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Sudden Hearing Loss and Impact on Music Enjoyment

This post is partly a cautionary tale and partly me looking for advice from fellow audiophiles who might have been through something similar.

At the end of January this year, I had a sinus infection that seemed to affect my left ear. One morning I woke up and noticed that my ear felt muffled and my hearing wasn’t quite right. At first, I assumed it was just my sinuses acting up. I tried wax-removal drops and even did some irrigation, but nothing improved. My doctor then prescribed a course of steroids, thinking it might be related to fluid buildup.

Unfortunately, things got worse. I gradually lost almost all hearing in that ear, and there was a lot of distortion as well.

I eventually saw an ENT specialist and an audiologist, and that’s when I learned that this was most likely Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL). Apparently, if the correct treatment is started within about 72 hours, there’s a chance the hearing can be saved. After that short window closes, the loss is often permanent. I really wish I had known that earlier when I first contacted my doctor.

So if anyone reading this ever experiences sudden changes in hearing, please don’t wait—get to an ENT immediately. The treatment window is extremely short.

Now that I’m starting to come to terms with this, I’ve begun researching options like hearing aids and cochlear implants. That leads me to my question for anyone here who has experience with either.

As audiophiles, we tend to listen to music a bit differently—we focus on details, tone, timbre, soundstage, and all those subtle nuances. For those of you using hearing aids or who have undergone cochlear implant surgery, how has it affected your ability to enjoy music? Does music sound very different? Were you able to reconnect with it in a meaningful way? As you can imagine, this is both stressful and sad that I won't be able to enjoy the one hobby that has become such an important part of my life.

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Feel free to share here, or send me a DM if you’d rather keep it private.

arafiq
akgwhiz
202 posts
 

Arafiq, so sorry to learn about this.  Hopefully as stated above some or all hearing could return.  I have tinnitus but that seems to not affect my enjoyment.   I have normal 65 yo hearing in my right but the left is suppressed in the 3-4k range.  My solution has been to use a high quality EQ to dial back up those bands, left only, and make up for the loss.  Center has returned and as this is all psycho-acoustic in nature, it seems like I've never lost a beat.  Stay optimistic.  In fact im currently in the DIY building process for my final speakers.  Aids could help boost volume and/or freq but in the listening room, take advantage of the good equipment you have and simply tweak it per the same profile you (may) use in any aids.  Pop those in for daily life.  I fortunately dont sense any deficiency in day to day living, for now.  My right is fine and since I do all of the driving I still can hear the wife cringing to my right over my spirited driving shenanigans.   Oh, but to be British... 

djmarkski
2 posts
 

Something similar happened to me last year. I had a bad sinus infection that lead to 90% lose in hearing. As time passed the hearing did came back. I'm not a Dr so i don't know if why for some people it comes back and others not so much. My doctor was not concerned and said give it time. 

mark200mph
859 posts
 

There are hearing aids that go from the bad ear to the good ear called contralteral routing of sound.there are bone anchored hearing aids you can try prior to surgery.cochlear implants are not the best but better than nothing. Make sure you are taking vitamin b multi complex b1 b6 b12 ect in addition to multivitamins. I was always aggressive with steroids,antivirals,antibiotic ear drops with steroids and oral antibiotics.flonase and asteline nasal sprays.i could never tell which ear infections were going to go perminate and treated them all as such. I have not seen your audiogram to see how much snhl you have .go see a neurotoligist that specializes in ears.the house institute in California is the world's authority.  If this happens again in the other ear you need to treat it super aggressive and see if you can find an ent that might prescribe that cocktail to give you now in case it happens over the wkend. Go see a neurotoligist. Good luck on your search.

motown-l
359 posts
 

I have some hearing loss in my right ear due to an untreated infection in grad school. Since that was over 40 years ago, I’ve adapted but my expenditures on audio equipment is far less than it might have been. I feel for you and the sudden loss. If my hearing continues to deteriorate, I’m going to sell my system and go on a nice trip with my wife. I believe in adaptation and moving forward. At 70, there’s not so much “forward” left.

mahler123
4,052 posts
 

I got hearing aides 3 years ago.  It’s only been the last few months that I have been wearing them while listening to music.  They may distort a bit in the high treble, but the trade off is that I hear much more in treble with them.  They also make much more aware of room ambient noises, such as my HVAC system.  I actually brought a component in for service thinking it had developed a hiss and it turned out to be the vent behind a speaker.  On the whole they have been a positive, restoring a lot of beauty that had gone missing 

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