Help: Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) - very scary

I'm sorry you are experiencing this. SSHL is not common. Most hearing loss happens gradually. However, people on MCC have shared their experience with SSNL. You did the right thing by seeking immediate medical attention. It seems that steroid treatment only works if it is given very quickly after the hearing loss incident. However, it does not always work.

It's helpful to know that hearing loss technology has improved greatly over the last few decades. Hearing aids are better than they used to be. Bicross hearing aids can transfer sound from a 'deaf' ear to the hear that hears when there is single sided deafness. So some single sided implants.

If the damage is in the cochlea, which it often is, a cochlear implant may be a possibility. The large majority of cochlear implant recipients have excellent results.

I am unaware of HBOT treatment, but encourage anyone who has experience with this to share what they know.

Was there an incident of some kind that may have caused the SSHL? Were you on an airplane? Were you exposed to extremely loud sudden noise? Is there possibly a genetic connection?

@julieo4 thanks Julie, no I was not on a plane and was not exposed to any extremely loud sound and not genetic connection. I woke up Wednesday 5th worked at home all day and around 3pm out of the sudden my right ear striped working.

I am trying to inform people about another cause for sudden sensorineural hearing loss with chronic tinnitus which is cochlear migraines, name deceiving because no headache just hearing loss which is triggered possibly by loud noise, stress, poor sleep, foods, etc. Have only found one Dr in Irvine California who understands and treats this. Yes multifactorial causes and approaches for treatment.

Dr Djalilian is the ENT who is in Irvine California btw.
My name is Lesley Hirshberg Miller and my daughter had this condition. The Drs in NYC do not seem to know about or treat cochlear migraines. I have tried calling heads of department and the heads of large otolaryngology groups but not getting much help with spreading the information so people can be more informed and better diagnosed and treated.

The first ENT I went to told me the SSHL is caused by a virus. When he retired, I changed providers to an ENT at Stanford who said, “Oh yeah. Virus is what we say when we have to come with something, but in reality, the cause is still a mystery most times”.

Interesting! Back in 1972 I was told the same thing, and then later Meniere's. But what causes Meniere's?

When I see any doctor for any reason and they give me a diagnosis, I always ask, 'What else could it be?' And after they think for a bit and tell me, I ask it again. Some doctors can be lazy, especially with older patients. I once had a doctor tell me what I had was because of my age. I gently told him he was being lazy and asked what would he tell me if I were 50. I got a much better response. Try it!

Please consider cochlear migraine. The name is deceptive because there is no headache.
This has been recognized since 2018.

Dr. Lesley Hirshberg Miller

Look up cochlear migraines. SSHL with no headache.
Yes there is hope that steroids can help.
There is hope.

5 years ago, 3 weeks post-partum, I woke up with a vertigo and it wasn’t just like a “spinning” sensation, it felt like I was getting thrown in different directions in the room even with my eyes closed and lying down. I was throwing up and just really miserable, on top of healing from a c-section delivery. My husband took me to the ER and they did lab work and mri and didn’t find anything, but they wanted me to follow-up with an ENT. The one they referred me to didn’t have any opening until the following month, but I scheduled anyway. This time my hearing on my left ear was muffled, and after a day it was completely gone, like something is blocking or plugged in my ear canal. So a few days later, still feeling miserable from vertigo I thought I would just find an ENT doc that could see me asap. So I was able to find one after a week I was seen at the ER. To make the long story short, they found out that I had severe hearing loss on my left ear. It was sensorineural hearing loss and they couldn’t find out why. They just said it could be labyrinthitis or a virus damaged my inner ear. Anyhow, turned out it was a medical emergency and so they injected a steroid in my eardrum, and scheduled 3 more sessions of steroid therapy. The ENT doc also said that if I could get a pre-auth from my insurance, hyperbaric oxygen therapy might help too. He said it’s a “salvage” treatment, and he can’t really say if my hearing would come back, but it might save whatever is left. I did it anyway in conjunction with the steroid therapy. I did it everyday for 2 weeks. When they tested my hearing after a week, it had shown some improvement so we continued the rest of the treatment. Then after the HBOT and steroid they tested my hearing again, and it came back, not 100% but pretty darn close. The look on my ENT doc’s face when I took that last hearing test, he was so genuinely happy for me. The key is, the therapy needs to start asap. There’s a time window for treatments to work otherwise the damage will be irreversible from what I understand. I am so grateful up to this day that I listened to my gut feeling to get checked sooner.

So glad you got better. That is wonderful news. Do you have a family history of migraines?
Please look up cochlear migraine. That can cause sensorineural hearing loss with no headache and you sound like you had vestibular migraine possible as well. These names are deceiving because there is not a headache associated with the illness. Cochlear migraines can be treated with triptans as well as the IT steroids. Seems that the ENT's are not aware of the diagnosis of cochlear migraines which were researched and written about since 2018. Trying to spread awareness of this illness. Treatment is multifactorial- stress ,food, sleep and hydration important factors to be recognized.