Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 88 of 105}

etmd22-mine is also on the left side. I do not think that this is an coincidence with reference to statistics or probability. You are right. I guess it can be some nerve problems in connection with the brain, but it should be difficult to be proved or traced.

Beginning to think this is not coincidence as my complete deafness is on the left side also. Interestingly enough, I had a crown done on my right side and then on my left side and then developed the left hearing loss. Seems odd that most everyone reports left sided deafness. I have tinnitus a lot, different levels of noise but mostly only in the deaf ear.

Eltoniam;

Now it's 5 left side reports to 0 right sided. That's amazing. I hope others report in and also that someone will check into other forums to help determine the incidence of left versus right sided hearing loss.

In the meantime, I came across this incredibly interesting article from Italy. I've requested the author to send me the entire paper. It may be that the body is somehow preserving the dominant hearing side for those of us who have a left-sided loss. This study reports a brand new finding... and the ramifications seem mind-boggling. We'll see.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623090705.ht....

Martinrd: With you reporting in, it's now 6 left to 0 right sided hearing losses. It obviously won't stay this dramatically lopsided, but we may be uncovering an immensely important phenomenon

Interesting you had your hearing loss after a crown on your left side! Was it an upper? I had my left-sided loss 2 days after a cavity repair on my left upper molar. I've come across I think 8 reports (9 with yours) of same sided hearing loss after a dental procedure!

I too have the hearing loss on the left side. The hearing in my right ear was due to an inner ear infection that they believe might have been caused by a virus. That was fourteen years ago. But, I lost the hearing in the left ear in August due to SSHL.

Also, I don't know if this matters but I too had a dental procedure (took old fillings out and replaced and had lots of trouble last fall 2007). Have had trouble with the upper back teeth that he worked on and lots of pain in that area. I never connected the two until I saw where some of you had experienced hearing loss after dental work. Very interesting.

jakeabe-I had my left upper molar removed Feb this year. I wonder if my SSHL on the left is related. I think that dental treatment is common to all of us throughout our life. It is very unlikely that dental treatment can cause SSHL. I wonder if heavy metal such as mercury from amalgam fillings can accumulate in our body and damage our brain nerves.

This is really interesting - I think the more info we gather the better. I am 45 year old female and lost my hearing on leftside Nov 2008 with no improvement (severe loss across all frequencies, except very high frequency 4000 -8000Hz which is near normal) No vertigo but constant tinnitus. No previous health problems indeed fit and healthy.

Wow seems to have been a mass of posts since I was last here.

For the record I'm also total SSHL in the LEFT ear (ear infection and flew.) 42 yr old male, tinnitus for most of my life (not stopped ringing since I went to my first nightclub!) The ear infection ruptured the oval window which has also knocked out a balance organ. Please trust me, if you lose a balance organ + an ear, being deaf in one ear is nothing!

The brain is re-programming itself, genuinely forget I'm deaf in one ear sometimes (unless someone shouts on my deaf side and I instinctively turn to the right!) Balance has up and down days, far worse when tired or stressed. Ear clicking (nerve twitches) in deaf ear sometimes... like songdaddy earlier, I try and imagine that this is some sort of healing - even though the specialists have said there's no chance.

Now some learning... the twitching, ear fullness, balance and tinnitus all seem to be more concentrated when I'm about to get a cold (way before any other symptoms) plus there's something around dehydration and salt intake (and stress of course!) I'm not from a medical background but I've been testing this and there's definitely something around hydration.

I've also been experimenting with ginseng but I'm not sure on this yet.

I know most posts are related to the hearing loss but re tinnitus, balance, foggy head experiences, any thoughts on hydration / salt?

2 weeks ago my hearing test showed around 20db improvement overall. my speach recognition was up to 56% from 4% 2 weeks earlier I mostly hear bass.Its my Right ear by the way. not much mids or highs. I had 100% loss when this happened. it helps with direction but far from normal heaing. I go today to get the wick out of my eardrum and I'm done with steroid drops and Predisone pills as of yesterday. I take another hearing test as well. I've been taking magneseum, lipo-flavanoids, Vit E, Fish oil, a good multi, and vitamin C, Garlic and doing deep slow yoga breathing to oxenegate the blood. My doc says clicking or any activitiy in the first few weeks of this is a good thing. It will be 6 weeks since onset this Friday. I hear alot about others that continue to improve slowly up to 3 to 6 months so I hope I fall in that catagory somewhere. I'm a musician so this sucks personally for me but I have alot to be thankful for. 3 healthy kids and a cool wife. remember to give thanks for what we do have. my grandfather was acomplished piano player and lost his right hand in WW2. went on to be a left handed mechanical engineer, build his own house and raise 5 kids. He always said count your blessings...then he would point them all out to us! try this it helps me!

Jackabe and Eartwitter report left-sided loss and Songdaddy is the 1st right-sided loss to report.

This makes it 7 to 1 for left vs right. Amazing, but lots more reports are needed.

