DAYTON — It’s a medical condition that can take your hearing in an instant and leave you with permanent loss if it’s not treated quickly.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
It’s known as Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL), and many people don’t recognize the signs until it’s too late.
It affects more than 65,000 Americans each year. It happens without warning, triggering a race against time to get hearing back.
TRENDING STORIES:
- City to host public hearing about AES Ohio’s proposed price increase
- Off-duty firefighter dies after motorcycle crash in southwest Ohio
- First responder returns home after being stabbed while on call, chief says
Amanda Swanhart said, “I went to sleep. Woke up the next morning. Gone, just not there.”
Austin Maida said, “Out of one ear, I just couldn’t hear anything.”
Dave Zapala said, “When I saw hearing loss in that ear, I was shocked.”
Amanda, Austin and Dave all suffered sudden hearing loss. There was no pain, no buildup – just silence. And, at that moment, you don’t know if it’s temporary or something much more serious.
Doctors say SSHL happens when something disrupts the inner ear or the nerve that carries sound to the brain.
It could be inflammation, a virus or even reduced blood flow, but in many cases, doctors never find the exact cause.
Dr. Douglas Green, who is an Otolaryngologist and Neurotologist, said, “The biggest underlying question is what is going to happen. Is my hearing coming back, or am I going to be left with this for the rest of my life?”
Dr. Mallory Raymond, who is an Otologist/Neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, said: “In general, this is a rare occurrence, but I can see individuals with this in the order of one to five times per day.”
When going in for a hearing test, results usually show severe hearing loss in one of the ears with zero-word clarity. For many, it usually starts suddenly.
Swanhart, a schoolteacher, noticed it when she woke up. “I kind of shrugged it off for a few days, but then I thought something wasn’t right,” she said.
At first, she thought it would pass, but it didn’t. By the time she got help, the damage was permanent.
“Then when I did go back into the classroom, and my students would be calling my name, and I’m like, Where are you?” Swanhart said.
She eventually needed a cochlear implant to hear again in her left ear.
Maida got help right away and followed every step doctors recommended.
He said, “Nothing changed.”
Despite acting quickly, he also needed a cochlear implant to restore his hearing.
“We went through the steps of trying to save it with the steroids that we talked about, and right away I knew the cochlear was a possibility but probably future of my life,” Maida said.
Zapala knew this condition better than most. He spent more than 20 years working in the audiology department at the Mayo Clinic, seeing thousands of cases like this.
And, ironically, while in retirement, it happened to him.
“It wasn’t the type of hearing loss you would get from an ear being plugged up for an allergy or fluid behind the eardrum,” Zapala said.
Even then, he didn’t get help immediately. It was Zapala’s wife who urged him to get checked, and within days, his hearing returned.
Doctors say outcomes vary. About a third recover fully, a third partially, and a third don’t recover at all. And for many in that last group, cochlear implants become the only way to restore sound.
For those who act quickly, treatment begins immediately. Doctors said to treat it aggressively and treat it fast.
That could be a high dose of steroids, and in some cases, those steroids are also injected directly into the ear.
There is also hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Inside the chamber, you breathe pure oxygen at high pressure.
The goal is to push more oxygen to the damaged hearing nerve and give it a better chance to recover.
And there’s even acupuncture. It’s not medically proven, but when you’re facing permanent hearing loss, you explore every option.
Dr. Raymond said, “I would say have some hope. But have some guarded hope. Your story is unique. Once again, doctors say early treatment is critical, ideally within the first 72 hours.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
