Sudden hearing loss is significant hearing loss that occurs within three days of the onset. Many aspects of sudden hearing loss are still a mystery. The inability to pinpoint the exact cause of many cases of sudden hearing loss may have negatively affected the development of an effective treatment.
Causes of sudden hearing loss may be traumatic injury, immune disease, and the impairment of circulation which decreases blood flow to the inner ear. Sudden hearing loss after viral infection has been evident in some cases. There are several viruses that have been implicated as a threat to hearing.
Mumps and German measles, also called rubella, are often considered potential causes of sudden hearing loss. Some experts believe that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is responsible for some cases of sudden hearing loss, though this is considered very rare.
Herpes viruses have been implicated in cases of hearing loss after viral infection. Other viral infections that have been linked to some cases of sudden hearing loss include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Lassa fever, and wild-type measles.
Researchers have been unable to replicate sudden hearing loss after viral infection in the laboratory. Therefore, the link between viral infections and sudden hearing loss has not been scientifically proven. Scientists have been unable to confirm the relationship between viral infections and sudden hearing loss.
Very few people who acquire these viral infections will develop sudden hearing loss. Some bacterial infections such as syphilis, meningococcal meningitis, and mycoplasma bacteria can also cause sudden hearing loss.
Inflammation of the cochlea and abnormal changes in the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear due to the infection is believed by some experts to be the cause of sudden hearing loss from infection. These causes have not been scientifically proven.
There are many cases in which the cause of the sudden hearing loss is not identified. The hearing loss may be called idiopathic hearing loss or idiopathic sudden hearing loss if the cause of the sudden hearing loss cannot be determined. Often, sudden hearing loss improves without treatment. In about fifty percent of cases, the hearing loss is recovered mysteriously without treatment which is known as spontaneous recovery.
In the United States, there are about four thousand cases of sudden hearing loss every year. The people most commonly affected are between the ages of fifty and sixty. There is no universally accepted treatment for sudden hearing loss.
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