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What Causes Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss?
Question: I have been having occasional incidents of hearing but perceiving the speaker is speaking gibberish. What could cause this?
Brief Answer:
Can be due to below mentioned causes.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for trusting us with your health concern.
The symptoms you have mentioned, could be due to Eustachian tube catarrh or Impacted wax in the external auditory canal or a rare condition called Sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
1. In Eustachian tube catarrh there is sudden blockage of the Eustachian tube (the tube connecting nose and the ear) at the nasal end, either due to common cold or sinusitis. This blockage induces negative pressure inside the middle ear leading to fullness of the ear and the head associated with altered hearing sensation in the ear. Due to the blockage whenever the intensity of the sound increases in the surrounding region, the waves irritate the ear drum and hence the gibberish sound is heard.
2. In impacted wax there is blockage of the external auditory (ear) canal causing fullness of the ear, reduced and altered hearing and also heaviness of the head.
3. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a rare condition of the ear wherein there is sudden weakness of the auditory nerve in the inner ear due to unknown cause. And, this gives rise to the above mentioned symptoms along with hearing loss.
As there are various causes which can manifest in the similar fashion, it is indeed difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. A thorough examination of the ear and nose can aid in making a correct diagnosis. Hence I would suggest you to consult a good ENT specialist for the same.
Please feel free to discuss further. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Rakhi Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Rakhi-Tayal
Can be due to below mentioned causes.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for trusting us with your health concern.
The symptoms you have mentioned, could be due to Eustachian tube catarrh or Impacted wax in the external auditory canal or a rare condition called Sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
1. In Eustachian tube catarrh there is sudden blockage of the Eustachian tube (the tube connecting nose and the ear) at the nasal end, either due to common cold or sinusitis. This blockage induces negative pressure inside the middle ear leading to fullness of the ear and the head associated with altered hearing sensation in the ear. Due to the blockage whenever the intensity of the sound increases in the surrounding region, the waves irritate the ear drum and hence the gibberish sound is heard.
2. In impacted wax there is blockage of the external auditory (ear) canal causing fullness of the ear, reduced and altered hearing and also heaviness of the head.
3. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a rare condition of the ear wherein there is sudden weakness of the auditory nerve in the inner ear due to unknown cause. And, this gives rise to the above mentioned symptoms along with hearing loss.
As there are various causes which can manifest in the similar fashion, it is indeed difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. A thorough examination of the ear and nose can aid in making a correct diagnosis. Hence I would suggest you to consult a good ENT specialist for the same.
Please feel free to discuss further. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Rakhi Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Rakhi-Tayal
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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