Let’s pretend you go to a rock show. You’re awesome, so you spend the entire night in the front row. It isn’t exactly hearing-healthy, but it’s enjoyable, and the next morning, you wake up with two ringing ears. (That’s not as enjoyable.)
But what if you awaken and can only hear out of one ear? The rock concert is probably not to blame in that situation. Something else must be going on. And when you develop hearing loss in one ear only… you may feel a little alarmed!
Moreover, your general hearing may not be working right. Normally, your brain is sorting out information from both ears. So it can be disorienting to get signals from only one ear.
Why hearing loss in one ear results in issues
Your ears basically work together (no pun intended) with each other. Your two outward facing ears help you hear more precisely, much like how your two front facing eyes help your depth perception. So hearing loss in one ear can wreak havoc. Among the most prominent effects are the following:
- You can have difficulty distinguishing the direction of sounds: You hear someone trying to get your attention, but looking around, you can’t locate where they are. When your hearing disappears in one ear, it’s really challenging for your brain to triangulate the origin of sounds.
- When you’re in a loud setting it becomes very hard to hear: Noisy places such as event venues or noisy restaurants can become overwhelming with just one ear functioning. That’s because all that sound seems to be coming from every-which-direction randomly.
- You can’t tell how loud anything is: In the same way as you need both ears to triangulate location, you kind of need both ears to determine how loud something is. Think about it this way: You won’t be sure if a sound is far away or merely quiet if you don’t know where the sound was originating from.
- Your brain becomes tired: Your brain will become more exhausted faster if you can only hear from one ear. That’s because it’s failing to get the complete sound range from just one ear so it’s working extra hard to make up for it. This is particularly true when hearing loss in one ear happens suddenly. basic everyday tasks, as a result, will become more exhausting.
So what causes hearing loss in one ear?
Hearing professionals call muffled hearing in one ear “unilateral hearing loss” or “single-sided hearing loss.” While the more ordinary type of hearing loss (in both ears) is normally the result of noise-related damage, single-sided hearing loss isn’t. This means that it’s time to look at other possible causes.
Here are some of the most prevalent causes:
- Ruptured eardrum: A ruptured eardrum will usually be really obvious. It can be related to head trauma, loud noises, or foreign objects in the ear (among other things). And it happens when a hole is created between the thin membrane that separates your ear canal and middle ear. The result can be rather painful, and usually triggers tinnitus or hearing loss in that ear.
- Meniere’s Disease: Meniere’s Disease is a chronic hearing condition that can lead to vertigo and hearing loss. In many cases, the disease progresses asymmetrically: one ear might be impacted before the other. Hearing loss in one ear with ringing is another typical symptom of Meniere’s Disease.
- Other infections: Swelling is one of your body’s most common responses to infection. It’s just how your body responds. Swelling in reaction to an infection isn’t necessarily localized so hearing loss in one ear can result from any infection that would cause inflammation.
- Abnormal Bone Growth: It’s possible, in very rare instances, that hearing loss on one side can be the result of irregular bone growth. This bone can, when it grows in a specific way, impede your ability to hear.
- Earwax: Yup, sometimes your earwax can become so packed in there that it cuts off your hearing. It’s like using an earplug. If this is the case, do not grab a cotton swab. A cotton swab can just cause a worse and more entrenched problem.
- Ear infections: Swelling typical happens when you’re experiencing an ear infection. And this swelling can block your ear canal, making it difficult for you to hear.
- Acoustic Neuroma: While the name might sound kind of frightening, an acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that grows on the nerves of the inner ear. You should still take this condition seriously, even though it’s not cancerous, it can still be potentially life threatening.
So… What can I do about my single-sided hearing loss?
Depending on what’s generating your single-sided hearing loss, treatments will differ. In the case of specific obstructions (like bone or tissue growths), surgery may be the appropriate option. Some problems, like a ruptured eardrum, will usually heal by themselves. And still others, including an earwax based obstruction, can be removed by basic instruments.
In some circumstances, however, your single-sided hearing loss may be permanent. We will help, in these situations, by prescribing one of two possible hearing aid solutions:
- Bone-Conduction Hearing Aids: To help you make up for being able to hear from only one ear, these hearing aids make use of your bones to move the sound waves to your brain, bypassing much of the ear altogether.
- CROS Hearing Aid: This kind of uniquely made hearing aid is primarily made to treat single-sided hearing impairment. These hearing aids are able to detect sounds from your plugged ear and send them to your brain via your good ear. It’s very effective not to mention complex and very cool.
It all begins with your hearing specialist
There’s most likely a good reason why you can only hear out of one ear. In other words, this isn’t a symptom you should be ignoring. Getting to the bottom of it is essential for hearing and your general health. So start hearing out of both ears again by making an appointment with us.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230949/
https://www.hear-it.org/single-sided-deafness