I can hear again!
May 2, 2013 1:15 PM Subscribe
This morning when I put on my headphones to listen to music, I suddenly became aware of something incredible: I could hear sound through my left ear almost as well as I could hear with my right ear.
In recent years, I've become almost completely deaf in my left ear (and moderately deaf in my right ear). It's not so bad that I can't get by in normal situations. But in any event, I've been checked out by an ENT doctor and he attributed my loss to age-related degeneration, which made sense since my father suffered from deafness due to the same cause. In addition, I had severe ear infections in my youth, which could account for the asymmetry in hearing loss.
Anyway, it's a thrill. I've been listening to music all morning. But here's my question: what the hell happened? I guess the prosaic explanation could be that I had ear wax and it dislodged, but that seems unlikely given that it's been a progressive thing for years. Anyway, being able to hear music again in stereo is so great, I'm praying I don't suddenly go back to being deaf. Do you have any ideas what could have happened?
In recent years, I've become almost completely deaf in my left ear (and moderately deaf in my right ear). It's not so bad that I can't get by in normal situations. But in any event, I've been checked out by an ENT doctor and he attributed my loss to age-related degeneration, which made sense since my father suffered from deafness due to the same cause. In addition, I had severe ear infections in my youth, which could account for the asymmetry in hearing loss.
Anyway, it's a thrill. I've been listening to music all morning. But here's my question: what the hell happened? I guess the prosaic explanation could be that I had ear wax and it dislodged, but that seems unlikely given that it's been a progressive thing for years. Anyway, being able to hear music again in stereo is so great, I'm praying I don't suddenly go back to being deaf. Do you have any ideas what could have happened?
I hope I'm not right, but... have you accidentally moved the slider on the right/left volume balance on your sound mixer to the left?
posted by Yowser at 1:36 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Yowser at 1:36 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
Awesome! Your question caught my eye because a few weeks ago I also experienced a mysterious partial reversal of "permanent" hearing loss (due to Meniere's disease) in one ear. Meniere's is thought to cause hearing loss by killing hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear.
I did some Internet research to see what could have caused my hearing to bounce back, and found some claims of various things being able to regenerate cochlear hair cells. Coincidentally(?), I had recently changed my diet to include a couple of these things -- vitamin D3 supplements and coconut oil -- and I also recently got an allergy shot (Kenalog), and corticosteroids may also reverse hearing loss.
So, for me, it could have been any one, all, or none of those things. I have no idea -- but something definitely happened, since after almost ten years I went from hearing nothing but buzzing in that ear to being able to distinguish words.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 2:19 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
I did some Internet research to see what could have caused my hearing to bounce back, and found some claims of various things being able to regenerate cochlear hair cells. Coincidentally(?), I had recently changed my diet to include a couple of these things -- vitamin D3 supplements and coconut oil -- and I also recently got an allergy shot (Kenalog), and corticosteroids may also reverse hearing loss.
So, for me, it could have been any one, all, or none of those things. I have no idea -- but something definitely happened, since after almost ten years I went from hearing nothing but buzzing in that ear to being able to distinguish words.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 2:19 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
Maybe the connections between your ossicles (the 3 bones in your middle ear) changed. I had 4 operations on my left ear involving them. The first 3 failed, and the drop in hearing was dramatic and sudden. Here's hoping you had the opposite happen.
But, year, I would get checked by an ENT doc.
posted by Danf at 2:22 PM on May 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
But, year, I would get checked by an ENT doc.
posted by Danf at 2:22 PM on May 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Danf: You made me think of something: yesterday, I dunked my head under the bathwater and had to whack my ears to get the water out. Maybe I whacked my ossicles back into place! (if that's even possible)
Yowser: Good suggestion, but no. I can't tell you how familiar I am with the sound system on my computer, given my problems.
posted by Transl3y at 3:38 PM on May 2, 2013
Yowser: Good suggestion, but no. I can't tell you how familiar I am with the sound system on my computer, given my problems.
posted by Transl3y at 3:38 PM on May 2, 2013
Best answer: vitamin D3 supplements and coconut oil -- and I also recently got an allergy shot (Kenalog), and corticosteroids may also reverse hearing loss
It is unfortunately impossible to regrow the hair cells in your cochlea, I am sad to report. I am more sympathetic to some of the woo-woo stuff than most on here, but regrowing hair cells just ain't gonna happen. No amount of supplements will change that. It would be huge, huge, if this were possible, as most age and noise-related hearing loss is due to hair cell death. But alas, your hair cells in your cochlea are not growing back.