Does anyone have the time or energy to go through old posts on this forum to dig out some more statistics on sidedness? If so, please jot down the patient's forum names so we make sure there are no duplicates. If the sidedness trend persists, I'll alert the ENT and Neurology community.

Finally, I note Songdaddy's right-sided loss is improving. Let's send a prayer towards Songdaddy.

~Family Doctor~

Songdaddy - couldn't agree more with your outlook. Mine was a sudden thing 18 months ago on the plane so there's no chance of things coming back for me - but like you I just focus on the fact that I've got two great, healthy kids and at least a lost balance organ, deaf ear and crazy ringing won't kill me. I was also in rock bands most of my life (probably didn't help the ringing)... actually got back into a band after a year of SSHL - had to jack that in, which really hurt, not because of the deaf ear but because I developed a real fondness for the ear I have left (plus practicing with one ear plug in the good ear was just wrong) but hey, it's not a big sacrifice considering the alternative of risking the good ear. Just thought I'd point out that it took about a year, but now my brain has worked things out and rewired itself, having one ear really hasn't stopped me from making music.

My genuine advice to everyone on here is that whilst you can try any number of therapies and potions, the best solution is to get your head around it, understand that it won't kill you, understand that your brain really does recalibrate itself over time, appreciate the things you DO have, reduce the stress and don't get depressed. Stress and depression make the deafness, tinnitus and balance a hell of a lot worse.

On the subject of left ear deafness, there's also a web site called deafleftear ... nothing to do with deafness must add but just thought I'd mention it! :-)

Here's the e-mail just received from the author of the Italian paper that I mentioned in a recent post (along with his reference to a paper from Israel).

Obviously, he too was surprised over the possibility of more left sided than right sided hearing loss and what that could mean.

Dear Edward,

thanks for your interest in my work, the paper is attached!

I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that you might have seen a link between our study and your observation about side of sudden hearing loss. However, I am not at all aware of differential probability of left and right risk of sudden hearing loss (I will inquire following your hint). On the spot, two things can be called into cause: external causes - and here I see an increased risk of getting an infection because of exposure to turbulences when driving a car with open windows (assuming one drives on the right lane / left seat, and that she/he drives A LOT); internal causes, being the two hemispheres differently responsible of immune responses (the left hemisphere promoting immune activity, the right hemisphere immune suppression), although other reasons could be found. I copy and paste for you the abstract of a recent paper dealing exactly with this issue, and pointing at other possible causes:

------------------

Otol Neurotol. 2007 Jun;28(4):434-7.

Asymmetry in noise-induced hearing loss: relevance of acoustic reflex and left or right handedness.
Nageris BI, Raveh E, Zilberberg M, Attias J.

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rabin Medical Center, Petach Tikva, Israel.

OBJECTIVE: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is more severe in the left ear than the right ear. The aim of this study was to examine the possible association of handedness and acoustic reflex parameters on right or left NIHL predominance. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case review and prospective series. SETTING: Tertiary center. PATIENTS: Three samples were studied: 1) the files of 4,277 army personnel with NIHL were reviewed to analyze the relation between the side affected and age, sex, duration of noise exposure, and acoustic damage; 2) an additional 119 army personnel with NIHL were evaluated for the possible association of handedness and NIHL asymmetry; and 3) fifty-one normal-hearing subjects were tested for threshold and latency of acoustic reflex by handedness. INTERVENTION: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Differences in NIHL asymmetry by background and noise-related variables and handedness. RESULTS: NIHL was more pronounced in the left ear, regardless of demographic characteristics, noise exposure parameters, acoustic reflex measures, or handedness. CONCLUSION: The asymmetry in hearing loss severity may be attributed to the cortical pathways, specifically to the more pronounced efferent auditory system on the right side, which reduces the susceptibility of the right ear to cochlear insult.

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All the best and thanks again for writing,

Luca

I also have left-sided lost. Had been in dental braces for a year when SSHL happened, not sure whether it's related or not. Lower frequencies came back to normal range from total loss, only have 5% speech recognition.

But I know someone who had SSHL in his right ear though.

I do agree with eartwitters comments, however, I think it is worthwhile to do a little more digging for information just to see what it throws up. I have received some info directly from forum users - I will go through all of the older posts and post the summary info over the weekend. Related to this, I did see one paper that did refer to 60% Left vs 40% Right hearing loss - this is completely at odds with what has been observed on this forum.

I already emailed edisoar so he has my data, but for the record, mine was on the right.

However, I did not have 100% loss, and I ended up with a diagnosis of cochlear endolymphatic hydrops (aka atypical meniere's disease). Treatment with antiviral medication Famvir has brought hearing back to about 95% (am still on med - don't know if the success will be permanent).

Edisoar; Thanks for offering to do the research. I'm excited to see the results.

