Sudden hearing loss can be scary. If you or a loved one suddenly feel sounds are muffled, distorted, far away, unclear, or otherwise abnormal, please get ready to take action.
The Golden Period of Treating Sudden Hearing Loss
Sudden hearing loss is often treatable. But it’s important to start the treatment as soon as possible.
The first 3 days is the super golden period for treatment, and chances for recovery are good if you receive treatment within the first two weeks.
The longer you wait, the more likely the sudden hearing loss will become a life-long problem.
So if you’re experiencing sudden hearing loss, please treat it as an emergency and seek medical attention as soon as possible.But how to do so? And what to expect?
How to Seek Medical Attention for Sudden Hearing Loss
We’re going to use Hong Kong as an example, because that’s where our hearing centres are. But we’ll try to make this relevant to those of you who are reading from another location.
Here in Hong Kong, as in many other places, sudden hearing loss is considered an emergency.
We suggest choosing a hospital that not only offers Accident & Emergency (A&E) services, but also ENT and audiology services.
This way, you don’t have to be sent back and forth between hospitals and clinics handling different steps of your journey.
By reviewing the services offered by the public hospitals in Hong Kong and from Hong Kong Society of Audiology’s resources, we found that 12 public hospitals match:
- Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
- Queen Mary Hospital
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital
- Kwong Wah Hospital
- United Christian Hospital
- Prince of Wales Hospital
- Alice Ho Nethersole Hospital
- Tuen Mun Hospital
- Yan Chai Hospital
- Tung Wah Hospital
- Tseung Kwan O Hospital
- Duchess of Kent Hospital
If you’re in Hong Kong and experience sudden hearing loss, we suggest you first call one of these hospitals to verify that they can help.
Because in practice, staff may not be available, especially at night.
Be sure to mention any other symptoms you might have, such as dizziness or pain, as well as any recent diseases or trauma you might have experienced.
If you don’t have access to a hospital that can treat your sudden hearing loss as an emergency, you could instead make an appointment with an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.
When making the appointment, make it clear that you’re experiencing sudden hearing loss and ask to be seen as soon as possible. If they are not available to see you by tomorrow, you should probably call other ENTs.
How ENTs Diagnose and Treat Sudden Hearing Loss
The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery publishes guidelines on how to diagnose and treat sudden hearing loss.
While clinicians might follow different protocols, the guidelines can give you an idea of what to expect:
- Clinicians should quickly find out if the sudden hearing loss is caused by problems in the inner ear (sensorineural), or by a blockage or issue in the outer or middle ear (conductive)
- Clinicians should tell patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss how the condition typically develops and what the pros and cons of various treatment options are.
- Corticosteroids or hyperbaric oxygen therapy are often considered as treatment
- If the patient still has problems after treatment, clinicians should talk about how hearing aids and other support options might help
What Prevents People From Getting Treatment
A lot of the patients we see in Hong Kong tell us they had a sudden hearing loss before, but delayed treatment.
Now, months or years later, it’s unfortunately too late. The hearing loss has become permanent, and these patients are coming to us for hearing aids.
From chats with patients, we have learned the core reason they delayed treatment was lack of awareness about sudden hearing loss.
They didn’t know how serious and urgent of an issue it is, and that it’s often treatable.
We also met patients who went to general practitioners after a fast decline in their hearing, but were told to not worry and that the problem would go away by itself.
So we’re writing this blog post to reach people who are suffering from sudden hearing loss and hopefully convince them to seek treatment promptly.
Should You Get Hearing Aids for Sudden Hearing Loss?
No.
The priority is to get treatment as soon as possible.
During treatment, your hearing might change significantly.
It’ll hopefully recover, but that’s not guaranteed.
If, despite treatment, the hearing loss becomes permanent, you might benefit from hearing aids, and hearing centres like ours will be happy to serve you.
