimes referred to as sudden deafness or sudden sensorineural hearing loss, or simply SSHL for short) is not typically as prevalent as the longer-term type of hearing loss most individuals experience. But it isn’t exactly uncommon for individuals to experience sudden hearing loss. About 1 in 5000 individuals per year suffer from SSHL.
Here are a few symptoms of sudden hearing loss:
- Sudden deafness happens very quickly as the name indicates. Sudden hearing loss happens within a few days or even within a few hours. In most circumstances, the person will wake up and their hearing will be suddenly impaired. Or, they may take a phone call and question why they can’t hear anything on the other end.
- It may seem as if your ear is plugged up. Or there may be a ringing or buzzing in some instances.
- Some people hear a loud “pop” before their hearing starts to fade. But this is not always the situation. It’s possible to experience SSHL without hearing this pop.
- In 9 out of 10 instances, sudden hearing loss impacts only one ear. That said, it is possible for SSHL to affect both ears.
- The loss of 30dB or greater with regards to your hearing. The outside world sounds 30dB quieter than when you had healthy hearing. You won’t be able to measure this by yourself, it’s something we will diagnose. However, it will be noticeable.
So, is sudden hearing loss permanent? Well, about half of everyone who experiences SSHL will recover within two weeks. However, it’s significant to note that one key to success is rapid treatment. This means you will want to get treatment as rapidly as possible. When you first notice the symptoms, you should wait no longer than 72 hours.
The best thing to do, in most situations, is to treat SSHL as a medical emergency. Your risk of sudden hearing loss becoming irreversible increases the longer you wait.
What’s the cause of sudden hearing loss?
Some of the top causes of sudden hearing loss include the following:
- Head trauma: The communication between your ears and your brain can be disrupted by a traumatic brain injury.
- Problems with your blood flow: This could include anything from a high platelet count to a blockage of the cochlear artery.
- A reaction to drugs: Common medications such as aspirin are included in this list. This list can also include certain antibiotics, including streptomycin and gentamicin, and other common medicines including cisplatin and quinine.
- Autoimmune disease: In some situations, your immune system begins to believe that your inner ear is a threat. This kind of autoimmune disease can definitely lead to SSHL.
- Reaction to pain medication: Your risk of experiencing sudden hearing loss is elevated by excessive use of opioids.
- Genetic predisposition: Genetic predisposition can in some cases be responsible for sudden hearing loss.
- Ongoing exposure to loud noise, like music: Hearing will decline gradually due to recurring exposure to loud sound for most people. But for some, that decline in hearing may occur suddenly.
- Illnesses: There are numerous health conditions that, for greatly different reasons, can cause SSHL, such as multiple sclerosis, meningitis, measles, and mumps. So if a disease has a vaccine, it’s a good plan to get immunized.
For a percentage of patients, knowing what kind of sudden hearing loss you have will help us develop a more effective treatment. But this isn’t always the situation. Understanding the exact cause isn’t always necessary for effective treatment because lots of types of SSHL have similar treatment strategies.
What should you do if you have sudden loss of hearing?
So what action should you take if you wake up one morning and find that your hearing is gone? There are a couple of things that you need to do right away. Above all, you shouldn’t just wait for it to clear on its own. That’s not a good plan! You should wait no longer than 72 hours to find treatment. Getting in touch with us for immediate treatment is the smartest plan. We’ll be in the best position to help you figure out what’s wrong and how to deal with it.
While you’re at our office, you may take an audiogram to establish the amount of hearing loss you’re dealing with (this is a completely non-invasive test where you wear some headphones and raise your hand when you hear a beep). We can make certain you don’t have an obstruction or a conductive problem.
The first course of treatment will usually include steroids. For some patients, these steroids might be injected directly into the ear. In other situations, pills may be able to generate the desired results. SSHL of many root causes (or no known cause) can be successfully treated with steroids. For SSHL triggered by an autoimmune disease, you may need to take medication that suppresses your immune response.
Have you or somebody you know suddenly lost hearing? Call us today to schedule a hearing evaluation.