Sudden Hearing Loss or Sudden Deafness
One of the most baffling hearing loss situations
involves the relatively quick loss of hearing in one or both ears. This
can occur in a matter of hours or days, and is devastating to those who
experience it. Sudden hearing loss affects one in 5000 persons every
year! That's 60,000 persons each year in the US alone!
Doctors don't really know the cause of sudden hearing
loss - it may involve autoimmune disease and/or a viral infection. The
most promising treatment is steroids, which can bring at least partial
recovery in about half of the cases if treatment is started immediately.
October 2000 - Here's a doctor's
response to a question about sudden hearing loss.
December 2005 - That hearing loss you experience with a
cold or flu may NOT be due to congestion. It may be the much more
serious sudden hearing loss. Learn how to tell the
difference, and what to do if it is sudden hearing loss!
January 2007 - Time, Therapy Spur
Recovery from Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
June 2007 - Evidence lacking to guide
treatment for sudden hearing loss
July 2007 -
Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
November 2007 - Sudden deafness leaves doctors at a loss
May 2008 - Clinical Trial on Treatment for Sudden
Deafness
May 2008 - Quick Treatment Essential In Treating Sudden
Hearing Loss
June 2008 - Sudden Hearing Loss May Portend Stroke
September 2008 - Sudden hearing loss has few symptoms and its cause is a mystery
January 2010 - Do Allergies Cause Sudden Hearing Loss?
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By
Jeffree Itrich
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editor:
Roughly 60,000 Americans lose suddenly lose hearing in one or both ears
every year. Prompt medical treatment can often successfully restore at
least partial hearing if it begins immediately. Unfortunately, the
general public (and even the hearing loss community) is surprisingly
uninformed about this surprisingly common malady. Here's a press release
from UCSD with important information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sudden
deafness is an ear emergency that strikes one person in 5000 every year,
says Jeffrey Harris, M.D., UCSD Chief of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck
Surgery.
Harris
says about half the patients may notice dizziness or imbalance for up to
a day or two, but the main symptom is a blocked ear and tinnitus
(ringing, roaring, or buzzing noise). If caught quickly, at least 50% of
cases can be reversed with medical treatment.
"Current
evidence suggests that sudden deafness usually arises as a complication
of viral infection," says Harris. "The cold weather season is
also the head cold season. Many patients who catch cold develop ear
blockage and assume it is just congestion from the head cold when it
could be sudden deafness. By the time the cold symptoms are gone and
they notice that only one ear cleared and the other one is still
blocked, it is often too late to treat the deafness."
Harris
adds that if a person had normal hearing before getting a head cold,
there is a simple test that will tell if a blocked ear is from
congestion or nerve damage: Hum out loud. If you hear your voice louder
in the blocked ear, the problem is congestion and is probably temporary.
But, if you hear your voice louder in the good ear, this indicates
possible nerve damage in the blocked ear.
A
blocked ear should be examined by an otolaryngologist (ear, nose,
throat, head and neck specialist) as soon as possible. UCSD is
conducting a clinical trial on sudden deafness. For information about
the trial call 858-657-6836 or visit
www.suddendeafness.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
SSHL was initially described in the medical
literature over 60 years ago. It is defined as a hearing loss of at least
30 dB at three connected frequencies, either occurring rapidly or over a
period of up to three days. The condition affects only one ear in 90
percent of cases and may be first noted upon waking up or when using the
affected ear alone, as on the telephone. A noticeable popping sound may
accompany the loss, along with vertigo and tinnitus. Each year, SSHL
affects up to 20 people per 100,000, or as many as 60,000 people in the
United States. It occurs most often in adults aged 30-60, although it
happens in children and older adults as well. Proposed etiologies of the
condition include viral infections, autoimmune diseases, labyrinthine
membrane ruptures, vascular disorders, neurologic conditions and
neoplastic growths.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2007
Question: I went to bed one Thursday evening, and,
when I awoke that Friday morning, my hearing in my left ear was gone. I am
a healthy person and have not had any injuries. I did, however, have some
medical testing done within the two months prior to my hearing loss. The
first was a CT scan, in which they injected me with dye to look at a joint
in my clavicle. The other was a biopsy of my thyroid gland. I went to the
local urgent-care facility that day, and they found my ear to be normal
except for the hearing loss. I do not have any vertigo or any other
symptoms, only the hearing loss. The doctor ordered an MRI and put me on
prednisone. I have since been referred to an ear-nose-and-throat
specialist. He has performed numerous hearing tests. Yes, my hearing in
the left ear is completely gone. He then put me on a stronger dose of
prednisone that started with 60 milligrams per day and went down from
there. Nothing has worked. I have an appointment with another ENT
specialist in order to get a second opinion. Do you have any further
ideas?
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2008
An estimated 4,000 Americans develop sudden
sensorineural hearing loss, or SSHL, each year, according to the National
Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, part of the
National Institutes of Health. SSHL often occurs without warning. Some of
those affected report experiencing a loud "pop" just before their hearing
disappears. Others go to bed with their hearing intact and discover
hearing loss when they wake up the next morning. Still others first notice
it when they try to make a phone call and can't hear the conversation. A
majority of those with sudden hearing loss are affected in only one ear.
"About one-third of patients regain their hearing," says Parham. "But the
rest either never get their hearing back or only partially regain
function. Those who do regain hearing often continue to experience ringing
in their ears and have difficulty discerning speech." Anyone who
experiences a sudden loss of hearing should seek treatment immediately.
Once head injury, tumor, stroke or other causes have been ruled out,
treatment with oral steroids, anti-viral medications or steroid injections
directly into the middle ear is started.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2008
Sudden hearing loss may foreshadow a stroke by as
much as two years,say Taiwanese researchers. The researchers analyzed five
years of follow-up data on 1,423 patients hospitalized for an acute
episode of sudden hearing loss and found they were more than 1.5 times
more likely to suffer a stroke than a control group of 5,692 patients
hospitalized for an appendectomy. The findings, published in the current
issue ofStroke, haven't been duplicated in other research and should be
interpreted with caution.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2008
Time was when Ray Forest could ride shotgun and
hear his wife, Jane, just fine. Discern a voice in a crowded room. And
simultaneously talk on the phone and write. These days, however, that
trick requires a little contortion, criss-crossing the phone with his left
hand to his right ear. That's because he still lives with the effects of
his bout with sudden deafness, or sudden sensioneural hearing loss (SNHL),
which struck without warning three years ago. The morning he went deaf
was like any other. Forest, a real estate agent, went to his Tewksbury
office, began making calls and found the phone was on the fritz. What's
more, it kept ringing but when he'd answer, no one would be there. Or so
he thought. "But when I moved the phone to my right ear, I hear someone
saying, 'Hello? Hello?'" recalled Forest, now 72, "and that's the way I
discovered that, within a short period of time that morning, I'd gone from
being able to hear to, well, not." Why sudden deafness strikes, and whom,
remains a mystery. There are no visible symptoms. No pain. And besides a
pop, or a hiss, like the air going out of a tire, no fanfare or
predictable precursor.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2010
I received an interesting email from a man who was
afflicted with single-sided sudden hearing loss in 2006, followed by
vertigo and a Meniere's diagnosis. He underwent what appears to be
standard treatment with mixed results until an allergy test revealed that
he was allergic to milk and chocolate. Shortly after he eliminated those
foods from his diet, his symptoms all but disappeared! And he has since
been successfully reintroducing both chocolate and milk back into his
diet! Full
Story
