Sudden Hearing Loss Treatments
that may help you recover hearing. Sudden hearing loss causes remain mostly a mystery. Yet the cause will determine treatment. But in some cases, there is hope. Hearing aid costs have become manageable, and although common, they are only one solution. If your hearing loss was mild or moderate and you are under age 40, at least some or all of your hearing may be recovered. This, of course, depends on the causes of hearing loss and other elderly issues. If you previously had good hearing health and your hearing loss was mild, you may recover within two weeks. Even if the cause is unknown and a specific treatment is not given, your hearing does have a chance of correcting itself. This is called “spontaneous recovery.” Understanding hearing loss symptoms and hearing loss prevention can possibly keep an issue from becoming serious and sudden. Your doctor will give a hearing test to determine damage. If your hearing loss was profound and you are over age 60 as was the case with my father, chances of recuperating hearing are slim. In fact, with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (read our article on What Is Hearing Loss) it can become worse, as it did with my Dad. Because there is a chance that sudden sensorineural hearing loss can correct itself, some ear specialists do recommend sudden hearing loss treatments for it. And treatment is often not successful anyway. Here is an overview of sudden hearing loss treatments being currently used. 
Steroids -- These may be used with some success if inflammation has been involved, or problems with the immune system. My father’s ear specialist explained that with serious sudden hearing loss, sometimes a “shotgun” approach is used – giving the patient many medications (including steroids, anti-viral medication, anticoagulants) at once and hoping something will work -- but it usually does not. He chose to not use it. Medications -- If it is very clear that SHL was caused specifically by the herpes virus, antiviral medications may be used as sudden hearing loss treatments. However, with sudden loss of hearing, this cause may not be able to be determined with certainty. Antibiotics are used if it is known to be attributed to infection and bacteria. Since some medications can harm the ear, they will be discontinued. With Meniere’s Disease, a low-salt diet is recommended. Carbogen Inhalation -- If the ear specialist finds that sudden hearing loss may have been caused by poor oxygen flow into the ear, which is essential for effective hearing, a procedure called carbogen inhalation can be used. An oxygen and carbon dioxide mix is given over a period of time, and helps is some cases. 
Hearing Aids -- These are traditionally used as suddent hearing loss treatments (or at least tried with little or mixed success). Digital hearing aids, those with routing signals that route sound to the “good” ear, sometimes do not even work. They can be very sensitive, the tips clog with ear wax, and if batteried, batteries usually must be changed frequently. My father tried at least 16 types of hearing aids. One digital type allowed him to hear one person speak at a time if the person was right next to him and spoke very loudly, and if there was no background noise. Because he also had high frequency hearing loss, this was of great help.Cochlear Implant Surgery -- Implants may be chosen as one of the sudden hearing loss treatments if the patient has severe hearing loss. It is based on electrical impulses to the brain, and does destroy whatever is left of the normal hearing process. So if the implant is “turned off,” the patient is completely deaf – as my father pretty much was without his hearing aid anyway. But he had some hearing left in one ear and his hearing aid does help somewhat, so his doctor did not recommend the surgery. Plus, he was too old. Not all patients qualify for this treatment, sometimes because of health risks or various elderly problems. The risks of the surgery, though, are few (they may include infection or damage to facial nerves). Your brain must be “re-trained” to interpret the electrical impulses as sound. 
Implantable Hearing Aids -- These are an option for sudden hearing loss treatments if a patient has a milder hearing loss and does not want to bother with a hearing aid, or to have a visible object showing. They work the same way as a traditional hearing aid: amplifying sound and transmitting it through the ear. The results are reported to be clearer with no feedback. Batteries only need to be replaced about every five years with a simple procedure. Patients also receive a remote control for volume adjustment. There are non-surgical implantable hearing aids as well, and are inserted into the ear canal. The batteries for these last for a few months. Then the device must be removed to replace the batteries, or the device itself is replaced, and re-inserted. Auditory Brain Implant -- This is a more serious procedure in which a device is placed directly into the brainstem. It is only used for those who have experienced such serious hearing loss that nerves have had to be removed. Return from Sudden Hearing Loss Treatments
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