Severe Conductive Hearing Loss from Middle Ear Issues — Can I Get Hearing Back?

[Solose]

Hi everyone, I've had ongoing ETD, ear infection, glue ear, sinus issues for several months. Previous to this I was totally health, never had any problems with my ears. Eventually, I got tinnitus in 1 ear and today my eardrum in my previously good ear ruptured and now I can hear my heartbeat in that ear. I'm awaiting surgery to get tubes, eustachian tube dilation, and sinus draining on Friday. Throughout all this, my hearing has gradually deteriorated from being just a little muffled, to only hearing people if they are looking at me and there is no background noise. I don't have my audiogram right now, gave it to my ENT, but it's pretty severe. I know that hearing loss is a big reason for tinnitus.

What do you think the chances are of regaining my hearing after the procedures are, anyone with experience in this? My ENT did a myringotomy without tubes previously and he said in my ear with tinnitus, the eardrum is thickened and everything inside is very red and irritated. I'm afraid there's permanent damage. I know there's hearing aids for conductive hearing loss, but I don't know if those would have the same effect as regaining natural hearing in diminishing tinnitus.

 

[GregCA]

Can you post your audiogram when you get it back? Blank out any personal info if you are concerned.

 

[Pre55ure]

Hearing aids or bone conduction hearing devices should be able to help with both the hearing and tinnitus. As long as your inner ear / cochlea are not damaged, you should be able to get back close to normal hearing via technology.
As far as abating tinnitus, your inner ear doesn't really care how the sound gets there, just that it does.
Of course there are people with no (detectable) hearing loss that have tinnitus, and people with bad hearing loss that have no tinnitus. So there isn't always a clear answer.

Sorry to hear about your situation, I hope Friday goes well.

 

[Auron]

@GregCA Hey Greg may I ask you a question? Seems like you are the right one to ask. Recently I noticed that when I jog or do jumping jacks, I hear a click in my ears, it's mostly the left ear but the right clicks sometimes too upon landing. Do you think this could be related to the ossicles? I hope not... My hearing on audiograms up to 8kHz has no dips below 10dB. I hope that means my issues is eustachian tube dysfunction related...

 

[Kriszti]

Hearing aids or bone conduction hearing devices should be able to help with both the hearing and tinnitus. As long as your inner ear / cochlea are not damaged, you should be able to get back close to normal hearing via technology.
As far as abating tinnitus, your inner ear doesn't really care how the sound gets there, just that it does.
Of course there are people with no (detectable) hearing loss that have tinnitus, and people with bad hearing loss that have no tinnitus. So there isn't always a clear answer.

Sorry to hear about your situation, I hope Friday goes well.

Maybe it's a stupid question, I don't know, but what technology is used to decide whether a person has damaged the inner ear/cochlea?

 

[Pre55ure]

Maybe it's a stupid question, I don't know, but what technology is used to decide whether a person has damaged the inner ear/cochlea?

When you do an audiogram they will (usually) measure both "in air" hearing and bone conduction. If your "in air" hearing is bad but your bone conduction hearing is ok, then this indicates that the problem lies somewhere between the ear canal and the cochlea, but that the cochlea/inner ear is (likely) ok.

If the bone conduction tests are bad, then this indicates that the problem is likely deeper - and probably involves the cochlea/inner ear and or auditory nerve.

Also - just want to point out that I am not a medical professional or anything. Just someone who tries to alleviate their anxiety through research and scientific understanding.

 

[GregCA]

@GregCA Hey Greg may I ask you a question? Seems like you are the right one to ask. Recently I noticed that when I jog or do jumping jacks, I hear a click in my ears, it's mostly the left ear but the right clicks sometimes too upon landing. Do you think this could be related to the ossicles? I hope not... My hearing on audiograms up to 8kHz has no dips below 10dB. I hope that means my issues is eustachian tube dysfunction related...

It could be many things. Even healthy ears can hear "clicking". Realize that our ears are so sensitive that we can perceive sound when the ear drum moves by an amount that is less than the width of an atom...
I don't worry about my ears clicking. They always do when I swallow, which makes sense to me.

 

[GregCA]

Maybe it's a stupid question, I don't know, but what technology is used to decide whether a person has damaged the inner ear/cochlea?

• Bone conduction testing
• Otoacoustic Emissions

 

[JohnAdams]

Hearing is so complicated.

 

[PugDog1]

@Solose How are you now solose? X