Possible hearing loss on the good side??

[bpham]

I'm post translab surgery (about 3 weeks).  Initially after the surgery, my the hearing on the good side was so sensitive that I had lots of issues with loud noises, which basically gave me some pain in the AN side (left).  However, about a week after the surgery, all of a sudden, the tinnitus has been getting lots louder (I've always had tinnitus since 5 years ago).  Just few days ago, I've noticed that my good side hearing seems to be worsen and I could not hear my wife conversion as good as before compared to before and right after the surgery, AND the loud noise sensitivity seems to be not as bad anymore.

Is this normal or am I losing hearing on the good side as well due to exposure to the regular noises in the restaurants and stuffs due to the sensitivity of the hearing and SSD?  The noises that I've been exposed to since post-surgery are nothing out of the ordinary (i.e. in terms of noise level) and are usually the stuffs that we normally experience everyday in restaurants and nothing more than that.

Of course, I'll get a hearing test for the good ear as well next week, but just want to hear your opinion.  May be my AN side is healing and therefore I'm not as sensitive about the noise as before?

Thanks for any feedback.

[krbonner]

As you noted, there are a lot of reasons why you'd be noticing a difference in your good ear now.  And I'm glad to see you'll be getting it tested next week.

Personally, I had a similar experience.  About 5 days post-op (translab) I had a very noticeable decrease in my ability to hear in the good ear - very scary when you've only got one working ear!  Turns out, I had some fluid buildup from the normal post-op healing that was causing problems.  The hearing test a few weeks post-op still showed some additional hearing loss.  But at my one year post-op check, my hearing was back to where it was before the surgery. 

I have the added complication that I already have a mild, high frequency hearing loss in my good ear (leftover from unrelated problems as a child).  I have an appt at the hearing aid clinic next month to talk about a standard aid for my good ear for when I have a cold or congestion and it affects my hearing.

Good luck, and let us know how the hearing test turns out next week!
Katie

[bpham]

Katie,

I wonder whether this is the norm or an unusual thing that happened to you, and may be to me for post-ops.

You said that "I had some fluid buildup from the normal post-op healing that was causing problems".  How did you find out about this and what did you have to do to fix this issue or you just let it heal itself without any action?

Yes, it bothers me a great deal since like you said, we only have one ear left!!

Thanks for any reply.

[bpham]

Katie,

Oh, I forgot to mention that I went ahead and did a hearing test myself using the free test provided by this website:  http://www.digital-recordings.com/

and it seems like I'm losing hearing around 9k-14k range.  Do not know if this is accurate, but did you remember the freq ranges that you'd lost during that time?

Thanks.

[krbonner]

Hi!

To be honest, I have no idea what the frequencies were where I had a loss.  I was still too muddle-brained to think about it!  But I do remember that my family had to yell at me to be heard, and I had the TV turned up so high it was uncomfortable for others.

When I went in for one of my post-op checkups, I asked about the hearing loss.  The doctor looked in my ear and said he could see some fluid in there, and I also had some facial swelling on that side.  I was spending a lot of time sleeping and lying down on my good side at that point, so that was one theory about why all the fluid pooled on my good side.  I have no idea how frequently this happens in post-op patients.  And no, I didn't do anything to help it other than sit up whenever I could to help it drain.  It worked itself out.

I have no idea if you're having the same experience, but it's good you're getting it checked out.  I was on the phone to my doctor's office nearly every day talking about this since I was so freaked out at the time!  LOL!

Katie

[Omaschwannoma]

I am over 2.5 years post surgery, SSD in left with constant tinnitus in right (serviceable ear) for 1.5 years now.  I had trouble with "normal" everyday sounds as they were too loud for me, made for alot of discomfort so I bought ear plugs (recently purchased muscician's plug) from local pharmacy.  Cutting out the sounds helped tremendously especially in noisy places as I am able to hear the person talking to me.  Since then I've been diagnosed "hyperacusis", have had audiogram done 4 months ago with no hearing loss in serviceable ear.  Just last week I had another audiogram done that shows mild hearing loss in the high end.  Not comfortable about this news as 4 months prior I was in the normal range, also had CT of temporal bones to rule out SCD (Superior Canal Dehiscence).  SCD might be the answer for why I have oscillopsia.  As of today I have not heard back from my neurotologist on what the answer is.  Hurry up and still waiting!  This isn't the Army is it? 

[bpham]

Arushi

I doubted that you have hyperacusis pr SCD.  If the doctor did not call back then the CT is probably negative.  Also, in my case, don't know about yours, but the hypersensitive to noise and background noise has started since I started to lose hearing on the left (AN) ear and is worse post-ops.  From what I've read so far, most people with SSD have that issue as well (anyone feels different, let us know, thx). 