So, the ossicles thing. There are basically two ways you can have ossicle-related conductive (middle ear) hearing loss - either the ossicles can get displaced or they can become rigid. Either will prevent them from properly being able to transmit wave energy to the cochlea.
When people have this type of conductive loss, it usually doesn't result in total deafness in the ear, just mild to potentially profound hearing loss. Your ossicles are what help your ear overcome the impedance mismatch between the air and the fluid in your cochlea. So if they aren't working properly, you'll probably still get sound to the inner ear, but it will be much quieter because of the energy loss from air to fluid. The point is - it's possible this was the type of hearing loss you had. Did you ever get an audiogram?
Is it possible you whacked your ossicles back into place? I suppose it's possible - but highly unlikely. If that's the case, you lucked out! The chances of that happening are...slim. Very slim. You really need to, however, go see an audiologist and get some tests, especially some bone conduction and otoacoustic emissions testing, to see if your problem is the middle ear or your cochlea, and just what is going on in there.
Honestly, my first thought when I read this, seeing as how rare and miraculous regaining hearing is generally, that perhaps you were just listening to the music louder than normal, or with different head phones, or something of that nature, and were getting more of a cross-hearing effect from the hearing in your good ear to the bones of your bad ear than normal, assuming your hearing loss is conductive. That sort of thing can happen - you only lose about 40 dB between your good ear and the bones of your bad ear to something call interaural attenuation, so you can think you're hearing sounds in your bad ear when it's really residual bone conduction. That's only if your cochleas are good. However, it's unlikely that this would occur to you so suddenly or so profoundly as it seemed to, unless something really weird and neurological or retrocochlear was going on.
Of course, wax is the the most common cause of hearing troubles. So, who knows. Your ENT would have noticed in the otoscopy if there was a bunch of wax in there. Has it been a very long time since you saw the ENT? Wax can be a bitch. It's unlikely to just fall out, but who knows. It's certainly more likely than your cochlea fixing itself or something like that.
In any case, good for you! Count yourself blessed. But please, before it changes again, go to an audiologist and get the full battery.
IANAAudiologist.
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:21 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
It is unfortunately impossible to regrow the hair cells in your cochlea, I am sad to report. I am more sympathetic to some of the woo-woo stuff than most on here, but regrowing hair cells just ain't gonna happen. No amount of supplements will change that. It would be huge, huge, if this were possible, as most age and noise-related hearing loss is due to hair cell death. But alas, your hair cells in your cochlea are not growing back.
So, the ossicles thing. There are basically two ways you can have ossicle-related conductive (middle ear) hearing loss - either the ossicles can get displaced or they can become rigid. Either will prevent them from properly being able to transmit wave energy to the cochlea.
When people have this type of conductive loss, it usually doesn't result in total deafness in the ear, just mild to potentially profound hearing loss. Your ossicles are what help your ear overcome the impedance mismatch between the air and the fluid in your cochlea. So if they aren't working properly, you'll probably still get sound to the inner ear, but it will be much quieter because of the energy loss from air to fluid. The point is - it's possible this was the type of hearing loss you had. Did you ever get an audiogram?
Is it possible you whacked your ossicles back into place? I suppose it's possible - but highly unlikely. If that's the case, you lucked out! The chances of that happening are...slim. Very slim. You really need to, however, go see an audiologist and get some tests, especially some bone conduction and otoacoustic emissions testing, to see if your problem is the middle ear or your cochlea, and just what is going on in there.
