What To Do If You Get Sudden Deafness

Everyone will experience loss of hearing very naturally as they age. There are also people who often hear a lot better in one year than the other ear. If you find that hearing in any one of the ears is disrupted all of a sudden for no apparent obvious reason, then you may have just experienced a type of hearing loss known as sensorineural hearing loss. This is also sometimes known as SHL which is a kind of deafness of the nerves.

There have been a lot of studies that have been conducted on the matter. They all point to a number of around 66,000 as being the amount of new cases of SHL that are recorded in the States every year. What is even more frightening is the fact that these numbers could very well be underestimated as a lot of these cases often go unnoticed and undiagnosed. 

The main cause behind this is that people do not view SHL as a serious enough condition to warrant immediate medical attention. As a result, many of the people who do get SHL often do not get the medical care that they need. This delay in getting proper treatment can result in some very serious conditions such as increasing the risk of being permanently hearing impaired. 

Causes are not known

There are no known causes of SHL. However, experts do point to several factors that may contribute to the increase in the likelihood of developing SHL. This includes things such as viral infections, a malfunction within the immune system, injuries to the ear which are inflammatory, or even blood flow that may get blocked on their route to the ears. It can sometimes even be a combination of a multitude of these factors. 

One thing that is very important to note is that SHL has the ability to affect people of absolutely any age group. However, the age group most susceptible to the disease are between the ages of 50 and 60. Generally, it usually strikes a single ear first. You may even be able to hear a pop when it happens or you may feel as though your ears are clogged. It is not uncommon for hearing to go away gradually and not all of a sudden. It normally takes over a considerable number of minutes or sometimes, even hours, for the full effects to become apparent. 

Other than just hearing problems, SHL also has the ability to affect the balance of a person and it can definitely increase the risk of falling. SHL can sometimes also be the symptom of a small stroke or the presence of a tumor in the body. One of the main reasons why this type of hearing loss gets undiagnosed so often is because of the fact that the symptoms feel very similar to that of getting a head cold or maybe some water within the ears. Most people think that this is just an annoying and stuffy ear and that it will go away on its own. This is why most people do not take any action before it is too late. 

Try humming, it can let you know if you have SHL

It is important to know if you have gotten SHL so that you can take the proper precautions in order to prevent further damage to the ears. So, how do you know if it is SHL or if it is just a common stuffy ears. This may surprise you but humming can definitely help a lot. 

Just hum and do it a bit loudly to yourself. If your hearing is normal, then you will be able to hear the sounds equally in both the ears. If you have some kind of issue with either of your ears then you will hear the sounds unequally in both ears. The humming will most likely shift to either one ear or the other. 

Say for example that your right ear is the one that is affected and the humming noise is much louder in that particular ear, then it is very likely that the type of hearing loss you have is one of a conductive loss. This can also be due to a cold or a build-up of earwax. You can even try and stimulate this effect by trying humming while your right ear is covered. If the humming happens to be louder in the left ear, then there is a higher chance that the hearing loss in the right ear is due to some sort of nerve damage. This will require immediate attention from a qualified professional. 

Treatment process and duration 

Time is really of the absolute essence if you want to make sure that further damage to ears is not done. The period of time you have in order to treat the condition before it becomes permanent is usually about 10 to 14 days. If you do not get it treated within that time frame, then it is very likely that the hearing loss will become completely permanent. Therefore, make sure that you see your doctor as soon as you possibly can. 

Hearing loss can be extremely debilitating and therefore, it is absolutely necessary to make sure that we do all that we can in order to protect ourselves from getting hearing loss. If you think that you are experiencing symptoms of SHL, you will want to make sure that you get it looked at immediately. If you do not do this, the damage can become permanent and you will have permanently lost one of your five senses. Imagine how big of a loss that will be.