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Help: Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) - very scary
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Mar 7 1:55pm | Replies (77)Comment receiving replies
I've met several people through my involvement in HLAA who have had hearing issues develop when flying. Very scary. I was involved on the national board of HLAA for many years and that meant flying from Wisconsin to Washington D.C. several times a year. Advice from others who either had hearing issues from flying or who were concerned about preventing them was to always take a dose of antihistamine prior to getting on the plane.
I believe this issue relates to air pressure on a plane, but it's not always a problem. It also relates to a person's health. for example, if you have a cold, allergies, sinus infection, etc. it is more likely this could affect you.
This is not 'medical advice', but simply advice from people who experience hearing loss themselves.
How can we, who live with hearing loss, get these very important messages out to people who should be in the know?
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@julieo4
Hi Julie,
I found so many articles and aviation publications online about Hearing and Noise in the Aviation Industry.
Apparently some airlines allow their pilots to wear noise reducing headsets and their attendants to wear earplugs. The passengers, I guess, are on their own.
I have also read conflicting information about taking antihistamines before a flight. One view says that antihistamines depress breathing and in the low oxygen environment of the plane that could be dangerous.
The aviation industry knows all about Airplane Ear as it is called. The hard part, like you said, is how to get this information to airline passengers. Do you contact each airline? Do you contact the head of the aviation industry, the president? I’m not being funny but I remember Reagan wore a hearing aid or two when he started to lose his hearing. What did he do, if anything, all the times he was on a plane?
There should be information about Airplane Ear posted and also a caution about the decibel level in the cabins. I always lower my volume around noise because I know what to do. So many passengers are plugged into their earbuds which may help them. Normally people are not that aware or just oblivious to all the noise in airports and the plane itself.
I know I did more than the usual number of yawning and swallowing on my return flight so that probably helped. I will think more about this but it can’t be just one person attempting to change things…..it should come from a group like the HLAA . No one ever mentioned anything about flying problems in all my years of attending local HLAA meetings. In fact, the Mayo Forum may be the first time I learned about sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
Well, God bless the Mayo Forum and at least, maybe I can help someone individually with my newfound information.
FL Mary