Sudden hearing loss as adults can have an obvious cause such as an illness, accident, or injury. Sudden hearing loss can also be due to sudden hearing loss syndrome.
Sudden hearing loss syndrome, also called sudden deafness, is a significant hearing loss that develops within three days. For less than fifteen percent of the cases of sudden hearing loss syndrome, the cause of the hearing loss is identified. The condition may be called idiopathic sudden hearing loss if the cause is unknown.
There are about four thousand cases of sudden hearing loss syndrome a year in the United States. Adults between the ages of thirty to sixty are at the highest risk of sudden hearing loss syndrome.
A widely used method of treatment for idiopathic hearing loss is steroids, but there has been some debate about the effectiveness of this treatment. One study showed that steroids were no more effective than a placebo.
For about fifteen percent of people with sudden hearing loss syndrome, their hearing worsens over time. In most cases, the people with sudden hearing loss recover at least some of their hearing. Spontaneous recovery is the recovery of the hearing loss without a known cause for the recovery.
Sudden hearing loss can be caused by head trauma from an accident or interpersonal violence. Damage to the auditory nerve, a perforated eardrum, or a fracture of the temporal bone can cause sudden hearing long.
Sudden hearing loss from trauma can be surgically corrected in some cases. Sometimes, the injury causes permanent sensorineural hearing loss. A perforated eardrum often heals itself, but a large perforation may need to be surgically corrected.
Circulation problems, abnormal growths, some infectious diseases, neurological problems, exposure to toxic chemicals, and the toxicity of medications can cause sudden hearing loss. There are over one hundred possible cause of sudden hearing loss.
If a person experiences sudden hearing loss, the person should seek emergency medical treatment. Many doctors believe that prompt medical attention for sudden hearing loss syndrome can increase the chance of recovery of the lost hearing.
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