Sudden Sensorineural hearing loss

[chroncile]

It was January 2, 2010. I woke up and suddenly realized I could not hear at all from my right ear; at first I was apathetic about the whole situation and thought it would come back on its own, but after a week I got worried and went to a walk-in clinic where they referred me to an ENT. BTW, when I woke up, I had a feeling of fullness in my right ear; sort of like when you are on an ear plane and your ears have a full feeling.

Anyways, the ENT did an audiogram and concluded it was a dead ear and there was nothing that could be done to treat it, i.e. hearing aids. He did, however, recommend that I take prednisone, but knowing the fact that it doesn't always work and has a lot of adverse effects, I decided not to take it.

A month passes by and the fullness in my right ear fades away. I have noticed that I can only hear the sentries beep when they spot enemies in Team Fortress 2 (it is a game and the sentry's beep is sort of high pitched) and I can hear the water going in my ear when I take a shower, but other than that; I cannot hear anything. I also have constant tinnitus in my right ear at all times.

I got an MRI and it was normal.

Also, I have herpes simplex, but I have only had a cold sore from it; nothing serious. Could herpes simplex have caused this?

Will my hearing come back?

[edsdev1]

The top NYC doctors I spoke with no longer believe that a virus plays a role in hearing loss.  What is the medical diagnosis?  "dead ear" doesn't say where the problem is.

If you don't have a clear answer from your ENT as to why this happened, please consider what happened to me ( http://sshlcure.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/cure-for-sshl/ ), my loss was caused by a powerful food allergy.   Simple to cure.

[Nancy T]

Yes, I think the herpes virus can cause sudden hearing loss among other things (although they usually can't prove the cause of a sudden hearing loss). If your hearing hasn't come back in more than two months, I wouldn't count on getting it back.

If you remain with severe loss in one ear and normal hearing in the other ear, you have some hearing-aid options: a CROS hearing aid, a TransEar, or a Baha (bone-anchored hearing aid). Google them. I have a Baha and love it. Talk to your audiologist or ENT.

Good luck--get your hearing rechecked if you haven't.