SUDDEN SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS
Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of permanent hearing loss, but less common is sudden sensorineural hearing loss- which experts estimate affects between 1 and 6 people per 5,000 every year. (NIDCD, 2018)
CONGRATULATIONS
You're one of the chosen few.
Affecting only one ear more than 90% of the time (Kuhn, Heman-Ackah, Shaikh, & Roehm, 2011), SSHL is defined as "an unexplained, rapid loss of hearing either all at once or over a few days." (NIDCD, 2018)
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SSHL can affect people of all ages, however, the peak incidence is between 45 and 60 years of age. Males and females are impacted equally. (Kuhn, Heman-Ackah, Shaikh, & Roehm, 2011)
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With proper diagnosis and treatment, up to half of people who experience SSHL can recover some or all of their hearing within 1-2 weeks. (NIDCD, 2018)
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Only about 10% of people diagnosed with SSHL have an identifiable cause. For this reason, sudden sensorineural hearing loss earns itself an alternate title- sudden idiopathic deafness. (NIDCD, 2018)
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PEOPLE WITH SUDDEN SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSSÂ COMMENT ON THE MOMENT THEY LOST THEIR HEARING:
SSHL Support Group member, age 51-60
"Initially started with a bout of severe dizziness and nausea. The hearing loss developed with that until 100% hearing loss in my right ear. This occurred over approximately 4 or 5 days."
BUT WHY?
Hearing professionals are usually unsure exactly why a person might have experienced sudden sensorineural hearing loss. (Pietrangelo, 2012) It's very possible you were provided with a vague, unsatisfactory answer.
Some possible causes include:
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Virus of the inner ear (Viral Labyrinthitis)
Head trauma
Autoimmune disease
Exposure to certain drugs
Blood flow problems
Neurological disorders
Inner ear disorders (Meniere's disease)
(NIDCD, 2018)
Many people have complained of hearing professionals claiming a virus as the source of their sudden hearing loss when no other cause can be identified. Supposedly, viral disease is the basis of about 60% of all SSHL cases. (Hain, 2020)
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In a small sample of people with SSHL taken from a sudden hearing loss support group, over 88% of survey participants identified "virus" as the explanation they were provided with.
"WHAT'S ONE THING YOU WISH THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY KNEW ABOUT SUDDEN ONSET OF HEARING LOSS?"
Support group members answered:
"The cause."
"I wish there was a way to definitively determine the virus that caused my hearing loss."
"Well, they really don’t know anything, and they just grasp at straws. I’ve seen 4 Drs and they all have different ideas of SSL."
And to the medical community...
"Study it dammit do some research stop saying it’s a virus when you don’t know what it is."
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- SSHL Support Group member, age 61-70
REGARDLESS OF YOUR DIAGNOSIS...
...the root cause of SSHL is any combination of infection, inflammation, and damage to the inner ear or the nerves that connect the inner ear to the brain.
Sound vibrations pass through fluid in the cochlea. Nerve cells in the cochlea contain thousands of hairs (cilia) that help translate sound vibrations into electrical signals that are transmitted to your brain via the 8th cranial nerve. (Mayo Clinic, 2019)
The 8th cranial nerve- the vestibulocochlear nerve- is a sensory nerve made up of two different branches, each with a specific role:
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The cochlear nerve is responsible for transmitting sound waves to the brain.
The vestibular nerve controls our sense of balance.
When the vestibular nerve and the cochlear nerve are both damaged, vertigo, dizziness and nausea can accompany hearing loss. Some degree of vertigo is experienced in 20-60% of sudden hearing loss cases.
(Benoudiba, Toulgoat, & Sarrazin, 2013)
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