My health crisis happened on a day that was supposed to be restorative. On Aug. 11, 2024, I enjoyed two of my favorite activities: a sauna and cold plunge followed by a sunset yoga class by the beach in Vancouver, British Columbia.
As the rays reflected off the ocean, I suddenly heard a loud, unbearable, high-pitched ringing in my head. My right ear felt like it was underwater. I tried to pop my ear to relieve the pressure, but it didn’t work.
I crumpled onto my yoga mat, dizzy and disorientated. I was 32 and healthy. I had no idea I was experiencing a medical emergency.
My life-changing diagnosis
Two days later, my right ear still felt plugged, sounds were muffled, and the incessant ringing hadn’t stopped. I didn’t have a family doctor, so I went to a walk-in clinic. Based on my reported symptoms and without running any tests, a physician prescribed me a nasal spray, common for treating eustachian tube dysfunction, or a “clogged ear” that could be the result of a sinus problem. She suggested that my symptoms could mean something more serious and require other medication, but she wanted me to try the spray first and told me to return in one week if I didn’t improve.
I wish I had known to advocate for myself and demand the additional treatment. But I trusted the doctor.
One week later, I returned to the clinic with no improvement. The doctor prescribed me prednisone, a powerful steroid that can be used to dramatically suppress inflammation and immune reactions, but that also can have side effects. I started the 10-day course of treatment, waiting to feel better. Again, nothing changed.
Fifteen days after that fateful yoga class, I rushed to the emergency room with excruciating ear pain. I was constantly bombarded by the high-frequency squeal trapped within my brain. I also struggled with the uncomfortable sensation of pressure on the right side of my head. I felt off-balance and like a diminished version of myself, grieving the loss of silence. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was terrified.
After I used the words “sudden hearing loss” in the ER, the doctor suggested I get a hearing test right away. I went for a free screening, and the results revealed severe high-frequency hearing loss in my right ear. My heart dropped, but I believed there must be a mistake. The ringing disrupted every waking moment with a siren-like shriek, but I didn’t really think I had lost my hearing — I just thought I couldn’t hear over the ringing and that my ear needed to pop.
I also got a referral and a fast-tracked appointment with an otolaryngologist, or ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT), who diagnosed me with sudden sensorineural hearing loss, a condition that has changed my life. She told me there was nothing I did to cause this; it’s not age- or noise-related, and we probably will never know why it happened.
What is sudden sensorineural hearing loss?
Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a rapid, typically unexplained loss of hearing that usually occurs in only one ear. Symptoms include muffled sound, ear fullness, vertigo or dizziness, and ringing in the ear.
Around 66,000 Americans experience sudden sensorineural hearing loss each year. “It probably happens more than we diagnose it,” said Emily Boss, an otolaryngologist and professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“It can literally happen to anyone at any age. It’s indiscriminate,” said Ross Cushing, a Maryland-based audiologist.
“Scientifically, we understand very little about what actually causes it,” said Daniel Sun, a neurotologist and division director of neurotology at the University of Cincinnati. Certain disorders of the inner ear, infections, head trauma, autoimmune diseases, circulation problems and neurological disorders can cause sudden hearing loss, but in about 90 percent of cases, there’s no identifiable cause.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, symptoms such as mine — plugged ears, discomfort and ringing — often lead physicians and patients to suspect ear wax, congestion or allergies, resulting in misdiagnoses and delayed treatment.
Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency — any abrupt hearing changes or onset of symptoms such as muffled sounds, vertigo or ringing warrants immediate attention. “Even a lot of physicians don’t know that, so they don’t treat it with urgency. That can have long-lasting effects,” Cushing said.
Research shows patients who receive steroid treatment within seven days of symptom onset have about five times greater odds of complete hearing recovery compared with patients who receive no treatment.
I started treatment after nine days.
“The general idea is that steroids can help reduce the inflammation that is causing hearing loss in the inner ear,” Sun said. “The earlier the treatment, the higher the chances of the hearing coming back.”
However, research in the Journal of Audiology and Otology suggests that even people who seek timely treatment do not always recover — and some who don’t seek treatment experience spontaneous recovery, contributing to underreporting.
The race to save my hearing
My ENT said I still had options. I wanted to try all of them. She administered another steroid, a painful dexamethasone injection straight through my ear. As she made two small incisions in my ear drum and shot the liquid inside, the room spun in an intense vertigo.
She referred me for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. “The theory is, if you marinate the body in highly concentrated oxygen, it helps where there isn’t enough oxygen getting to the tissues,” said Bruce Campana, a University of British Columbia clinical professor and hyperbaric physician at Vancouver General Hospital, where I was treated.
Research in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may improve hearing outcomes in people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss when combined with other therapies, such as steroids.
Over the next month, I received two more dexamethasone shots into my ear and had 20 sessions in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I got an MRI on New Year’s Day that ruled out a brain tumor. Unfortunately, I never recovered any hearing — and the ringing never stopped.
Ongoing tinnitus causes me serious distress
Sudden hearing loss is accompanied by tinnitus (a hissing, buzzing or ringing in the ear) in about 80 to 90 percent of cases. “The generally accepted explanation is your brain is trying to fill in the gaps with the sound,” Cushing said.
For some, like me, tinnitus can be debilitating. Listening to the endless shrill whistle, I was unable to relax, even when soaking in a hot bubble bath. Experiences once calming and enjoyable — such as reading in a hammock in the stillness of a forest — became torturous due to the constant alarm blaring in my brain. I was told to “just ignore it,” which felt dismissive and impossible. Those first few weeks, tinnitus even fractured my will to live because it stole the possibility of a quiet life from me.
I’m not alone in this feeling. Tinnitus is linked to depression and psychological distress. A recent research review found that nearly 1 in 5 adults with tinnitus experience suicidal ideation, and nearly 2 percent attempt suicide.
While there’s no cure for tinnitus, some treatments might help mitigate distress, including cognitive behavioral therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, sound therapy, hearing aids and emerging technologies.
“Our brain has an amazing ability to adapt,” Sun said. “A lot of patients with permanent hearing loss do get better, even if the hearing does not recover to where it was before.”
My otolaryngologist promised me, “There is a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter where you are in the tunnel.”
Living with loss
Nearly two years after the onset of my symptoms, I struggle to differentiate where sounds come from, which can drain my mental energy and affect my safety. Due to sound sensitivity, or hyperacusis, everyday noises that never bothered me before can seem loud, anxiety-inducing and painful. It’s difficult to concentrate with tinnitus, especially in very quiet environments. But noisy environments distort sound, making it hard to follow conversations, especially in groups, which causes cognitive fatigue and distress, and affects my social life. It’s devastating that this is probably permanent for me now.
Hearing loss is an invisible disability. For more than a year, I berated myself for not seeking treatment earlier or pushing for the medication when I first saw the doctor at the walk-in clinic. But I didn’t know about sudden hearing loss back then. I’m learning to accept my reality and be compassionate to myself. If this happens to you, please don’t blame yourself.
Throughout this traumatic experience, I’ve coped by distracting myself and choosing to focus on things that bring me joy, such as good friends who thoughtfully stand on my left side, sit outside on the patio when the restaurant is too loud for me and repeat themselves when I mishear what they say.
My hearing and tinnitus have not improved, but my resilience has. The piercing ringing used to be the first thing I noticed when I woke up and the last thing I heard before sleep. Now, I can lose myself in laughter or become engrossed in a book without feeling hopeless.
Now, I appreciate and protect the hearing I have left.
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