Second bout of SSNHL, though I think I was having it on and off for months before I realized it wasn’t sickness.

First time, in March, mild/moderate loss with almost normal high tones, 100 word recognition. Did steroids and injections with no success, but was about 4 weeks late. Got a hearing aid for the tinnitus which had just started helping quite a bit.

Yesterday, woke up with loudest tinnitus I’ve ever experienced and loss. Confirmed today - severe loss with moderate high tones. Down to 28 WORD RECOGNITION, overnight.

Audiologist said that a hearing aid probably won’t work anymore with how jumbled the clarity will be. Started prednisone and will start injections Weds, also trying to get into HBOT.
Audio said that if it didn’t work it would be possible cochlear implant.
I’m terrified mostly because I feel so completely out of control and can’t believe that this is just random. MRI was clear but what about mini strokes? Autoimmune? Why aren’t the ENTs bringing that up?

The only neurotologist on the island doesn’t take new patients. I move to Orange County in two weeks and am hoping I can get into one there who can try to understand WHY this is happening and god forbid, prevent it in my other ear.

I’m so scared anything would help.

I was born SSD and so I don't know how it feels to hear from both ears. Can somebody share how it feels 🥺

I've had SSNHL for about 3 weeks now.

I'll be on my last dose of oral prednisolone tomorrow at 10mg.

I've also done 6 HBOT and have 4 more to go.

It's likely..... I'll have the injections on Thursday or Friday.

I'm currently hearing "robotic"/"metallic" sounds when people talk.

Is this normal? Is this a sign of anything at all? Good or bad?

Oct 1st - experienced acoustic trauma

Oct 5th - went to ENT who prescribed me 8 days of oral steroids

Oct 14th - went for followup checkup, the doctor suggested intratampanic injection in my right ear

which I didn't took yet

Oct 15th i went to another ENT for opinion i told the second ENT about the injections and steroids, he told me that he don't suggest for intratampanic injections as it may cause further issues with eardrums and he gave me 10 days of medicines, i am on 4th day of med rn

pls suggest me what to do

I HAVE HEARING LOSS + TINNITUS IN RIGHT EAR

I CAN UNDERSTAND AND LISTEN TO PPL CLOSELY BUT I CAN'T LISTEN PROPERLY IF SOMEONE BE FAR

Please HELP meeee i don't wanna go deaf pls

I have had weird hearing changes all year and kept getting pushed off as having fluid in my ear.
Finally in March, I had SSNHL that was treated by an ENT (but after one bad ENT, I got a second opinion and was finally treated with steroids and ear injections after 3 weeks). It was mild to moderate loss that came with ringing and didn’t heal after 60mg round of steroids and 5 shots.
I ended up with a hearing aid which I’ve had for about 2 weeks.
This morning I woke up and I knew immediately - it was happening again. This time with the most loud tinnitus I’ve ever had, with two tones. I can’t hear even with my hearing aid.
I went to the ER as instructed when ENT is closed 🫠 got on a steroid and will be hopefully at the ENT when they open tomorrow.
I’m hoping since I’m starting treatment within 24 hours my chances are better of getting anything back, unlike last time, but I’m so scared. It feels profound.
Does anyone have stories of steroids working the second time even if they didn’t the first? Or insight as to WHY this could be happening? I’ve heard idiopathic SSNHL is really rare to have twice… so twice in seven months is scaring me.
MRI and CT all clear as of two months ago.

Thanks for any and all words ♥️

I feel so stupid, I had fullness and distorted sounds before I realized it was actually hearing loss and did anything about it. Because nothing hurt, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Maybe allergies, wax? So I checked with a scope and there was nothing red or weird about my ear, in fact it looked better than my right.

When the distortion hit, I made jokes for days about how someone was playing a penny whistle along poorly as a soundtrack to my life. Couldn’t have picked a better instrument at least?

Work stress was outta control and honestly had my health on the back burner. But then, sitting in a quiet room, my ear decided to reenact a movie bomb scene, complete with temporary deafening and then massive ringing. Sheesh, so dramatic. Anyways, back to work…

Except now I sound like a robot. The penny whistle is still there, too. I start chatgpting it. It’s potentially scary. The next day I go to urgent care and was dismissed quickly as allergies, without her even testing anything. “Take Flonase for two weeks and see if it gets better”. I feel like she thinks I’m stupid and dramatic. I’m embarrassed.

