About Eric P. Wilkinson, MD Expertise I am a board-certified otolaryngologist with additional subspecialty training in otology, neurotology, and skull base surgery. This is the subspecialty of otolaryngology that involves the ear, hearing, balance organs, the facial nerve, and surgery of the skull base including surgery for acoustic neuroma and other benign and malignant tumors of the base of the skull.
Experience Medical school, residency in otolaryngology, fellowship in otology/neurotology/skull base surgery
Organizations American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
North American Skull Base Society
American Neurotology Society
Publications Laryngoscope Otology and Neurotology
Education/Credentials MD Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 2001
Otolaryngology Residency, University of Iowa Department of Otolaryngology, Iowa City, IA
Otology/Neurotology Fellowship, House Ear Clinic, Los Angeles, CA
Expert: Eric P. Wilkinson, MD Date: 1/5/2007 Subject: Loss of Hearing in Left Ear
Question One day as I was blowdrying my hair, I heard a crackling noise in my left ear. I continued to ear some crackling periodically all evening, while I was sitting in the audience of a high school musical performance.
The crackling occurred only that first day, but since then, I have been unable to hear well in that ear. After a couple more days, however, I could hear nothing in that ear at all. A doctor (not a specialist) said it was probably due to wax buildup. For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been diligently putting drops in my ear to soften any wax buildup. Today I went back to the doctor, who cleaned all remaining wax out of both my ears.
Unfortunately, the hearing loss is still there. I can hear, but sound in that ear is muffled. It is also next to impossible to hear conversation when a lot of background noise is present. In fact, it can be downright unpleasant to be in a noisy room. At times I hear a mild hissing sound and if I've been around any loud noises (including a very noisy room), the hiss seems to be louder after the noise stops or I've left the noisy room.
Some additional information: I just turned 60. I do not work in a loud environment (I teach college level courses.) I do not listen to loud music through headphones. I don't (and never did) go to loud concerts. I simply have not been around loud sounds on a regular basis. My left ear has been a bit a problem for me in the past. Whenever I didn't get enough sleep, it would hiss and sometimes even hurt just a little. No infections, though, and the hearing was back to "normal" as soon as I got some sleep. There is no history in my family of any hearing problems, other than those that typically occur in very age.
This may have been a developing problem for years, but went unnoticed because I had no serious problems hearing. My doctor is going to give me the name of an ear specialist, but I'd sure like an idea of what I could be dealing with here. I do not have extensive health insurance, so I'm a bit worried about what I might be dealing with.
I'd be very greatful for any information you could give me. Thanks so much for volunteering your time!
Answer If your ears are cleaned of wax, and your hearing still sounds muffled, you may have a neural hearing loss in that ear. An audiogram and tuning fork testing will help determine if this is the case.
If you have a unilateral hearing loss in one ear that is worse than the other, it can represent damage to the inner ear from a viral infection in the past, a small "mini-stroke" to the inner ear, or even a benign tumor of the balance nerve.
First step is to get audiometry. Your ear specialist will be able to do this and plan any further testing. Good luck!
