Introduction - What is Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss - SSNHL

Until just over a year ago, I didn't know this condition existed.  From telling people about my experience, it's clear that most people who are unaffected have never heard of it, either.  So I can hardly fault people for no knowing or understanding what this is.  

From a layman's point of view, I'll explain it the best I can:  SSNHL is a disorder of the inner ear, in which you lose hearing, usually in one ear, suddenly and profoundly.  It has nothing to do with the middle ear - it's not due to an ear infection, fluid in the ear, perforated eardrum, impacted wax or anything like that.  This has to do with damage to the cochlea, or auditory nerve.  It can be caused by a virus, stroke, auditory tumor, certain inner ear disorders, head trauma, vascular issues and a few other causes.  When all these are ruled out - as in many cases - the cause is considered "idiopathic" which is medical speak for "we have no idea why this happened."

Before I go on to recount my personal experience, I'll outline the typical way SSNHL happens, and how it is treated:

Typically, someone who has perfectly good hearing will wake up in the morning deaf in one ear.  This may or may not be preceded by some vague symptoms such as tinnitus or fullness in the ear.  Along with this, some - but not all - people will be extremely dizzy as well. 

In a best case scenario, the person sees an ENT right away to be treated with the few options that are available which is a strong course of oral Prednisone and/or intratympanic shots in which a steroid is injected directly through the eardrum.  Sometimes hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is used as an additional treatment.  The outcome is never guaranteed, because even with immediate treatment some people remain permanently deaf in the ear, while others regain some or all of their hearing.  

The prognosis is hard to define since there is so much conflicting information. Technically, the studies show that about two thirds of people recover some or all of their hearing.  However, anecdotal "evidence" - what I've heard from fellow sufferers in the past year - would make it sound as though very few people recover their hearing.  (Of course the anecdotes come from a self-selecting group of people, so would probably skew to those with a worse outcome.)

As I'll explain in future posts, some physicians are not familiar with the condition, leading it to be misdiagnosed and delaying treatment which must be given quickly for the best hope of recovery.  As I'll also explain, even some audiologists don't seem to have much experience treating one-sided SSNHL patients, because if they did they would approach their treatment plans very differently.  

So off I'll go with the story of my experience as it has unfolded for a little over a year...