Question About Hearing

[Sangye]

I have a question about hearing loss. I'll ask my otologist the next time I see him, but since that's not for 4-6 weeks I thought I'd consult the local experts first.

Most of you know the background, but for others new to the forum.... In July I rolled over in bed and got instant severe vertigo and within minutes lost all my hearing in one ear. My JHU ENT put me on high-dose steroids for 2 weeks to save my hearing. It restored most of my hearing. Then we did 2 injections of steroids into the ear a few weeks later. That helped even more and my hearing is not too far from normal according to the hearing test. I can hear fine in the human voice range.

However, I'm still struggling to hear clearly in a noisy room, or with background noise like a fan. Yesterday I was listening to the radio and took turns listening with one ear plugged. It seems like I can hear everything in either ear, but the volume is turned down in the affected ear.

When they talk of hearing loss it seems the question is "Can you hear it clearly or not?" I can, it just isn't as loud as the good ear.

Does anyone else notice that or have an explanation?

[elephant]

I think Sangye ( my little two cents) that you still have room to recover in the bad ear ( less good
ear).

[pberggren1]

I would say that your hearing loss is conductive and may return to normal but in could be sensorineural as well. I find it very hard to hear. I have very loud tinnitus and my left ear is totally dead and I have about 70% loss in my right ear. I find most sounds are distorted and I get confused when people talk and get myself into hot water sometimes becasue I misunderstoo what they said.

[malin]

I don't know if this will answer your question but here goes.

For me, my problem is conductive hearing loss, which means there is not actually anything wrong with my hearing, as in its not a nerve or brain type problem, for me, what is stopping me hearing properly is my ear canal and my ear drum.
My ear canal is a lot "smaller" or slimmer if you like, than what it should be, so doesn't "lead" sound properly, and my ear drum is too thick so it doesn't "vibrate" properly.
With a hearing aid I can hear almost perfectly normal, only have problems in noisy places and with lots of background noise as you said, for me this is because the hearing aid is not "intelligent" in the same way as a normal human ear is, so it can't "zoom" in on, for example, a person talk.

sorry if it just seems like a load of rambeling but I hope this helped a little!

[DEE]

i found my hearing aid works well for me ENT agreed with audio conult it is better to help and protect what hearing is left in my left ear and helps with tinnitus too
my son says it make for a quieter house no loud tv as hubby has aids in bothears
so even conversation became interesting we keep saying SAY IT AGAIN to each other