But something feels wrong about this. I remembered that Apple has a hearing test, and I proceed to sit in a quiet and dark bathroom, testing multiple times in case I messed up. Sure enough, it shows low frequency hearing loss in one ear, and I can compare that to the results I got from a test I thankfully took “just for fun” when I first got my AirPods. I feel vindicated. I feel angry. I feel scared and yet still hopeful its nothing serious.

I lose another day to work and can’t get into an ENT without a referral and my PCP isn’t open, so the next day, it’s back to a different (better) urgent care I go, who promptly gets me on oral steroids and an ENT referral. Without me even asking. He was a real one, and didn’t make me feel like crap for asking questions.

I’m about to get my second steroid shot with ENT tomorrow. Not sure what happens beyond that.

So, this is how I join the club. Grateful for technology and good doctors. A little sad that I know the odds are that I’m going to need to learn “a new normal”, and my dreams of being able to develop superhuman abilities like echolocation are off the table. And I’m really wondering if the damn off-key penny whistle will ever go away.

Hi all. My son is almost 9 months and was diagnosed at birth with profound hearing loss in one ear (right), and typical/good hearing in the other ear (left). So I’ve read a lot of posts here and done my research, while trying to have a positive mindset while acknowledging that there are likely challenges ahead. Some of your positive posts have been really uplifting to read.

At his 7 month and first behavioural hearing test it seemed there was a just a little bit of ‘residual hearing’ which was a bit surprising as a MRI result had diagnosed no cochlear nerve, or the phrasing was along the lines of ‘cochlear nerve is not visible and given the quality of the images - appears absent’. All other structures were typical. He is now considered severe-profound and an amplifying hearing aid will be trialled when he’s a bit older - more to see if awareness of sound in that side is improved, not for speech as that would be unlikely. It will likely be a trial, noting that other kinds of hearing aids like Osia might be an option if he so chooses.

As an aside he’s not a candidate for cochlear due to absent nerve and even if he was a candidate it isn’t readily encouraged in Australia for single sided - that’s what I’ve been told anyway.

His audiogram isn’t complete he will have more testing at 15 months. At birth ABR showed profound and ASSR showed moderate (but they explained technical reasons for them not considering his hearing loss at the moderate level).

I wondered if anyone wanted to share experiences of amplification hearing aids with severe or severe to profound hearing loss.

He’ll have another behavioural test at 15 months.

Thank you :)

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to post an update on where things stand 9 days after developing SSNHL in my left ear.

Quick recap:

On the evening of Oct 9 (Day 0), a couple of hours after a gym session, I noticed sudden hearing loss and intense pressure in my left ear. I looked up the symptoms, suspected SSNHL, and got in to see an ENT the next day. The diagnosis was confirmed, and I was started on 80 mg of prednisone for 5 days, followed by an 8-day taper.

My first audiogram showed mild loss at 6 kHz (35 dB) and moderately severe loss at 8 kHz (70 dB), with all other frequencies normal.

On Day 5, I went for my first HBOT session, but I struggled to equalize the pressure and developed middle ear fluid. My ENT confirmed this at my follow-up on Day 6. When I attempted a second session, the pain hit immediately, so I decided to stop HBOT to prevent further complications.

Even with the fluid present, my Day 6 audiogram showed solid improvement:

6 kHz: Improved to 25 dB (borderline normal / very mild)

8 kHz: Improved to 55 dB (moving from moderately severe to moderate)

My ENT was pleased to see progress this early, he normally wouldn't test so soon, but I pushed for it. I forgot to bring up intratympanic steroid injections, though he likely would have held off anyway because of the fluid buildup.

It’s now Day 9, and my next follow-up is on Day 11 (moved it up from Day 13). Subjectively, my hearing is noticeably better than at onset, though it hasn't felt much different since Day 6. The tinnitus has been fluctuating quite a bit, very loud some days, quiet on others. Yesterday was rough, but today has been manageable.

Both audiograms are attached. Happy to answer any questions, and fingers crossed for continued recovery!

I first experienced hearing loss on my left ear on the 5 October 2026.

7 October 2026: started prednisolone 75mg

8 October 2026: prednisolone 75mg

9, 10, 11, 12, 13 October 2026: prednisolone 60mg

14, 15, 16 October 2026: prednisolone 25mg

17 October 2026 (today): prednisolone 12.5mg

18 October 2026: prednisolone 12.5mg

19, 20 October 2026: prednisolone 10mg

I've also started HBOT on 12th October and have done 5 sessions so far.

I'm due for another 5 more HBOT treatments next week.

I don't really know what I'm seeking to be honest.... I guess I want to know if there's anything else I can do to boost my possibility of recovery. I'm due to see the ENT next Friday (so would have finished my prednisolone for 3 days).

