Because you’re so hip, you rocked out in the front row for the entire rock concert last night. It’s fun, though it isn’t good for your ears which will be ringing when you get up the next morning. (That part’s not so fun.)

But what if you awaken and can only hear out of one ear? The rock concert is most likely not to blame in that situation. Something else must be happening. And when you experience hearing loss in one ear only… you may feel a little alarmed!

In addition, your hearing may also be a little out of whack. Your brain is accustomed to sorting out signals from two ears. So only receiving signals from a single ear can be disorienting.

Hearing loss in one ear causes problems, this is why

Generally speaking, your ears work as a functional pair. Your two outward facing ears help you hear more precisely, similar to how your two forward facing eyes help with depth perception. So the loss of hearing in one ear can wreak havoc. Here are some of the most prevalent:

• Identifying the direction of sound can become a real challenge: You hear someone attempting to get your attention, but looking around, you can’t locate where they are. It’s extremely difficult to triangulate the direction of sound with only one ear working.
• When you’re in a noisy setting it becomes very hard to hear: With only one working ear, noisy spaces like restaurants or event venues can suddenly become overwhelming. 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 direction, but you also need both to determine volume. Think about it like this: You won’t be sure if a sound is distant or simply quiet if you don’t know where the sound is coming from.
• Your brain becomes tired: Your brain will become more exhausted faster if you can only hear from one ear. That’s because it’s desperately trying to compensate for the loss of hearing from one of your ears. This is especially true when hearing loss in one ear suddenly occurs. Normal everyday activities, as a result, will become more exhausting.

So how does hearing loss in one ear occur?

“Single sided Hearing Loss” or “unilateral hearing loss” are scientific names for when hearing is muffled on one side. Single sided hearing loss, unlike common “both ear hearing loss”, usually isn’t the result of noise related damage. So, other possible factors should be assessed.

Some of the most common causes include the following:

• Earwax: Yes your hearing can be blocked by too much earwax packed in your ear canal. It’s like using an earplug. If this is the situation, don’t grab a cotton swab. Cotton swabs can jam the earwax even further up against the eardrum.
• Abnormal Bone Growth: It’s possible, in very rare cases, that hearing loss on one side can be the outcome of abnormal bone growth. This bone can, when it grows in a certain way, interfere with your ability to hear.
• Meniere’s Disease: Meniere’s Disease is a chronic hearing condition that can result in vertigo and hearing loss. Often, the disease advances asymmetrically: one ear may be affected before the other. Menier’s disease frequently is accompanied by single sided hearing loss and ringing.
• 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 necessarily localized so hearing loss in one ear can be caused by any infection that would trigger inflammation.
• Acoustic Neuroma: An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that grows on the nerves of the inner ear and may sound a bit more intimidating than it normally is. While it’s not cancerous, necessarily, an acoustic neuroma is still a significant (and potentially life-threatening) condition that you should speak with your provider about.
• Ruptured eardrum: Normally, a ruptured eardrum is hard to miss. It can be related to head trauma, loud noises, or foreign objects in the ear (among other things). When the thin membrane separating your ear canal and your middle ear gets a hole in it, this type of injury occurs. The outcome can be quite painful, and usually triggers tinnitus or hearing loss in that ear.
• Ear infections: Infections of the ear can trigger swelling. And it will extremely difficult to hear through a swollen, closed up ear canal.

So… What can I do about my single-sided hearing loss?

Treatment options for single-sided hearing loss will differ depending on the underlying cause. Surgery could be the best solution for certain obstructions like tissue or bone growth. A ruptured eardrum or similar problems will normally heal on their own. Other problems like excessive earwax can be easily cleared away.

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

• Bone-Conduction Hearing Aids: These hearing aids bypass much of the ear by using your bones to transmit sound to the brain.

• CROS Hearing Aid: This type of uniquely created hearing aid is specifically made to address 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 effective not to mention complex and very cool.

Your hearing specialist is the beginning

There’s probably a good reason why you’re only hearing out of one ear. It’s not something that should be disregarded. It’s important, both for your well-being and for your hearing health, to get to the bottom of those causes. So start hearing out of both ears again by making an appointment with us.

Call Today to Set Up an Appointment

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230949/
https://www.hear-it.org/single-sided-deafness