Infection caused hearing loss :(

[StarDust]

I am a 20 year old girl, who lost her hearing profoundly in the left ear in October 2011 at the age of 19.
I am just coming to terms with the fact that I will not be getting my hearing back.

The cause of the hearing loss was from a very bad ear infection. It was weird one minute I had my hearing next it was gone in one ear.
After months of waiting for results I was told last week about the ear infection which has left me almost completely deaf in one ear. I am waiting for an appointment now to talk through my options.
I know that I cant have a hearing aid as it is so damaged, and I was gutted to find this out as I was really hoping this would be the solution. But I can have a cochlear ear implant, what are opinions on these?
I think I am going to try the non surgical version first which is basically the same although I wouldn't have to go through the surgery. It would be on a head band, so at least I could take it off. Are there any opinions on the non surgical cochlear head band?

I still find it amazing that I lost my hearing so dramatically in a matter of minutes. And I really hope that scientific advances are made in this area.

[hmmmm1977]

I too am trying to figure out my options for my sudden hearing loss as well. I have never heard of the non surgical cochlear headband... this must be some advice from your doctor I will look into it? My doctor gave me a few different options too, look into my first post if you want to see what they told me. Let me know if you have or do decide on something I would love your feedback too. Heather

[DocAudio]

Uh...I'm not sure what cochlear implant doesn't involve surgery...the whole main part is an implant that goes in the cochlea...for that you need surgery.

Are you sure you aren't talking about a BAHA which is a bone-anchored hearing aid that can either have a surgical housing implanted in the mastoid bone to attach the HA to or be worn on a headband???

something isn't adding up...

[StarDust]

Thankyou for the responses to my post, When i went for my ENT appointment my doctor told me that we could look into the non surgical option, which may be what you are suggesting, which I was told is very similar to the cochlear ear implant but non surgical so I assumed it was the same thing as the implant. I am yet to find out when my next appointment is, I have been told the band is like a small head band, we shall see...The appointment was very emotional as I was hoping for a solution involving a hearing aid so I may have miss heard.

[rweigle]

Is it possible they are recommending a bone conduction aid? If you had an infection, did it damage the middle ear where the bones and eardrum are or did you have cohlear damage? These two different issues will have different options of treatments.

[DocAudio]

Bone conduction hearing aids can be used to treat single-sided deafness (SSD). The device is worn on the poorer side and via bone conduction.

A little anatomy 101 helps to understand how this works. When you vibrate the bones in the skull the sound will be heard at the same level to both ears. If you don't have any hearing in one ear, the sound will be heard in the good ear. It's called 'interaural attenuation' which is the amount of volume that's needed for sound to be heard on the opposite side of the side we are testing. Bone conduction has 0dB of interaural attenuation. If you place the bone conductor on your head and play a tone, whichever ear has the better hearing is going to hear the sound. If hearing is equal in both ears you will feel like the sound is coming from somewhere in the middle of your head. If you can only hear on one side, even if the bone conductor is on the 'deaf' ear you will hear the tone in the good ear.

There are 2 kinds of bone conductor hearing aids, the BAHA and the trans-ear. The BAHA can be worn on a headband but is more commonly worn by 'snapping' it into a housing that is surgically implanted in the mastoid bone. You take it on/off at the same times you would take a HA on/off. The device itself is not implanted, only the housing that keeps the HA attached to your head is implanted. The Trans-ear looks very similar to a RIC hearing aid but has a piece that goes pretty far down into the ear canal and vibrates the skull through the bony portion of the ear canal instead of via a device attached to the outside of the ear in/on the mastoid bone.

I have worked with both. The BAHA seemed to provide more immediate and noticeable benefits, but both the people I worked with had the 'snap' implanted and did not use the headband. Both function on the same principle however.

[StarDust]

It damaged the inner ear so yes it affected the cochlear.

And an update I went for my balance therapy yesterday, as when I lost my hearing in the left ear, I now know this was due to a severe ear infection. I also lost part of my balance function which can be corrected if I keep doing the exercises I have been given. I think that I will go with the option of the head band BAHA to start with to see how this will affect my hearing before I go ahead down the surgical route.

[Dlighus]

well i think you should consult a good ent regarding this problem , hope consulting good ENT could work for you and his suggestion could remove your problem.

[DocAudio]

Originally Posted by StarDust

It damaged the inner ear so yes it affected the cochlear.

And an update I went for my balance therapy yesterday, as when I lost my hearing in the left ear, I now know this was due to a severe ear infection. I also lost part of my balance function which can be corrected if I keep doing the exercises I have been given. I think that I will go with the option of the head band BAHA to start with to see how this will affect my hearing before I go ahead down the surgical route.

Also consider the trans-ear which doesn't involve surgery but utilizes bone conduction.

[StarDust]

The trans-ear looks like a brilliant option. Do you know if this is only for people in the U.S as I am from the UK. I hope they bring something over here!