When you develop problems with hearing

[Leo K.]

Hello all, well this year has been difficult on my hearing. I am already deaf on my right side, and now after illness my good ear is showing effects of tinnitus, dizziness and a weird water-like fullness that is effecting my enjoyment of music in ways I haven't experienced before (I don't remember what it was like to hear stereo). I have my good days but now bad days like today where the bass is faint, like under water, or too reverberant and the top end is thin. This is making me depressed. I see doctor in a month, but I am afraid this is permanent. I am 54 and maybe I have worn my ear out. I hope I am still healing, or maybe allergies are doing this. I can't enjoy Beethoven's Missa Solemnis without bass!

[DavidW]

Hello all, well this year has been difficult on my hearing. I am already deaf on my right side, and now after illness my good ear is showing effects of tinnitus, dizziness and a weird water-like fullness that is effecting my enjoyment of music in ways I haven't experienced before (I don't remember what it was like to hear stereo). I have my good days but now bad days like today where the bass is faint, like under water, or too reverberant and the top end is thin. This is making me depressed. I see doctor in a month, but I am afraid this is permanent. I am 54 and maybe I have worn my ear out. I hope I am still healing, or maybe allergies are doing this. I can't enjoy Beethoven's Missa Solemnis without bass!

I'm sorry to hear that. When I was in my twenties after an ear infection I lost some hearing in one of my ears. Nothing like what you're going through now. I hope that perhaps a hearing aid can help. It helped my Mother. It didn't restore her hearing, and there were certainly issues with it, but it did help.

I will say that an equalizer can also help you out.

[Holden]

This sounds suspiciously like an ear wax problem.

[ritter]

I can only tell you what my experience was.

I began losing my hearing partially in the left ear after an infection during the pandemic (AFAIK, not COVID-related). I simultaneously developed tinnitus (which I must admit I've grown used to and don't really notice unless I am inactive). This summer (I turned sixty last month) I woke up one day almost completely deaf on that same ear. Rushed to a doctor (finding one in Madrid at the end of July is not easy at all  ). He determined I had lost 15% of my hearing capacity in my right ear —which is "normal" for my age—, but 40% in the left ear (more marked in some frequencies than others), prescribed a CAT scan of the area (to see whether there was some hidden origin to my condition — there wasn't) and sent me to a hearing aide specialist. They provided the aide, and fine-tuned it for about a month before I had to decide whether to keep it or not (they're b&*#&y expensive, these things). I kept it, and must say my hearing is much better (e.g., I now have the volume much lower when listening to music or watching TV), and really don't notice that I need the aide until I take it off. What I mean is that my hearing now appears "natural" when using the aide, and diminished when I take it off.

When I started having problems in my left ear, the most affected sound was... the soprano voice! Most sopranos on record sounded shrill and squeaky, and only the finest artists were acceptable to me. Now, with the hearing aide, I'm more tolerant of mediocre sopranos! 

So, it all depends on what your doctor says, but at least in my experience a good hearing aide really helps.

I hope you also find a satisfactory solution to your problem, LeoK.

[Leo K.]

Thank you all for your thoughts! I am going to see if I can get a cleaning too!

[Holden]

Thank you all for your thoughts! I am going to see if I can get a cleaning too!

That would be my first move. My ears wax up badly and if I leave them too long then some of the symptoms you describe appear and a good clean from a local clinic resolves the problem.

Once that path is gone down and it makes no improvement then the obvious next step is an audiologist. Best wishes

[DavidW]

That would be my first move. My ears wax up badly and if I leave them too long then some of the symptoms you describe appear and a good clean from a local clinic resolves the problem.

Same. That is why I can't use earphones, the wax builds up too quickly. I always have a bottle of Debrox on hand.

[ritter]

Of course, in the description of my case (above), I failed to mention that the first thing the doctor checked was whether there was a wax buildup causing the problem. Alas, that was not the case...

[Szykneij]

Same. That is why I can't use earphones, the wax builds up too quickly. I always have a bottle of Debrox on hand.

When I shower, I regularly turn my head and hold the warm water in my ears for a bit. I've found it helps keep the wax from hardening.

[Brian]

Another agreement on wax. There is apparently a gene that results in production of extra wax for those who have it, and I certainly do. In college I once woke up completely deaf in one ear from the 19 years of wax that had gotten compacted when my mother used Q-Tips to "clean the ears" (which actually pushes wax further inside).

I have had lifelong tinnitus, another genetic gift - my father and his mother had it all their lives too. It is high-pitched like Smetana's but only noticeable in quiet settings (so music, for instance, covers it up). It is most annoying trying to fall asleep at night. I have noticed it gets somewhat louder when wax is building up.

I sometimes wonder what it must be like to hear silence.

[Leo K.]

I am definitely going to get my ear cleaned, maybe try an ear flushing kit. I bet its wax build up!

[Kalevala]

When I shower, I regularly turn my head and hold the warm water in my ears for a bit. I've found it helps keep the wax from hardening.

Aren't you more likely to get an ear infection though?

K

[Brian]

Aren't you more likely to get an ear infection though?

K

I had one doctor tell me that I should always try to shoot the shower's water stream into my ears to dislodge wax, and another tell me to never ever do that because it would cause infection...guess it's time to ask doctor #3 

[DavidW]

I had one doctor tell me that I should always try to shoot the shower's water stream into my ears to dislodge wax, and another tell me to never ever do that because it would cause infection...guess it's time to ask doctor #3 

You're supposed to put a few drops of olive oil in your ears instead. More effective and less likely to cause infection.

[Spotted Horses]

I am definitely going to get my ear cleaned, maybe try an ear flushing kit. I bet its wax build up!

If there is serious buildup I would recommend having a healthcare professional do it. You don't want to injure yourself in the process.

(I've come across ear cleaning gadgets that have a camera built in, but again, warnings that they can cause injury.)

[Szykneij]

Aren't you more likely to get an ear infection though?

K

Maybe, but I haven't yet, and I'd rather take the risk than deal with the nasty feeling of a clogged ear.

[Iota]

If there is serious buildup I would recommend having a healthcare professional do it. You don't want to injure yourself in the process.

(I've come across ear cleaning gadgets that have a camera built in, but again, warnings that they can cause injury.)

I'd definitely agree!

Good luck, @Leo K. I have my ears suction cleaned once every year or so which I find very effective. It's expensive, but it's safe and it's simple, and you don't have the trauma of your eardrums being blasted by water.

[Leo K.]

Thanks again all of you, very much appreciated!!

[Roasted Swan]

FWIW - a very old friend of mine just recently told me he has been fitted with a hearing-aid.  On reflection he thinks/realises that probably this high-frequency role-off in one ear has been something he has had for years if not decades.  The day to day reality is that the human brain compensates and if the loss is gradual you do not notice it incrementally getting worse.  Now with an aid he is absolutely delighted with the restoration of his hearing and regrets not having his hearing properly investigated some years earlier.  His strong recommendation is to get your hearing tested and if required  do get an aid as it really helps!

His only other observation was that it can take some time to get the level and frequency profile that you need absolutely right so worth perservering even if at first the results are not as instantly "better" to the degree one might have hoped......

[Spotted Horses]

Music listening aside, I have read that hearing loss is associated with onset of dementia, since the lack of audio stimulation and social contact are detrimental to mental function. One more argument to consider a hearing aid.