Let’s imagine you go to a rock show. You’re awesome, so you spend all night in the front row. It’s fun, although it isn’t good for your ears which will be ringing when you get up the next morning. (That’s not so fun.)
But what if you wake up and can only hear out of one ear? The rock concert is most likely not to blame in that situation. Something else must be happening. And you may be a little concerned when you experience hearing loss in only one ear.
In addition, your hearing may also be a little wonky. Your brain is accustomed to sorting out signals from two ears. So it can be disorienting to get signals from one ear only.
Why hearing loss in one ear results in problems
In general, your ears work as a functional pair. Your two outward facing ears help you hear more precisely, much like how your two front facing eyes help with depth perception. So when one of your ears quits working properly, havoc can result. Amongst the most prevalent effects are the following:
- Distinguishing the direction of sound can become a great challenge: You hear somebody trying to get your attention, but looking around, you can’t find where they are. When your hearing goes out in one ear, it’s really very difficult for your brain to triangulate the origin of sounds.
- It’s hard to hear in noisy locations: With only one working ear, noisy settings like restaurants or event venues can abruptly become overwhelming. That’s because all that sound seems to be coming from every-which-direction randomly.
- You have trouble discerning volume: You need both ears to triangulate location, but you also need both to figure out volume. Think about it this way: If you can’t determine where a sound is coming from, it’s difficult to detect whether that sound is simply quiet or just distant.
- You wear your brain out: Your brain will become more fatigued faster if you can only hear from one ear. That’s because it’s desperately trying to make up for the loss of hearing from one of your ears. And when hearing loss abruptly occurs in one ear, that’s especially true. This can make a lot of tasks throughout your daily life more exhausting.
So what’s the cause of hearing loss in one ear?
“Single sided Hearing Loss” or “unilateral hearing loss” are scientific names for when hearing is muffled on one side. Single sided hearing loss, in contrast to common “both ear hearing loss”, typically isn’t the result of noise related damage. So, other possible causes should be considered.
Some of the most prevalent causes include the following:
- Ruptured eardrum: Normally, a ruptured eardrum is difficult to miss. Objects in the ear, head trauma, or loud noise (amongst other things) can be the cause of a ruptured eardrum. When the thin membrane dividing your ear canal and your middle ear gets a hole in it, this type of injury occurs. The outcome can be rather painful, and normally triggers tinnitus or hearing loss in that ear.
- Earwax: Yes your hearing can be blocked by excessive earwax packed in your ear canal. It has a similar effect to using earplugs. If this is the case, don’t reach for a cotton swab. Cotton swabs can jam the earwax even further up against the eardrum.
- Acoustic Neuroma: An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that grows on the nerves of the inner ear and may sound a little more intimidating than it normally is. You should still take this condition seriously, even though it’s not cancerous, it can still be potentially life threatening.
- Other infections: One of your body’s most common responses to an infection is to swell up. It’s just how your body responds. Swelling in response to an infection isn’t necessarily localized so hearing loss in one ear can result from any infection that would cause inflammation.
- Ear infections: Infections of the ear can trigger swelling. And it will impossible to hear through a swollen, closed up ear canal.
- Meniere’s Disease: When somebody is coping with the chronic condition known as Menier’s disease, they often experience vertigo and hearing loss. Often, the disease advances asymmetrically: one ear might be impacted before the other. Menier’s disease often is accompanied by single sided hearing loss and ringing.
- Abnormal Bone Growth: It’s possible, in extremely rare cases, that hearing loss on one side can be the result of irregular bone growth. This bone can, when it grows in a specific way, interfere with your ability to hear.
So… What do I do about my single-sided hearing loss?
Treatments for single-sided hearing loss will vary based upon the root cause. In the case of specific obstructions (such as bone or tissue growths), surgery may be the ideal solution. A ruptured eardrum or similar issues will usually heal naturally. Other issues such as excessive earwax can be easily removed.
Your single-sided hearing loss, in some cases, might be permanent. We will help, in these cases, by prescribing one of two possible hearing aid solutions:
- CROS Hearing Aid: This kind of uniquely made hearing aid is specifically made to address single-sided hearing impairment. With this hearing aid, sound is picked up at your bad ear and sent to your good ear where it’s decoded by your brain. It’s very effective not to mention complex and very cool.
- Bone-Conduction Hearing Aids: These hearing aids bypass most of the ear by utilizing your bones to transmit sound to the brain.
It all begins with your hearing specialist
There’s probably a good reason why you’re only hearing out of one ear. In other words, this isn’t a symptom you should be ignoring. Getting to the bottom of it is important for hearing and your general health. So schedule a visit with us today, so you can start hearing out of both ears again!
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230949/
https://www.hear-it.org/single-sided-deafness