With my audiogram I've uploaded (8 and 16 October), has anybody had full recovery with similar initial results? I'm just being hopeful....

I’ve read through most of the posts here from people that experienced SSHL but haven’t seen anyone mention echoing in their affected ear. I was on vacation when I noticed my hearing suddenly decreasing in my left ear. I was with my son who has always had wax buildup in his ears causing decreased hearing and he has to regularly flush them. I thought maybe it was that or an ear infection. I bought a kit to flush my ear to no avail. I called my GP and got an appt the Monday I came home (~5 days post hearing loss). I had no idea this was an emergency situation at the time. I feel that she misguided me too and wasted another week with her medical advice to take Flonase saying it’s probably post nasal drip causing fluid backup in my Eustachian tubes. Then if that didn’t work, she said try Claritin. Then if that didn’t work, see an ENT. BAD, bad advice. It was almost 3 weeks before I finally saw an ENT. My worst symptoms are terrible tinnitus, but worse still is echoing in my left ear. I haven’t seen anyone mention the echoing. Has anyone had that and did it ever go away?
I went through the oral steroids and 3 intratympanic injections with no noticeable improvement. I’m hoping that at least the echoing subsides at some point. I go in for an MRI this Monday.

Coping strategies: I have found a few things that help. I wear an earbud in my left ear and play white noise which helps the most. It blocks the echoing but can still listen with my good ear. I also wear noise canceling headphones and play white noise or soft music. I also go nowhere without an earplug in my pocket to put in when I’m out and about.

I’d especially welcome feedback on the echoing. Thanks.

Bit of a late update but got three of the steroid shots… and no change unfortunately.
Still have tinnitus
And significant high frequency loss on the right side

Here is the original post I made:https://www.reddit.com/r/MonoHearing/s/A3BEO4GH4L

First shot was a breeze, no pain.
Second shot hurt a few hours after
And last shot was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever experienced

Came back to make another post as I’m feeling a bit down about not having any improvement.
However, I’ve definitely adjusted to the change.
And I can play the drums again!!!
Honestly that’s what’s been keeping me okay through all this. I have my band I can focus on and we have been making such amazing progress

The reason for the post today is I went back to the gym for the first time today since it happened and I had to leave early because i was scared.

Scared of loosing more of my hearing…
I kept being careful about how much I was lifting and kept focusing on my ear to make sure it wasn’t changing but I think it made the tinnitus louder bc I was focusing on it.

I think at the time of my original post I still had hope this would fix itself but it’s really settling that the hearing loss and tinnitus is here to stay.
To be honest I haven’t really been super upset about it, I think I’m more upset about loosing progress at the gym cuz I sat around for a month lol

if I have any advice for you people on how to get through the struggle: don’t beat yourself up, be extremely kind to yourself. Imagine giving yourself a big hug and consoling yourself. Life moves forward and you never know what happens next good or bad. Thats what works for me anyways.

I had mild SSNHL that started 9/14. It’s odd because it initially started off as ear pressure in my right ear but noticed the hearing loss in my left ear on 9/16. After a detour of it possibly being TMJ inflammation (so started prednisone 40mg on 9/14) and allergies, I finally got the diagnosis of SSNHL on 9/28. My prednisone was increased to 50mg and just now tapering off. I got 3 intratympanic steroid injections 9/30, 10/5, and 10/12. I also started gingko, vitamin e, nac, and zinc supplements

The tinnitus improved about 3 days after my 1st injection and my hearing improved around 5 days after my 2nd injection. My second hearing test is scheduled for next week.

This has honestly been the scariest thing I’ve gone through. I am so grateful that I responded to treatment and hoping I regain my full hearing back.

Does anyone have extreme anxiety just doing anything now? I’m scared to go back to my workout routine because I’m afraid it might trigger something again. I don’t know what caused mine in the first place so I’m just nervous about doing anything.

On one of my ears I have 75 db hearing loss. Will it be considered as mono hearing / Hard of hearing?

Also I do believe my condition has affected my life, and I do feel angry about my circumstances. But family and doctors tell me to be grateful and it is not a big thing. Am I being irrational or is it ok to grieve?

Is there any actual benefit to being deaf in one ear in the country you live in?

In my country, Türkiye, it’s enough to get you exempt from military service. Honestly, that’s the only real advantage I’ve seen in my entire life.

Here, single-sided deafness only accounts for a 13% disability rating for the whole body. If it reached 40%, I would’ve been eligible for various government benefits and support programs.

