Hi All,
I just signed up to start posting today but I have been reading posts here since February of this year (2023) when my hearing loss and tinnitus first started. So it all began on February 1st when I was driving home on an ordinary day. While stopped at a red light in traffic, my hearing on the right side sudden went muffled. I didn't think much of it at first since I thought it was just an air pressure imbalance. After trying various tips, tricks, and hacks on YouTube, nothing helped.
A few days later, I started hearing a low humming sound around 50-80 Hz in that same ear. At first, I thought it was generator at a nearby construction site until I was in a quiet spot and the hum continued. The sound would disappear momentarily if I wobbled my head or if there is an external low frequency noise, but as soon as the noise stopped, the hum would return. By night, the humming in my ear would disappear but restart the next morning about an hour or so after waking up.
About a half a week later, the hum stopped. However, for about a couple of days, human speech on the TV or phone sounded robotic and distorted in the affected ear. Fortunately, the distortion was also short lived but the hearing loss continued and high pitch tinnitus began. That was followed by sensitivity to loud noises but most of that went away within a week. Using free online hearing tests, it seems I have lost my hearing in the right ear above 7 kHz, and 8 kHz was in the "moderate" hearing loss range.
My doctor saw swelling in the affected ear, and prescribed antibiotic eardrops with cortisone (Ciprodex) but I knew it wasn't that simple as the medication did nothing to bring back my hearing. I asked about steroid treatment for hearing loss but she said I had "swimmer's ear" (I'm not a swimmer although I did used to put my head underwater in the bathtub everyday up until that point when the doctor suggested that I not do that) and that I would not need it.
Fast forward to four months later (June): I plugged in my Sony noise-cancelling headset in to the computer for the first time in three months and I could hear the background hiss again in my right ear, albeit with less volume than my "good" ear but at least my high frequency is slowing coming back! (A few months before, I could only hear the background hiss with my "good" ear with the right ear being completely silent.) While I don't expect 100% of my hearing to return, I hope to get at least most (if not all) of it back in the next few months.
I just signed up to start posting today but I have been reading posts here since February of this year (2023) when my hearing loss and tinnitus first started. So it all began on February 1st when I was driving home on an ordinary day. While stopped at a red light in traffic, my hearing on the right side sudden went muffled. I didn't think much of it at first since I thought it was just an air pressure imbalance. After trying various tips, tricks, and hacks on YouTube, nothing helped.
A few days later, I started hearing a low humming sound around 50-80 Hz in that same ear. At first, I thought it was generator at a nearby construction site until I was in a quiet spot and the hum continued. The sound would disappear momentarily if I wobbled my head or if there is an external low frequency noise, but as soon as the noise stopped, the hum would return. By night, the humming in my ear would disappear but restart the next morning about an hour or so after waking up.
About a half a week later, the hum stopped. However, for about a couple of days, human speech on the TV or phone sounded robotic and distorted in the affected ear. Fortunately, the distortion was also short lived but the hearing loss continued and high pitch tinnitus began. That was followed by sensitivity to loud noises but most of that went away within a week. Using free online hearing tests, it seems I have lost my hearing in the right ear above 7 kHz, and 8 kHz was in the "moderate" hearing loss range.
My doctor saw swelling in the affected ear, and prescribed antibiotic eardrops with cortisone (Ciprodex) but I knew it wasn't that simple as the medication did nothing to bring back my hearing. I asked about steroid treatment for hearing loss but she said I had "swimmer's ear" (I'm not a swimmer although I did used to put my head underwater in the bathtub everyday up until that point when the doctor suggested that I not do that) and that I would not need it.
Fast forward to four months later (June): I plugged in my Sony noise-cancelling headset in to the computer for the first time in three months and I could hear the background hiss again in my right ear, albeit with less volume than my "good" ear but at least my high frequency is slowing coming back! (A few months before, I could only hear the background hiss with my "good" ear with the right ear being completely silent.) While I don't expect 100% of my hearing to return, I hope to get at least most (if not all) of it back in the next few months.
