Clogged Ears Due to EARWAX or MEDICAL EMERGENCY? | Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL)

Clogged Ears Due to EARWAX or MEDICAL EMERGENCY? | Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) - Ear Problems

The vast majority of the time, hearing loss has a gradual onset and affects both ears at the same time. However, in some instances, hearing loss comes at the snap of a finger, like if you wake up in the morning and can't hear out of one ear, or if you hear a loud "POP" in one ear and suddenly your hearing is gone.

Most people feel that these sudden cases of hearing loss are just caused by excessive earwax buildup blocking sound from entering the ear. The thought is that you could just use a Q-tip to clean out the ear or just flush your ear with peroxide and the blockage would go away. However, what if I told you that in some cases a Sudden hearing loss like this is actually a Medical Emergency, that requires IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION?

A Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss or SSHL, is a medical condition where there is a significant decline in hearing that occurs almost instantly. SSHL is defined as a hearing loss of 30 decibles at 3 or more consecutive frequencies, that happens quickly, and most often affects only 1 ear. This isn't a conductive hearing loss like you would receive from a plug of earwax or fluid in your ear.

Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Losses are medical emergencies and you should seek medical attention from an ear specialist like an Otolaryngologist (ENT) or an Otologist as soon as possible. Appropriate diagnosis and treatment in a timely manner are critical if you want any shot of getting your hearing restored. Sometimes medical professionals that are not ear specialists can misdiagnose a SSHL as congestion or fluid buildup. As a result, you may not receive the proper treatment in a timely manner.

To appropriately diagnose a Sudden Loss, a Physician or Audiologist will look in your ears to check for earwax or other abnormalities. An Audiologist will perform a comprehensive hearing evaluation that includes Pure Tone Air and Bone conduction testing, Speech testing, Tympanometry, and even Acoustic Reflex testing. Your ENT or Otologist may also order an MRI or CT scan to ensure that the sudden loss wasn't caused by a Tumor in your brain or on your auditory nerve. They may also order some other testing to determine the cause of the hearing loss.

The sooner you receive treatment, the more likely you are to have partial or fully restored hearing. Without treatment, you may receive spontaneous recovery within 2 weeks, but if the loss lasts for over 2-3 months, the damage is likely permanent. This is why opting NOT to receive treatment isn't worth the risk.

Oral steroids are the most common initial treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss. After taking the entire prescription, your hearing should be evaluated to determine if there has been any improvement. If oral steroids do not improve your hearing, Transtympanic Steroid Injections may be recommended. This is when a physician injects steroids, through your eardrum, into your middle ear space. This can also help to prevent side effects compared to high dose oral steroid treatments.

If your hearing does not return to normal with treatment, then you may have to consider treatment options that include:

Sudden Hearing Loss is no joke, if you notice a significant decrease in hearing, in one or both ears. Do NOT just assume that you have Clogged ears due to Earwax or Fluid buildup. Go see your Physician or Audiologist as soon as possible so you can get an accurate diagnosis which will put you in a much better position to have your hearing restored.

[DrCliffAuD]

What do you do when your ears are clogged?

[kartgal]

It’s always such a relief when a patient comes in after losing their hearing the night before only to find out it’s just wax!

[peace-now]

This happened to me:
1. I woke up one morning, and had sudden hearing loss in one ear.
2. Like the doctor said, I saw a doctor, as it could be an emergency.
3, She said I had wax build up, but did some tests with a tuning fork.
4. She gave me baking soda drops to clear the wax.
5. My hearing was still bad after taking the drops for a week.
6, After A week, I had my ears flushed out by a nurse.
7. After, she said, "can you hear me?". I said "yes"!!

PS: Wax is a common cause!

[johncedricbautista]

i woke up this morning having my right ear clogged up and this make me feel so uncomfortable pls helppp!! I only hear some buzzing noise, Plss help someone anybody

[cliffjones]

I am prone to Bacterial infections and I know full well when my Hearing dips below my modified normal (I am aided bilaterally due to chronic bacterial otitis media and 20 + sets of Bilateral ear tube surgeries); that I need to go to the ER to get drops. I had one this past July that prevented me from wearing my aids for a full month. Your videos are interesting because I actually am learning more about the inner workings of the ear structure and I also love the fact that I can watch you for free. 😊 I have an audiologist here in CO and she's great. Thanks for the great educational and informational video.

