Response to Julie: As I've learned more and more about hearing loss in "mature" women, I've encountered more and more who have benefitted from hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Because it is a quick, inexpensive, and reversible option, it is at least something for mature women to consider: if they don't see an improvement in less than a month, it should be abandoned. However, if HRT reverses or greatly reduces the hearing loss, it is a much faster, easier solution than a CI. That's not meant to say that CIs aren't great for those who have no other options. Also, if the person needs HRT, the CI will not work as well as it could...that need for HRT just will not go away. In most cases, there's also some imbalance, but it's easy to overlook that when there's severe hearing loss. Even I, who have decades of daily VRT in order to know which end is supposed to be up, overlooked the imbalance...even though I took a couple of serious falls. It wasn't until I had to spend hours every day lying flat, eyes closed, with V&V that I woke up and realized that this was my body yelling for HRT. I was flabbergasted that I regained the level of hearing in my right ear that I'd had prior to going bilateral. It also made me realize that, had I not spent four miserable years nearly 40 years ago searching for a safe form of HRT for someone in their mid 40s, I might not have permanently lost all useful hearing/balance in my right ear. This is not necessarily a long shot for a "mature" woman and should be explored when there's sudden hearing loss. Like some of the things (like steroid shots) that can be tried for sudden hearing loss, it may or may not work, but is worth considering. If it works and hearing returns, it's like a miracle.

If I was stupid enough to ignore that possibility for nearly a year with my background, I can only imagine how many women know virtually nothing about the connection between low hormone levels and hearing loss.