# Sudden Deafness..(need advice from Handy) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872 "2000-04-04T19:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/1 "2000-04-04T19:38:00Z")
This is neither mundane or pointless to me and certainly doesn’t belong in the pit so I will put it here unless the Mods see it otherwise. Three weeks ago my wife got a a sinus infection and sore throat. This went on for a few days then one morning about 2 weeks ago she woke up completely deaf in her left ear. She had an MRI which ruled out stroke and other equally bad things out. After an audiology report however, the doctor declared her totally deaf in the left ear. ☹ The doctor said that her hearing _might_ come back. Has anyone else ever heard or had this sudden deafness problem before? Any suggestions?? Handy? * * * Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/2 "2000-04-04T19:41:00Z")
this happened to a friend of mine - her sinus/throat infection resulted in a perforated eardrum. Eardrum doesn’t work with a hole in it. It may heal on its own, or she may need surgery to patch the hole. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/3 "2000-04-04T19:57:00Z")
OK, this is officially too freaky. I just opened my own thread on my own hearing loss. I’ll be watching this thread and mine and maybe we’ll both get lucky. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/4 "2000-04-04T20:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by jti: > **this happened to a friend of mine - her sinus/throat infection resulted in a perforated eardrum. Eardrum doesn’t work with a hole in it. It may heal on its own, or she may need surgery to patch the hole.** ## Ok jti her eardrums are “pristine” according to her doctors so there is no physical evidence of why she should be deaf in that ear. Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/5 "2000-04-04T20:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Otto: > **OK, this is officially too freaky. I just opened my own thread on my own hearing loss. I’ll be watching this thread and mine and maybe we’ll both get lucky.** Otto what is even freakier is that before my last post we both had 530 posts each. (twilight zone music here) * * * Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/6 "2000-04-04T23:28:00Z")
Hold me I’m scared. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/7 "2000-04-05T00:36:00Z")
This also happened to a friend of mine. She has had many different tests to figure out why she was losing her hearing. Since then she has completely lost the hearing in her right ear. The best her doctor could guess was that she had a virus or infection that caused the hearing loss. It is also possible that she may have had a hereditary weakness in the ear that could’ve been damaged while running. Her doctors don’t seem to think that she’ll regain her hearing. * * * Work is fine for killin’ time, but it’s a shaky way to make a living. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/8 "2000-04-06T01:59:00Z")
That is the weirdest thing I ever heard. Only the docs could give you any information. It just doesn’t disappear with no reason. Probably one of those things where when she gets hit in the head she gets the hearing back. Are you really sure she can’t hear anything at all? That’s pretty rare. Even I hear somethings. ---
**Author:** ![learae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@learae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/learae)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/9 "2000-04-06T05:23:00Z")
Hi, I’ve been reading this board for a long time, but I’ve never had the nerve to post. I thought that my experience with this might ease your mind a bit. I also experienced deafness in one ear for a short time after a severe ear infection. In my case, the hearing returned gradually, though it never returned fully. Good luck. I hope your wife has a similar outcome. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/10 "2000-04-07T23:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by learae: > **Hi, I’ve been reading this board for a long time, but I’ve never had the nerve to post. I thought that my experience with this might ease your mind a bit. > I also experienced deafness in one ear for a short time after a severe ear infection. In my case, the hearing returned gradually, though it never returned fully. Good luck. I hope your wife has a similar outcome.** Welcome learae! Glad you came out of the closet so to speak. The doctors say that my wife had a viral infection that may have attacked the nerve in her ear. Handy: She has had an audiology test and there is zero hearing in that ear. Should I bang her upside the head to see if she gets that hearing back? 🙂 No better not. * * * Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-deafness-need-advice-from-handy/9872/11 "2000-04-07T15:35:00Z")
aha, now you know why your farts smell, so your wife can enjoy them too when she is sleeping on her better ear.