By the way, where did you see the paper re 60/40 left to right ear?

eartwitter-You are right. I think the brain is a clever thing. When a nerve path is blocked, the blocked nerve path may be rewired. Hydration of body cells is important to normal metabolism of our cells, especially in the removal of toxins. Common refined salt is imbalanced, it is harmful to our cells. We should take unrefined sea salt.
According to information from etmd22, the cortical pathway of efferent auditory system is more pronounced on the right side, can this be the cause of asymmetry? Is the asymmetry only applied to NIHL?

etmd22

I checked another few forums where there are a few posts on SSHL - hearingaidforums.com out of 5 posts - 4 leftsided loss and 1 right sided loss. Netdoctor out of 3 posts - 2 leftsided and 1 rightsided. Lefties are well up so far..... If I get time I will try to go through this forum - well at least make a start from first post and count up left v right

Hearing test Wed...Well my Dbs haven't changed much since 2 weeks ago. maybe 5db increase around 4000 range. although my speech recognition was 76%! so I went from nothing to 4%, to 56%, to 76% in 6 weeks. ETMD22- thanks for the prayers! I am closer to God lately and have been stopping to smell the roses...after go go go work & band for 20 years. EARTWITTER- I am getting custom earplugs that block out harmful levels but still allow you to hear normal conversation and such. they're $100 an ear. don't know how that will work with my broken ear but something for us to look into since protecting our good ear against loud noise is even so much more important now. my doc is a jazz drummer and wants me to see how my eardrum hole heals and then we'll talk about when I can get back to some playing. recording with headphones worries me.. I sometimes think I confused my ear or something recording with click tracks too loud or headphone volume too loud. who knows? It will be different from now on but I'll figure it out. God bless us all! by the way my grandfather continued to play organ with one hand and an adapter he made for his hook on his right hand(he was mechanical engineer) and sang into his 80's. he never complained..be thankful for what we have and not what we don't have!

Songdaddy - Keep me posted on the earplugs... I'd love to find something that provides the range but just reduces the overall volume rather than the usual earplugs that just muffle the treble... and your grandfather sounds like a true legend! On the subject of headphones, yes keep the volume down... also although I didn't use my iPod for a year, I'm now fine with it - and the sound is pretty balanced as its the brain that does the sound processing. I do always put both headphones in, even the one in the ear that doesn't work, if I don't then my head starts to notice and the sound is unbalanced again. Strange but true!

I genuinely hope everyone finds some solution to their problem - but for people like me that just have to get used to life in mono, there's another quote that I forgot to mention on an earlier post:

Remember that we're not judged in life not by what we have but by who we are.

How we overcome adversity in our lives marks us for who we really are.

I've also started to be aware of balance and ear problems again since taking more of an interest in this thread. It's a dilemma. Sharing experiences is a great healer - but so to is closure and just moving on, so I'd better get back to it.

All the best to everyone!

Thanks scorpiouk; once you or someone else gets the time or energy to extract the sidedness data from this forum and any others, I'll send out a notice to a professional forum of hundreds of ENT and Neurology doctors and then keep you and and everyone in this forum involved in the information loop.

I totally agree with Eartwitter about the wisdom of closure and moving on...and yet, after 50 years in medicine, I cannot
turn my heart and mind away from the
'miracle' healings of all sorts that I have encountered due to a Higher Power, God, or our body's ability to heal itself--all 3 equivalent in my mind as I believe Gods presence is in every living thing.

So, for me, staying proactive 4 months out now from my sudden hearing loss,
is heartening, and if I cannot yet discover other curative methods, then gathering information, and perhaps triggering a breakthrough (as in left sidedness) feels really good!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

~A Family Doctor~

Hello -
I just was reading all your posts, and 2 years ago I also last my hearing on my left ear. When I started reading the posts on this website at that time, almost all the people posting also had lost their hearing on the left ear. When mentioning to others that I am deaf in my left ear. I have come across about 5 other people who have also lost their hearing in their left ear.

I wonder if someone has similar experience. The surrounding sound to my normal ear seemed to have amplified since the death of my left ear. When my wife speaks to me, the ptich of voice is hightened and the volume is increased. I know that the ear can amplify sound. Is this simply a compensation as a result of hearing loss? Any comments will be welcome.

eltonlam - What you are describing is called hyperaccusis, and is really common for us. According to my doctor, the brain is compensating for the sounds it's having trouble hearing, and then other sounds get louder. It can be very annoying, even painful! I found it helped to carry cotton balls in my purse and pop a bit of cotton in when it was really bothering me. I could still hear conversations but it dampened the volume. I have heard that for many people it does get better over time, as your brain adjusts.

etonlam, shortcake is right - hypercussis was a massive problem or me at the start and now its not so it does get better as your brain readjusts. Its the same when you first get a hearing aid, I could hear my son speaking in the room above and felt like I had 'bionic' hearing! this did not last though. My audiologist said he often gets new wearers coming back to have their aids adjusted up - he calls them 'Gain junkies' but it does not last.