Can Ear Infections Lead To SNHL?
The ear is healthy. No visual sign of infection yet something is infected causing conductive hearing loss. The ear is sending a signal but its not reaching the brain.
what could be infected? The auditory nerve?
Would an ENT doctor be able to see an infected auditory nerve?
Long-term ear Infection usually causes SNHL
Detailed Answer:
Hello Sir
I can certainly understand your concern
Infection seems to be the predominant cause of hearing loss in your case.
Infection is known to cause mixed pattern of hearing loss depending on its site ( external ear, middle ear or inner ear).
Auditory nerve is a component of inner ear and hence it's malfunctioning along with Cochlear damage can be objectively picked by PTA. It's dysfunction if any can be readily identified by an expert ENT surgeon.
To identify the location of Infection and to assess the type of hearing loss accurately, I'd advise you to take up HRCT (High-resolution CT scan) of the temporal bone and Pure tone Audiometry (PTA) respectively.
Further management if any is largely based on test results.
Thank you