What’s the situation like in your country?

Hey everyone!
Finding this community feels so weird, in a good way. I’ve barely met anyone who’s completely deaf in one ear like me, so reading your posts and seeing people share the same experiences is honestly pretty surreal.
I’m 25, been deaf in one ear since I was around 3 or 4, and I’m also a music producer. I’ve been making music for over 10 years, with 5 different artist aliases, 150+ tracks, and almost 50 million streams.
But I still barely understand what stereo actually sounds like. For me, stereo imaging is mostly just staring at visual meters lol.
Anyway, I’ve got a few questions.
First, when the hell are we gonna hear with both ears? Has medicine made any real progress? Cochlear implants aren’t really an option in my case, and hearing aids can’t help because of the nerve damage. I still have hope that maybe one day we’ll be able to fix this.
Sometimes I wonder what hearing normally even feels like. Imagine making a song and literally everyone who listens to it can hear it better than you can. I’m not even sad about it, it’s just kind of funny.
Also, do you think being deaf in one ear affects how we perceive musical notes or separate instruments in a song?
And to any fellow one-eared musicians here, have you found any tricks or workarounds that make your life easier?
I’ll start: I cut off the useless side of every pair of wired earbuds I buy. Feels like I’m throwing away half my money every time, but totally worth it hahaha.

Oh, and one more thing! If you’re a scientist or researcher working on hearing loss or hearing restoration, please reach out. I’d genuinely love to contribute to any research in this field, whether it’s participating in a study or helping out in any way I can. I’d be more than happy to be part of something like that.

First of all, my first language is not English and I do not live in a English country so I apologise for this.

I got SSHL in my right ear in May this year. Moderate hearingloss 40-50db in low and high frequencies, 25-30db in the middle frequencies.

Took prednisolone and my hearing was restored except in frequency 4000-8000 where I still have a hearing loss of 30db. Done an MRI - no tumour.

This weekend I felt fullness in my right ear again and the next day I couldn’t hear. I’m seeing my physician today but i already know what this is so it’s more for measuring the loss.

I feel like it’s not as bad as last time but it really impacts my life and now I am scared that this might not heal as good since I just had it and my ear haven’t had much recovery time.

So to you all who’s had it multiple times within a short time span, did it heal nicely? Got any issues?

No dizziness but moderate tinnitus and diplocusis

I have recently been diagnosed with SSNHL (5 October 2026) and going through oral steroids medications and HBOT at the moment.

I find that sometimes, it gets a bit loud for my ears with daily conversations..... And chanced upon loop earbuds...

I'm considering loop switch for flexibility but also just the engage (are they more comfy?). I guess what I'm trying to find out is, apart from the costs, is there any reason to get the engage over the switch?

Hi! 22, woke up Sunday 13th Sept with sudden hearing loss in my left ear. Had vertigo, tinnitus, fullness feeling and could hear basically nothing. That night, I saw a GP and started Prednisolone 50mg. He suggested Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. After day 1, my vertigo vanished.

I continued taking the the 50mg Prednisolone for 10 days, following that I had a 5 day taper. Other medical professionals seemed to agree with the SSNHL suggestion.

My first hearing test was I think a bit over a week after onset? The findings of that were that after about 1kHz, my hearing in my left ear would almost completely drop off at all frequencies and decibels. I saw an ENT shortly after this, he offered me the steroid injections but currently there are risk factors that mean I can't have them. Also haven't been offered HBOT, and I can't go private.

After ENT is when my taper started, and fortunately since then my vertigo and stuff hasn't returned which was my main concern. Now it's been another couple of weeks since I tapered off the steroids and I just had another hearing test today. There's been some improvement!

As stated, previously I couldn't hear anything past 1kHz at almost any decibel level. Now I can somewhat hear 1.5-2kHz starting at 55db, and 3kHz upwards at 90-100db. It's still very quiet but it's something.

Even if in day to day life this doesn't change a lot, there is a big positive here: I would be viable for a hearing aid now!

I have another visit to the ENT next week, and there some options will be discussed. I might be put back on prednisolone to see if they can salvage any more, or they might start looking at hearing aid options.

I'm going to be scheduled for MRI at some point but don't know when that'll be yet.

Good news overall! We still don't know how much hearing will be recovered but it's at least enough that if it doesn't, I'll be able to get a hearing aid which should improve the tinnitus.

Questions for today:

Has anybody re-started oral prednisolone? Did it do any further improvements? Has anyone had further improvement after the 1 month mark?

