Let’s pretend you go to a rock concert. You’re awesome, so you spend all night in the front row. It’s enjoyable, though it’s not good for your ears which will be ringing when you get up the next morning. (That part’s less enjoyable.)
But what if you wake up and can only hear out of one ear? Well, if that’s the situation, the rock concert may not be the culprit. Something else may be at work. And when you develop hearing loss in one ear only… you might feel a little worried!
Moreover, your overall hearing might not be working right. Usually, 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 leads to issues
Your ears basically work in concert (no pun intended) with each other. Just like having two front facing eyes helps you with depth perception and visual sharpness, having two outward facing ears helps you hear more effectively. So hearing loss in one ear can wreak havoc. Here are some of the most prominent:
- You can have trouble distinguishing the direction of sounds: You hear someone attempting to get your attention, but looking around, you can’t locate where they are. When your hearing goes out in one ear, it’s really challenging for your brain to triangulate the source of sounds.
- When you’re in a noisy setting it becomes very difficult to hear: Loud settings such as event venues or noisy restaurants can become overwhelming with just one ear functioning. That’s because all that sound appears to be coming from every-which-direction randomly.
- You can’t be sure 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: If you can’t determine where a sound is coming from, it’s difficult to know whether that sound is simply quiet or just distant.
- You wear your brain out: Your brain will become more exhausted faster if you can only hear out of one ear. That’s because it’s failing to get the whole sound range from just one ear so it’s working extra hard to make up for it. And when hearing loss abruptly happens in one ear, that’s particularly true. Normal daily tasks, as a result, will become more exhausting.
So how does hearing loss in one ear occur?
Hearing specialists call impaired hearing in one ear “unilateral hearing loss” or “single-sided hearing loss.” While the more typical kind of hearing loss (in both ears) is typically caused by noise-related damage, single-sided hearing loss is not. So, other possible causes need to be assessed.
Here are a few of the most common causes:
- Ruptured eardrum: Normally, a ruptured eardrum is hard 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 separating your ear canal and your middle ear has a hole in it, this type of injury happens. Normally, tinnitus and hearing loss along with a lot of pain are the outcomes.
- Other infections: Swelling is one of your body’s most prevailing responses to infection. It’s just how your body responds. Swelling in response to an infection isn’t always localized so hearing loss in one ear can be caused by any infection that would trigger inflammation.
- Ear infections: Swelling typical results when you have an ear infection. And this inflammation can close up your ear canal, making it difficult for you to hear.
- Abnormal Bone Growth: It’s feasible, in extremely rare cases, that hearing loss on one side can be the outcome of irregular bone growth. This bone can, when it grows in a certain way, hinder your ability to hear.
- Earwax: Yup, sometimes your earwax can become so packed in there that it cuts off your hearing. It has a similar effect to using earplugs. If you’re experiencing earwax blocking your ear, never try to clean it out with a cotton swab. Cotton swabs can push the earwax even further up against the eardrum.
- Acoustic Neuroma: An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that forms on the nerves of the inner ear and may sound a little more intimidating than it usually is. You still need to take this condition seriously, even though it’s not cancerous, it can still be potentially life threatening.
- Meniere’s Disease: When somebody is dealing with the degenerative condition known as Menier’s disease, they often experience vertigo and hearing loss. It’s not unusual with Menier’s disease to lose hearing on one side before the other. Hearing loss in one ear along with ringing is another typical symptom of Meniere’s Disease.
So… What can I do about my single-sided hearing loss?
Depending on what’s causing your single-sided hearing loss, treatment options will vary. In the case of specific obstructions (like bone or tissue growths), surgery might be the ideal option. A ruptured eardrum or similar issues will normally heal naturally. Other problems such as too much earwax can be easily removed.
In some cases, however, your single-sided hearing loss could be permanent. We will help, in these cases, by prescribing one of two potential hearing aid solutions:
- Bone-Conduction Hearing Aids: To help you compensate for being able to hear from one ear only, these hearing aids utilize your bones to conduct the sound waves to your brain, bypassing most of the ear altogether.
- CROS Hearing Aid: This kind of specially designed hearing aid is primarily made to manage single-sided hearing impairment. These hearing aids can identify sounds from your plugged ear and transfer them to your brain via your good ear. It’s very complex, very cool, and very reliable.
Your hearing specialist is where it all starts
If you aren’t hearing out of both of your ears, there’s probably a reason. It’s not something that should be disregarded. Getting to the bottom of it is essential for hearing and your overall health. So schedule an appointment 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