Honestly, my first thought when I read this, seeing as how rare and miraculous regaining hearing is generally, that perhaps you were just listening to the music louder than normal, or with different head phones, or something of that nature, and were getting more of a cross-hearing effect from the hearing in your good ear to the bones of your bad ear than normal, assuming your hearing loss is conductive. That sort of thing can happen - you only lose about 40 dB between your good ear and the bones of your bad ear to something call interaural attenuation, so you can think you're hearing sounds in your bad ear when it's really residual bone conduction. That's only if your cochleas are good. However, it's unlikely that this would occur to you so suddenly or so profoundly as it seemed to, unless something really weird and neurological or retrocochlear was going on.
Of course, wax is the the most common cause of hearing troubles. So, who knows. Your ENT would have noticed in the otoscopy if there was a bunch of wax in there. Has it been a very long time since you saw the ENT? Wax can be a bitch. It's unlikely to just fall out, but who knows. It's certainly more likely than your cochlea fixing itself or something like that.
In any case, good for you! Count yourself blessed. But please, before it changes again, go to an audiologist and get the full battery.
IANAAudiologist.
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:21 PM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
An aside: it maybe possible soon to regrow hair cells. See, eg. here.
But this has only been tested in mice. Unless you are a mouse, this is not what happened to you.
If you are a mouse, please give the computer back to the lab tech.
posted by metaculpa at 8:29 PM on May 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
But this has only been tested in mice. Unless you are a mouse, this is not what happened to you.
If you are a mouse, please give the computer back to the lab tech.
posted by metaculpa at 8:29 PM on May 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
No suggestions, but if you do find out what's happened, please post it, or send me a MeMail. I'd love for it to happen to me too.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:09 AM on May 3, 2013
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:09 AM on May 3, 2013
No suggestions, but if you do find out what's happened, please post it, or send me a MeMail. I'd love for it to happen to me too.
Ditto?
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 6:20 AM on May 3, 2013
Ditto?
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 6:20 AM on May 3, 2013
A change in the amount or viscosity of mucus in your left middle ear and/or Eustachian tube would be something that could've opened up your hearing. Did you have any trouble with pressure on plane flights? (only a partial indicator)
posted by artdrectr at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2013
posted by artdrectr at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2013
It is unfortunately impossible to regrow the hair cells in your cochlea, I am sad to report. I am more sympathetic to some of the woo-woo stuff than most on here, but regrowing hair cells just ain't gonna happen. No amount of supplements will change that. It would be huge, huge, if this were possible, as most age and noise-related hearing loss is due to hair cell death. But alas, your hair cells in your cochlea are not growing back.
While that's what I was told at the time of my Meniere's treatment, recent developments are casting doubt upon that impossibility. "We’re excited about these results because they are a step forward in the biology of regeneration and prove that mammalian hair cells have the capacity to regenerate."The capacity apparently exists in mice and may exist in humans. This is only from January of this year, so I'm interested to see what comes out of this.
I really am 100% un-invested in any claims of things that purportedly restore hearing. For the past nine years I've accepted my partial deafness, and haven't even been looking for a cure. So there's no "woo-woo" in this case, as I have no idea what happened. The only thing that sparked my curiosity about the subject at all was suddenly experiencing significant restoration of hearing in an ear I'd heard virtually nothing in for years, so naturally I'm looking at anything that happened recently that could have caused things to change. Coconut oil? Shifting bones? Old-time gospel music? Don't know, don't care!
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 10:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
While that's what I was told at the time of my Meniere's treatment, recent developments are casting doubt upon that impossibility. "We’re excited about these results because they are a step forward in the biology of regeneration and prove that mammalian hair cells have the capacity to regenerate."The capacity apparently exists in mice and may exist in humans. This is only from January of this year, so I'm interested to see what comes out of this.
I really am 100% un-invested in any claims of things that purportedly restore hearing. For the past nine years I've accepted my partial deafness, and haven't even been looking for a cure. So there's no "woo-woo" in this case, as I have no idea what happened. The only thing that sparked my curiosity about the subject at all was suddenly experiencing significant restoration of hearing in an ear I'd heard virtually nothing in for years, so naturally I'm looking at anything that happened recently that could have caused things to change. Coconut oil? Shifting bones? Old-time gospel music? Don't know, don't care!
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 10:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
P.S. Congratulations! :)
posted by Hanuman1960 at 1:33 PM on May 2, 2013 [1 favorite]