Hello! First, let me say that it has been so helpful and reassuring to find this subreddit. Sure it's not super popular or active but the fact that there is a resource here for people like me is heartwarming and reminds me that Reddit/Internet hasn't fully gone to shit yet.

So.... here's what's happened so far! (Just writing this to help anyone else who find themselves in a similar situation or if you have insights to add!

Week of 9/21 Felt a bit under the weather, thought maybe I'd picked up a little COVID or at least a sinus infection. Shook it off, masked up when around others, but then the pressure in my left ear started to get really strong. I had just started to see an ENT for sinus pressure, so I thought, hey why not just go by and see if they can help?

9/29 See the ENT's PA, takes a look, says its probably ETD due to sinus infection and gave me a steroid RX to fill. Did a couple of tests and said I should have an appointment with the audiologist to check everything.

10/2 Audiologist appointment. Audiogram findings left: Essentially flat moderately severe sensorineural loss which slopes to severe in the highest frequencies. Word recognition findings right: 100%% at 50 dBHL Additional word recognition findings (description) right: 10 dB contralateral masking. NU-6 10 order of difficulty lists (Hurley and Sells, 2003). at 100 dBHL Word recognition findings left: 32%% at 100 dBHL Additional word recognition findings (description) left: 60 dB contralateral masking. The patient also scored a 24% at 90 dB with 50 dB contralateral masking. Negative for rollover. NU-6 10 order of difficulty lists (Hurley and Sells, 2003)

womp womp :(

PA and Audiologist talk a bit and then up the pred to 60 mg daily until I can see the ENT.

10/7 Audiologist and ENT follow up. Another hearing testing. Audiogram findings left: Essentially flat moderate sensorineural loss between 0.25 and 8 kHz. Word recognition findings right: 100%% at 50 dBHL Additional word recognition findings (description) right: 10 dB contralateral masking. NU-6 Order of Difficulty lists (Hurley and Sells, 2003). at 70 dBHL Word recognition findings left: 92%% at 70 dBHL Additional word recognition findings (description) left: 30 dB contralateral masking. The patient also scored 76% at 80 dB with 40 dB of contralateral masking and 68% at 90 dB with 50 dB contralateral masking. Positive for rollover.

ENT says let's do an MRI to rule out anything super scary, drop the pred down to 40 mg daily and follow up again on 10/15

Get the MRI done, I had to call to a bunch of different imaging centers but finally was able to secure something next day and then got the report over the weekend from the radiologist.

No head tumor, yay! But there is a note that there is Minimal nonspecific cerebral white matter disease. Primary demyelinating disease (MS?) or remote ischemic or inflammatory insult. So....who knows?

A bit of background, I've had hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's) since I was 12. I've struggled all my life to get my levels correct, and really not until my 30s did I start taking it correctly with water, empty stomach for at least 30 minutes before eating breakfast. I also developed psoriasis about 4 years ago, it's responded well to creams but I really only use them when it gets really bad.

So all that to say, this feels like just another part of my body trying to eat itself with an autoimmune disorder. I've been vaping nic and THC basically daily (the nic most of the day and the THC at night to relax). I've already bought a 0 nic vape and I'm transitioning to that to fully quit. I like getting high but for at least now I'm doing a gummy so I'm not inhaling crap near my already fucked up ears. I was a smoker from 2004-2018, kicked it fully, then started vaping when my husband switched to it from smoking. I am grateful that he's fully quit smoking cigarettes :) I've also been taking a GLP-1 which has been a godsend. It's really hard to not try and pin this on SOMETHING I'm doing to myself. But like the Hashimoto's it's just my body being dumb...quitting the vapes will be good but let's be honest if an off brand GLP-1 or vapes were giving a bunch of people SNHL there'd be more things online about it....right?

I just got to my primary for my thyroid levels, tried an endo once and I hated her, but maybe its time to try another?

I'm sure my ENT will tell me who to talk to for the white matter thing - probably an Endo or a more specialized ENT?

I think the pred is helping, and that hearing is coming back but everything is robotic, I still have crazy sinus pressure and some ear pressure and the tinnitus is mostly manageable. The sinus stuff is likely from a cyst they saw on the MRI, so fingers crossed the ENT can just get rid of that? I have to use an eye massager every night to help it calm down :(

I thinking I might try loop plugs when I'm in really loud situations since that tends to make hearing way harder.

In the first few days this felt like it was never going to end but it slowly has gotten better. And luckily no matter when pred seems like to primary way to help it, so we're on the right path. Anyone else have similar autoimmune insights?

Sending you all my love and support!!