Hearing loss and frustration

I've been losing my hearing in my left ear for some time now. It started in 1999 with crackling noises in the ear and eventually resulted in reduced hearing. After much talk with doctors and some hearing tests, they've diagnosed me with something called otosclerosis. Anyone heard of it? I sure hadn't. But my Dad has it (how did I not know this? well, I knew he had no hearing in his left ear, but not why) and now apparently I do too.

Essentially, it's an overgrowth of bone near the middle ear that stops the stapes bone from moving freely and eventually stops it completely. As it stiffens more and more, hearing gets worse and worse.

Right now I can hear out of the ear but the frequencies in the human vocal range are especially hard to hear. I never realized how much having good hearing in BOTH ears mattered. I consistently have to ask people to speak up, speak more clearly; I have trouble understanding some people (especially men) in movies and so find them harder to watch. They say the hearing in my ear is fine, but sometimes it worries me that it's not.

To top all of this off, I'm a musician. So this is scary.

There's surgery in my future. Hopefully it will fix the problem and not make it worse.

Anyone else going through something similar with their hearing? It's very frustrating!

Gosh I feel for you. My mum has been completely deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other for years....so I'm half expecting to lose my hearing too.

When trying to understand people, I don't think it helps that our languagee has become quite lazy and lots of people do not form their words properly.

It must be particularly frightening for you though because of your career.

I really hope the surgery is a success. x

My husband is completely deaf is his left ear, from birth. He finds social events very frustrating and despite having it from birth notices it every day so I can really feel for you.

Have you discussed BAHA with your Dr? Neil decided against it as would be too visible and permanent for his needs but it might help you and would hide under your hair easily.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Anchored_Hearing_Aid

Unfortunately here in America, hearing aids aren't covered under insurance so it would all have to come out of pocket. Which means I can't afford it. I find it unbelievable that they don't cover such an important thing, but they don't. I've considered buying a basic $200 hearing aid that's designed to amplify just the frequencies in the human vocal range but I haven't decided if I want to spend the money yet. If it works it would be well worth the money but I'm worried it won't.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the messages! It's incredibly frustrating to find myself on the outside in social situations because I can't hear people. I think you're right about people mumbling. I had one kid in a class I taught a couple years ago who mumbled horribly and I couldn't understand a word he said. I wish more people would enunciate properly!

I don't have the same problem you have, but I do sufer with my ears

Hearing loss in my left ear is a nightmare......I've already had an op on the right ear. I suffer with Perforated ear drums......

Hope you can find something to help soon x

My mum has this, and I have it to a lesser degree (I'm not sure if Hevvur suffers from it too)...

I'm OK if things are quiet, however, if there is something else going on in the background (running tap, car noise, kettle boiling) I can't hear someone in the same room as me.

I'm an extra careful listener, and will always tell someone if I'm having difficulty hearing them. I've also got quite good at lip reading!

I had my hearing tested and was told it's still fine (despite not being able to hear my husband in the same room if the tap is running!)

Surgery is an option eventually for me too, although it's not got that bad yet.

I really feel for you and applaud you for being so brave My hearing is 'apparently' fine but I do experience 'cracking' everytime I swallow, and sometimes it just happens for no reason, and lifts, and planes are really painful. If I get a cold you might as well write me off!!
I have had allergy testing, an MRI and x ray, used a nasal spray for 3 months with no reduction in symptoms. I don't think my hearing is perfect but the test came back 100%?
Do my symptoms sound similar to how yours started? I am really curious as the doctors have now decided it's "all in my head" (no pun intended)

I'm partially deaf in one ear - drives me nuts. I have to have the TV so loud, it disturbs my OH and the neighbours. Most of the time I just can't hear it clearly......

My symptoms seemed almost like a feedback noise. In fact, the first time I heard it, I thought that it was feedback from headphones I was listening to and almost went out to replace them. Then I heard it at a concert and realized it was my ear itself, not something outside me making the noise. I noticed it happening more frequently on louder, higher pitches. I can't recall if it happened when swallowing, but I don't recall really noticing that back then.

When I went to the doctor and the audiologist back in 1999 no one could come up with a diagnosis. They could find nothing wrong. My hearing was just fine (better than fine, even, they told me...it was very acute back then). They thought it might have been caused by a car accident I had been in recently and that it might just go away on its own.

The crackling/feedback noises went away a couple years later and I had no problems until a few years ago when I started to notice that the hearing in my left ear seemed much worse than my right ear. I went to the doctor three times and each time they blamed ear wax and emptied out my ear. Only the last time did I see a doctor instead of a nurse and he told me there wasn't any wax buildup and something else must be wrong (ya think?).

The audiologist I saw this time asked one major question NO ONE thought to ask: "Does anyone in your family have hearing loss?" And once I told him about my father, it was like a light bulb went on. The hearing test (which apparently has a very specific pattern) showed otosclerosis.

I'm not sure if any of it matches your symptoms or not. It's frustrating no matter what it is! Otosclerosis takes a LONG time to really show up as hearing loss and even longer for you to lose all your hearing. This, btw, is one major theory as to what happened to Beethoven. His symptoms matched the symptoms of otosclerosis, and it explains the gradual deterioration of his hearing (it took him from the mid-1790s all the way to about 1817 to have lost just about all of his hearing).

This page, btw, is fascinating (if anyone is a musician, especially): http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/pg...enhearing.html

It gives audio examples of what his hearing might have been like. The first example (from when Beethoven was about the same age as me) is what the hearing in my left ear currently is like.

Thank you again for all your responses. Not that I want to hear of other people struggling in this way, but I AM glad to know that reduced hearing in my left ear might be causing me to hear so poorly, while the right really can be ok. It's odd. You'd think losing SOME of your hearing in only one ear wouldn't be such an issue, but it really does mess with things. There are so many ways I've found it to be frustrating, from not being able to hear the TV or friends, to having directional trouble (I was almost run into by a runner who called out for me to move over as she was coming up behind me and I started to move the wrong way).

I'm trying to be open about this (I hid it for a few years), but it's still a struggle to deal with on a day to date basis.