Hearing loss/tinnitus

[teenyturner]

Hi,
I have chronic tinnitus in my right ear.  My neuro knows about it but has not investigated or even commented on it.

Lately I've noticed that when I'm wearing my iPod earphones that I can't feel the bud in my left ear (have left TN for over twenty years) and my hearing on the left isn't as good as the right.. This is unexpected because I thought that if I started having hearing loss it would occur in the ear with tinnitus.

Does anyone else have numbness in their ear canal and or hearing loss?

Regards

Chirley

[Nancy T]

Chirley--I think that any hearing loss should be investigated, in other words getting your hearing formally tested. It could be from MS but it could also be from something else. Please ask to be referred to an ENT and not let anyone assume your hearing problems are from MS (though they certainly could be).

Deb, that is weird--I have the same thing (though it has subsided in recent years). Moving my eyes, especially sideways, often would cause a sudden "burst" of noise in my left ear. That ear always has low-level constant tinnitus due to a sudden permanent hearing loss 13 years ago, but this is on top of that.

Originally the "burst" of extra noise would occur spontaneously and associated with a strong "whump" feeling in my head, or it would occur when I heard a sudden noise like a telephone ringing or just someone coughing. Then I started noticing it occurred when I moved my eyes.

If you google "gaze-evoked tinnitus" you will find some info about this. The visual system overriding the auditory, due to some neurological damage. This happens to some people who've had auditory-nerve tumors removed. In my case the cause is completely unknown and I remain with no diagnosis for any of my symptoms after 13 years.

Chirley, please do go get your hearing checked out!

Nancy

[Sailorsong]

I have hearing loss in both ears but not from MS. But I have read a lot about this subject over the last few months.

First it is true that hearing loss due to MS is rare from what I have read, but that doesn't mean we hear this good. With MS we have trouble isolating sounds we hear from each other so it is like having a hearing loss. For example if you are in a crowded room with a lot of people talking, you might have trouble hearing what someone right in front of you is saying. It isn't that you can't hear the person, just that you can't isolate their voice from all of the other voices.

With this in mind if you do have even slight hearing loss with MS the problem of hearing is worse as the two problems add to each other making it even harder to understand people.

As for you other question and numbness. Again I don't have that going on but do have the canal of my left ear itching almost constantly. This is also the side where I get my bouts of TN. I suspect this is due to the MS, but so far have not gotten any confirmation for any doctor.

Dennis

[bubbles_04]

Weirdly for the last year every now and then my right ear feels likes its underwater. It happens randomly and I thought it was a blocked ear but my ear wasn't blocked. I still get it now and then. It's a really weird thing. The other day my right ear starting to ring... tinnitus right? but its ok now. I didn't think it was related to MS... interesting.

[Deb61]

Yes, I have hearing loss in both ears.  The MS Specialist says that hearing loss caused by MS is rare.

I have ringing in my ears that is worse when I move my eyes from one side to the other.  My old regular neurologist says that this is caused by the closeness of the cranial nerves and the demyelination process.  The auditory nerve crosses with the visual one.  How is this not neurological?

I'm confused now about what the MS Specialist told me.  Everything I thought I knew in the past has been thrown out the window about hearing loss as it relates to MS. . .

[zoefromsussex]

Hi Chirley,
Yep, I've had some issues with my ears too. After I had my LP I had terrible noise distortion (voices sounded robotic) and ever since then I have a constant but subtle buzzing in both ears and sometimes a bit of hearing loss. My doc didn't investigate either!
All the best, Zoe