Expert: Harriet B Jacobster, Au.D. - 5/13/2009

Question
Hello, I am a 33 year old female and back in September 2008 I went too see an ENT with sudden hearing loss in my right ear with a constant pulsating high pitch whooshing sound.  I had an MRI and cat scan done and nothing significant showed up.  Yesterday, I saw my ENT again and this time he ordered an MRA (magnetic resonance angiogram).  The MRA  is not for another 6 weeks.  I am growing extrememly impatient not having any answers, I realize some things are unexplainable, but I feel there is an explanation for this.  Any ideas on what could be causing these sudden onset of symptoms?

Answer
Hi TT,
Unfortunately, you will have to be patient.  And, again unfortunately, more times than not, there is no "explanation" for sudden hearing loss (SHL).  Your ENT is doing exactly the right things...he ruled out a tumor or growth that would have caused the loss.  One of the reasons it is so difficult to find the cause of sudden hearing loss is because the ear is a "closed" system, meaning that we cannot look directly into the ear to see what caused the loss. So trying to find the reason for SHL is more a matter of eliminating the major causes, such as a tumor, or a venous/arterial dysfunction.  Sometimes blood tests may reveal an underlying cause, but mostly not.  It also could have been a virus that attacked the inner ear and caused the loss, also very common.  Or it may have been the result of an auto-immune response.  

Again, the best we can do in these situations is to rule out a life-threatening or "fixable" problem.  Again, most of the time, the cause of the loss is never discovered. You should eventually consult an audiologist to discuss the options for handling Single Sided Deafness (SSD).

Hope this helps,
Harriet B. Jacobster, AuD
Board Certified in Audiology