Newly SSD - questions

[Troutbc]

Hi all! I am recovering from right side AN surgery (4.5 weeks out) and had some questions about being SSD. I am adapting pretty well, I had no hearing loss before surgery, but have noticed a few things. One, sounds are now really loud, especially clanking plates and loud phones ringing. Is this normal? For example, if someone puts a plate down on a granite countertop, I essentially act like a microphone is screeching. It's so loud I can't stand it!

I also notice that sometimes when I start talking I get a popping sensation in my good ear. Just weird sensations in there sometimes. Sometimes it's s whooshing sound too. Is this normal? I'm assuming it's because my body is adjusting to having one sided hearing so everything is more sensitive. I will of course bring this up with my doctors but I figured I'd see if anyone else noticed this too after surgery.

[brianharte]

I think its just new things your body and brain are getting used to.
fresh out of my first surgery, the noise of running water was REALLY strange sounding. I think its better now.. dont know if I got used to it or it sounds like how I used to hear it.

Sometimes I get a popping sound when talking. Don't know why, but I figure no sense trying to figure it out. Loud noises bother me now. Its overpowering.

[oak1971]

Been SSD for years now, not from surgery though. The tumor got big enough it took out my left ear. Nobody caught the tumor till now, some 10 years later. Some sounds are still too loud and annoying even though the right ear isn't 100 percent either. Strange but that's life for us now.

[robertwh2]

I read somewhere that the human brain can only separate sounds if in stereo. So I have attributed the sound sensitivity to my brain not being able to ignore or downplay sounds like it used to before the SSD hit. For example the plate being placed on the counter top. Our brains used to know to soften those sounds, but now everything comes in at the same level and it seems overly loud. I have tinnitus in my deaf ear and I can tell you if I go from a loud environment to a quite one the tinnitus is overwhelming. So I think it all has to do with how the brain can adapt.

The most annoying thing for me is trying to find a sound, it is hard to do now that it all comes in the right ear. 5 years post op and I still have not found a good way to deal with this besides looking everywhere for the sound.

[LeahRachel]

Is SSD sudden sensorial deafness?  If not what does it mean?  I had a sudden hearing loss in my right ear and that is when they found th AN in the left ear.  I have the same problem with sounds, but I have a solution you don't want.  When I am working the kitchen I take off my Cochler Implant processor and everything is quiet; neither ear hears anyting,  except the *** tinnitus. 

I thought the loudness of sounds that I never noticed before they turned on my implant, was due to processor programming errors.  If you have the same problem with a normally hearing ear, maybe the problme is in my brain and not in the processor.

Does anyone esle with an AN and one good ear, hear some sounds too loud?
   

[CHD63]

Hi LeahOConnor .....

SSD means single side deaf.  There is also a condition called hyperacusis in a normally hearing ear when normal sounds seem abnormally loud.

I am SSD from removal of a left-side AN ..... audiogram shows normal hearing in my right ear, but I have hyperacusis ..... tinnitus from both sides.

Is that what you mean?

Clarice

[LeahRachel]

Hi Clarice
Thanks for the definition of SSD. Now the other posts make more sense.

I thought hyperacusis meant everything was too loud... like turning up the volume on the TV.  But when I check the definition, it seems that it may also mean that only some sounds are too loud, which is my problem, and what think Troutbc was describing.

I can sit next to the window air conditioner and it sounds normal through my cochlear, but sounds like crunching up a paper bag or scraping out a pan, or even just putting a teacup on a saucer is uncomfortably loud.  I remember the same thing when I got my first set of hearings aids 10 years ago, but after a week or two everything sounded normal.  Nothing sounded louder or quieter than it should.

Now I have no hearing in my left ear to lose when they do the Gamma Knife surgery, and what I do hear comes through the cochlear implant in the right ear. I have had the cochlear for 6 months now and high pitched sound still come too loud.  I was surprised to hear that someone with single sided deafness  had the same type of problem.  If someone drops a spoon on the tiled kitchen floor, it sould like a gunshot to me.

How common is this this for people with SSD? 
Is there anyone else with both  AN deafness and a cochlear?

[THBKS]

I know post is older but hear goes,

been SSD over 30 years
my good ear seems sensitive to noise, In right circumstances I can hear really,really good from that side.
most sounds seem really loud.
In a restaurant I usually cant understand anyone talking to me.
The place seems so loud and I'm hearing
every noise, dishes, chatter etc. going on.

Like Robert said, I go somewhere and someone calls my name, I start turning in circles trying to find the sound.
Really has a lot to do with the direction of the sound.