
What Causes Ear Infection Post Head Injury?

Hyperacusis following the head injury. Rule out SCDS or a fracture.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thank you for your query.
1. This is Hyperacusis and is known to develop after a head injury among other causes.
2. Get an HR(High Resolution) Temporal Bone Scan done on a multi-slice CT Scanner to rule out SSCDS (Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence Syndrome) or an Inner ear fracture. Bone is not seen on an MRI.
3. Upload an Audiogram (Pure Tone Audiogram), an Impedance Audiogram (Tympanogram) with Acoustic reflex tests, an ABLB (Alternate Binaural Loudness Balance) test result, a SISI (Short Increment Sensitivity Index) test, TD (Tone Decay) and SDS (Speech Discrimination Score).
4. Recruitment is a phenomenon where hair cell damage in the inner ear makes loud regular soft sounds to be experienced as loud sounds.
5. Another condition is endolyphatic hydrops. This will have other symptoms such as fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus and fullness in the ear. This will respond to medication (such as acetazolamide) and a low salt diet
6. Central (Brain) injury can also cause hyperacusis. An fMRI (functional MRI) may be of help here.
7. High dose IV steroids, Transtympanic medication, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) are some of the treatments that may be tried.
I hope that I have answered your query. If you have any further questions, I will be available to answer them.
Regards.

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