In my case, the AN ear (before and post-ops) have had tinnitus and is getting worse post-ops.  Now, if I'm in public places with loud noises, my AN ear (even though with no hearing), is hurting and the tinnitus gets many times louder than in quiet places.  My good ear now has tinnitus and, like I said before, seems to lose hearing at high frequencies.  I'll be seeing my doctor tomorrow and see if he can find out what is wrong.  Don't understand why the AN ear, with most everything inside removed is still sensitive to loud noises???  Tinnitus is still there and I understand that it may be generated by the brain, but the discomfort in that side is hard to understand.

I think the good ear hypersensitive to sound is caused by the loss of the other ear and may be being damaged as well due to the stress from having to cope with all the noises that were used to be handled by 2 instead of 1. 
Thanks.

[Omaschwannoma]

Let us know what your Dr. says about your hearing in the serviceable ear as to why you are losing it.  As far as I've been told by audiologist, ENT's our serviceable ear should not give us problems in regards to being too sensitive to sounds.  SIGH!  I've also heard otherwise from those on the forum, so I am totally frustrated by the "could be this, could be that" and wishing someone "in the know" (meaning the AN docs) will get the answers straight so we all can stop wondering, but that would be in an ideal AN world right!? 

Also, this subject of "hyperacusis" has been talked about on the forum.  My audiologist tried to convince me to go through with TRT program.  I decided not to as it was very costly out of pocket, no studies have been done for us with SSD or one serviceable ear, but studies have been done for those with two good ears.  It is my understanding that is where you have a better than 50/50 chance of "curing" the hyperacusis/tinnitus.  So to spend the $500 on something that has not been proven to work on SSD people I decided to go for the muscicians earplug and move on, spending my $500 on something else more worthwhile!  In the meantime I will be looking into taking classes for lip reading in the very near future. 

[bpham]

Karen,

What is the TRT program?  Also, where did you get the musician earplug?  Is it custom made or is it off the shelf, one size fits all?

Thanks.

[Omaschwannoma]

TRT=Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and muscicians earplug came from ENT office where they made a mold of my earcanal so the piece fits better than the screw type I was using (used for swimmers).  Doc said that type promoted ear wax buildup or impacted earwax.  With the muscician plug you have three choices of filters I chose the middle one where it cuts out most background noise and loudness but am still able to hear the person next to me talking. 

[bpham]

Just had a visit with my doctor, Dr. Friedman, from HEI, who did my operation.  He looked at the good ear and said that it is fine (means that there is no sign of fluid or infection, etc..).  However, he gave me a course of Prednisone (steroid) for 10 days.  I'll come back 2 weeks from now to have a hearing test. 

I did some research on the internet and found that someone had a similar issue (may not be exactly the same problem or cause), but he was treated with an aggressive treatment of Prednisone and steriods shots which seemed to stop the progression of hearing loss for him.  I already intended to ask Dr. Friedman to gave me the steroid too, but he prescribed it to me anyway without me asking.

I'll post the results of my 10 day treatment of Prednisone later.  I have to say that I'm thankful to be able to have my operation done by Dr. Freidman/Dr. Schwatz at HEI. 

In any case if my hearing does not get to the point where I'm totally deaf in that good ear, then I should be OK (may be needing some type of hearing aid in the future) since I need to hear to be able to work .

My recovery seems to be progressing very well.  My balance after 3 weeks is almost normal, but still have some slight balancing issue with I turn my head left and right fast and also when I look down while walking.  My pain/ache around the incision area seems to heal well, with some minor shooting pain once in a while.  Sleeping is alot better now and I'm able to sleep using that area as well with only minor discomfort.  I've been able to go to the gym and spent about 1 hour on the thread  mill.  My facial weakness seems to be better now, with the left eye functions almost normal.  My mouth/lip and tongue seem to be working 90% or better.  So in the way, this recovery is going very well and this is only 3 weeks and 2 days after the surgery. 

The only thing left is to get used to the hearing on the good ear and hope that it will not get worse...

[Omaschwannoma]

A glowing post recovery!  This is very encouraging to others as well as, you! 

[bpham]

After a few days of Prednisone, my hearing on the good side was coming back, and after 10 days, I believe that I've gotten back all of my hearing as before.  I'll have a hearing test next week to confirm.

The only thing left is that I still have sensitivity on the AN ear/facial side which seems to be excited pretty badly and is very uncomfortable when exposed to loud noises.