Hearing loss suddenly in one ear
Have you ever had a sudden hearing loss?
Has sudden hearing loss worried you?
What is sudden hearing loss?
Why does sudden hearing loss occur?
Why do people get sudden hearing loss?
If you or those around you have a sudden onset of severe unilateral or bilateral hearing loss or complete hearing loss of one or both ears, we recommend that you read on.
What you will read next:
Introduction
Doctors sometimes refer to a disorder called sudden sensory hearing loss, or sshl, which is caused by a problem in the inner ear.
These conditions include rapidly and indescribably hearing loss of one or both ears, which usually last for several days and sometimes become permanent.
Problems in the sensory organs of the inner ear are said to cause sudden hearing loss or loss of hearing.
One of the points is that sudden hearing loss often affects only one ear, but in rare and less common cases can affect both ears. These people usually have a specific clinical picture.
What is the predominant clinical picture of a person with sudden sshl or sensorineural hearing loss?
Doctors say that people who experience this disorder may notice hearing loss when they wake up in the morning. This experience can be in the form of experiencing hearing loss and obvious unilateral or bilateral hearing loss.
Another sign is that when a healthy person wants to use his deaf or hard of hearing ear, for example, when holding a telephone, he realizes that his hearing is not the same as before.
People say that just before they lose their hearing or have a pronounced hearing loss on one side, they hear a loud popping sound. People with sudden hearing loss can have one or more of the following symptoms in addition to hearing loss:
- Feeling fullness in ears
- Feeling heavy and clogged ears
- Vertigo
- Lightheadedness
- Tinnitus or ringing in the ears
Epidemiology
Statistics show that every year, one in every 5,000 people in the world suffers from sudden sensory hearing loss.
But the important point is that it is not the actual number of cases with SSL, because every year more than the number mentioned above, suffer from this disorder. because many of these cases with this disorder do not go to the emergency room in time, so their disorder is not diagnosed in time and is not recorded.
Causes of sudden hearing loss
Many of the disorders that affect your ear can cause sshl, but it is interesting to note that doctors say that only 10% of people with SSHL have been diagnosed with the underlying cause.
Doctors say they can only guess the specific cause of 10% of sudden sensory hearing loss or sshl.
Here are some common causes:
- Infections
- Head and Neck traumas
- Skull traumas
- Autoimmune disorders
- Circulatory problems
- Vascular problems and neurological diseases such as MS
- Specific drugs used in chemotherapy or the use of certain broad-spectrum antibiotics
- Internal ear diseases such as Munir disease
It is interesting to note that there are many diseases that have other accompanying manifestations that can lead the physician to make a correct diagnosis. in addition to sudden hearing loss. Another factor that physicians must consider in order to understand the underlying cause is whether the SSHL is unilateral or bilateral.
For example, if a person has a sudden hearing loss in only one ear, the doctor should also list the auditory nerve tumor or acoustic neuroma in the list of differential diagnoses, but when a person says that he or she has a sudden hearing loss in both ears, we need to consider general illnesses such as illness and autoimmune disorders.
Diagnosis
It is important for a person with sudden onset of hearing loss to be aware and see a doctor as soon as possible.
Providing a detailed history Informing your doctor of the clinical manifestations along with a list of medications used to treat a history of trauma will help your doctor make a more accurate diagnosis, In the first session, the physician should rule out transient hearing loss or conduction due to clogged ear or accumulation of earwax in the ear canal.
When a person has a hearing loss for no apparent reason, During the examination, the physician should pay close attention to the cases that may have led to hearing loss. To reduce sensorineural hearing loss, the physician may not be able to complete the clinical examination with the available tools. So, a few days after the onset of symptoms, the doctor will order a test called pure tone audiometry or PTA to see if there is sensorineural hearing loss.
What is the characteristic of pure tone audiometry?
When the audiometric evaluation is done in pure tone, Different frequencies are measured.
One of the features of sshl is that a person has lost at least 30 decibels in three consecutive frequencies in 72 hours, for example when a person has sshl, the power of daily conversations can be heard in a whisper. The patient may also tell the doctor about sudden changes in his hearing.
When a person suddenly has hearing loss, after obtaining a history and specific clinical audiometry examination to rule out or confirm the differential diagnosis, tests such as MRI, blood tests as well as balance tests may be necessary.
treatment
When a person is diagnosed with ssl, the important point is that treatment should be started immediately, even before the results are ready.
The patient should not wait until the MRI results or the blood tests are ready and should be given a quick corticosteroid.
Until about 10 years ago, doctors used to prescribe corticosteroids orally and in pill form, but today, to prevent systemic side effects of corticosteroids, intra-tympanic steroid injection (injection through the eardrum) is recommended, which are as effective as Oral steroids.
Corticosteroids can have many effects, reducing inflammation, reducing swelling, and also helping the patient with autoimmune disorders.
It is said that when a doctor injects corticosteroids directly into the middle ear, the drug is released into the inner ear. This injection may be done in a doctor's office or clinic. It is a great option for people who do not want and cannot take oral corticosteroids for any reason, as well as people who want to be safe from the side effects of corticosteroids.
The important thing to say is that in order for corticosteroids to show their best effect, it is important that they are prescribed quickly. The doctor often prescribes corticosteroids before all the test results and paraclinical data are ready, which is said to reduce the chances of hearing loss returning if treatment is delayed for more than 2 to 4 weeks.
If infections have caused you to have SSHL, you need to take the right antibiotics. If you have taken medications that are ototoxic or toxic to your ears, it is important to change your medication or adjust your dose.
If autoimmune diseases cause the immune system to assume and attack the inner ear as a stranger, immunosuppressive drugs are prescribed in proportion to the underlying disorder.
Finally, the last treatment option for people with SSHL is to use a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Doctors prescribe hearing aids or cochlear implants when the hearing loss is severe, unresponsive to the treatment, or bilateral.
Hearing aids are used to amplify sound and cochlear implants are used to directly stimulate the auditory connections that connect the ear to the brain.
What are the symptoms and manifestations of SSL?
These demonstrations are as follows:
- The sufferer cannot easily track past conversations and voice communications.
- The second is that the sound of conversations becomes muffled for the affected person.
- One cannot understand and hear the sounds of screws well.
- One has a lightheadedness
- The person has balance problems.
- The person cannot hear a specific or unit sound when there are many sounds in the environment.
- Tinnitus.
- The presence of discharge in the ear and a feeling of fullness are among other symptoms.