ENT Specialists of Alaska

ENT Specialists of Alaska

Possible Causes of Hearing Loss in One Ear

Woman cupping ear and grimacing because of single sided hearing loss

Let’s pretend you go to a rock concert. You’re awesome, so you spend the entire night up front. It’s not exactly hearing-healthy, but it’s enjoyable, and the next day, you wake up with both ears ringing. (That’s not so fun.)

But what if you awaken and can only hear out of one ear? Well, if that’s the situation, the rock concert might not be the cause. Something else must be going on. And when you experience hearing loss in one ear only… you might feel a little alarmed!

Also, your overall hearing may not be working right. Your brain is used to sorting out signals from two ears. So it can be disorienting to get signals from only one ear.

Why hearing loss in one ear results in problems

Your ears generally work in concert (no pun intended) with each other. Just like having two forward facing eyes helps you with depth perception and visual sharpness, having two outward facing ears helps you hear more accurately. So hearing loss in one ear can wreak havoc. Here are some of the most prominent:

  • You can have difficulty distinguishing the direction of sounds: You hear somebody trying 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 very difficult for your brain to triangulate the origin of sounds.
  • It’s difficult to hear in noisy locations: Loud places like event venues or noisy restaurants can become overwhelming with only one ear working. That’s because all that sound seems to be coming from every-which-direction randomly.
  • You can’t be sure how loud anything is: You need both ears to triangulate location, but you also need both to figure out volume. Think about it like this: You won’t be certain if a sound is distant or just quiet if you don’t know where the sound was originating from.
  • You wear your brain out: When you lose hearing in one ear, your brain can become extra tired, extra fast. That’s because it’s failing to get the complete sound range from just one ear so it’s working overly hard to compensate. This is particularly true when hearing loss in one ear happens suddenly. This can make a lot of tasks throughout your daily life more taxing.

So what’s the cause of hearing loss in one ear?

Hearing professionals call impaired hearing in one ear “unilateral hearing loss” or “single-sided hearing loss.” Single sided hearing loss, unlike typical “both ear hearing loss”, normally isn’t the result of noise related damage. This means that it’s time to look at other possible causes.

Some of the most prevalent causes include the following:

  • Ear infections: Infections of the ear can trigger swelling. And this swelling can obstruct your ear canal, making it impossible for you to hear.
  • Irregular Bone Growth: In very rare cases, the cause of your hearing loss could actually be some atypical bone growth getting in the way. And when it grows in a particular way, this bone can actually impede your hearing.
  • Other infections: One of your body’s most prevailing reactions to an infection is to swell up. 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.
  • Acoustic Neuroma: While the name may sound pretty intimidating, an acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that forms on the nerves of the inner ear. While it isn’t cancerous, necessarily, an acoustic neuroma is still a significant (and possibly life-threatening) condition that you should talk to your provider about.
  • Meniere’s Disease: When somebody is coping with the degenerative condition called Menier’s disease, they frequently 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 common symptom of Meniere’s Disease.
  • Ruptured eardrum: Normally, a ruptured eardrum is difficult to miss. It can be related to head trauma, loud noises, or foreign objects in the ear (amongst other things). And it happens when there’s a hole between the thin membrane that separates your ear canal and middle ear. Usually, tinnitus and hearing loss as well as a lot of pain are the outcomes.
  • Earwax: Yup, occasionally your earwax can get so packed in there that it blocks your hearing. It’s like using an earplug. If you’re experiencing earwax blocking your ear, never try to clear it out with a cotton swab. Cotton swabs can just create a bigger and more entrenched problem.

So how should I handle hearing loss in one ear?

Depending on what’s generating your single-sided hearing loss, treatment options will vary. In the case of particular obstructions (like bone or tissue growths), surgery might be the appropriate option. Some issues, like a ruptured eardrum, will normally heal on their own. And still others, like an earwax based blockage, can be cleared away by basic instruments.

In some cases, however, your single-sided hearing loss might be permanent. And in these situations, we will help by prescribing one of two hearing aid solutions:

  • CROS Hearing Aid: This distinctive kind of hearing aid is designed exclusively for individuals with single-sided hearing loss. These hearing aids can detect sounds from your impacted ear and transfer them to your brain via your good ear. It’s very complicated, very cool, and very reliable.
  • Bone-Conduction Hearing Aids: These hearing aids bypass much of the ear by utilizing your bones to transfer sound to the brain.

It all starts with your hearing specialist

If you aren’t hearing out of both of your ears, there’s likely a reason. It’s not something that should be disregarded. Getting to the bottom of it is important for hearing and your general health. So schedule an appointment with us today, so you can begin hearing out of both ears again!

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230949/

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.

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