[animaten]

I had an ear enfiction in my right ear when I was a kid so I've been living with my right ear not hearing well.. Five days ago, I just noticed something popped inside my left ear when I was laying in bed to sleep and I then realized the clogged feeling in my ear. I told my mom something happened to my left ear but never told hear that I can't hear from it now. It's actually dragging me into depression cause I love singing. For a 100% of how I should normally hear, I've been living with my right ear using like 60% and now my left ear uses 20%.. I don't cry but I don't know untill when. I'm scared to go to the doctor. 😥😥😥

[orbitexe]

I have both ears clogged I asked my parents for help and they shouted at me and said it’s because I use my AirPods nice

[eniveparg]

I suffered from this 2.5 months ago. I was into my ENT the very next day when I lost my hearing. They immediately started me on oral steroids and weekly steroid injections. There was l improvement in my recovery. I go for my cochlear implant surgery this coming Thursday. My ENT suggests that I have my other done since I suffer from severe-profound hearing loss with a word recognition score under 40%

[gerrybuono]

I suffered SSHL exactly 33 days ago. I cleared my throat and felt/heard a slight crackling, aural pressure and slight numbness in my ear. I went to urgent care the next day within 24 hours and was immediately referred to an ENT doctor later that day. I was prescribed 50 mg Prednisone taper (Oral) for a week from urgent care and my ENT doctor started me on the 60 mg taper prednisone the next day. So I did two at 50mg then started at 60mg for the next two days with a taper following lasting 2 weeks. I had an initial hearing test and was diagnosed with mod-severe hearing loss in the high frequencies. I believe initially I was 60-70 word recognition. I had periodic dizzy spells spanning two months prior to the incident. I developed Tinnitus as a result of the hearing loss. My second hearing test revealed improved word recognition 80% but I seem to have not improved in regards to my high-frequency loss. Honestly, I feel like my hearing had improved but I guess it was slight. I was no longer feeling fullness or numbness in the ear or the dizzy spells. However, I had a hard time hearing in areas with a lot of background noise. Tinnitus was not noticeable until like a day or two after hearing loss. The third day the T was like a "video game" going off in my head. Probably had to do with the anxiety I was feeling due to my sudden loss. I was also told by my ENT that prednisone can make it worse. It was really bad. I am currently undergoing salvage treatment via direct injection to my ear (intratympanic steroid. ) I will receive 4 total injections spread out over a two week period. I began the injections 26 days after the sudden loss. As of today, I finished my third injections and I have one more scheduled. The T has gotten better or I am just getting used to it. Initially, this was a very depressing/traumatic experience for me. As time goes by I feel like I am adjusting to the hearing loss and worst-case scenario I get a hearing aid which can probably help with Tinnitus and conversations in areas with a lot of background noise. Honestly, if the T went away completely it really wouldn't be a big deal. The worse part about it is how sudden this happened and what could happen next? Could this happen to my other ear? Using a noise machine has helped me a lot with sleeping as well. I just thought I would share my experience and provide insight to others looking for answers.

[antisocial]

And now I’m scared to use my headphones 😃
No hate! Thanks for the information dude!

[peace-now]

I had tinnitus, and it moved to my blocked (deaf) ear. When I had the wax removed, my hearing reemerged, and I can now hear the tinnitus in both ears. I think it is lower in volume though. Still, I am delighted to have my hearing back.

[nerdynerd]

Help! Couples weeks ago I had tinnitus where my left ear had wooshing noises that'll wouldn't go away. I went to the doctor and they told me that I had a large build up of crusted earwax, so they gave me a eardrops and if that doesn't help, I might need to see a specialist. So I used the eardrops for a couple days (5 drops into my ear), and it started to get a little better I think. But now my ear sounds like it's muffled and I can barely ear anything from my left ear. I don't know what's going on, because I've used the ear drops which were supposed to get rid of the earwax?

[lp]

This is my SSHL story. One day I woke up with a clogged left ear with no pain, but felt pressure inside the ear. My hearing was fine initially, later it started getting muffled and robotic. I had severe nausea and dizziness so I got admitted in emergency. A GP diagnosed it as vertigo, prescribed medications for it and assured me that it will clear up in 2 days. Two days later, left hearing was completely gone and vertigo symptoms increased. I rushed to an ENT specialist where they said it is an medical emergency and started tympanic injections. However, it was too late, my hearing never improved or returned. Please go to an ENT once you feel something is wrong with your ear. The more time you take, the more damage it does.

[katet]

This happens to me sometimes. Today it happened again and first it goes deaf and then there is this high-pitched ring in my ear. I Definitly need to get my ears checked since I've already been noticing my hearing in my left ear becoming worse.

[DriftDesu_]

Dang, I know what it feels like to have clogged ears (I have had tubes in my ear drums since 3 years old) but this case is weird… Everything in my left ear is like lower in pitch?

[killcha_in]

My ear is ringing/constantly rumbing and I can't hear literally anything thru it even with headphones all the way up to that ear. I did use hydrogen peroxide to flush it and tried a q-tip (around the edges not directly pushing into my ear) and didn't come up with much ear wax. I hope I didn't lose my hearing although what I could be is from swimming after years of not swimming and when I was younger I experienced lots of ear infections (had tubes even).

[kartgal]

Unfortunately in the cases where it’s not wax, it’s much harder to treat. But the sooner the patient comes in, the better chance there is that they may regain their hearing.

[michellestamper]

Lost hearing in my right ear, ringing, slight dizziness, no pain. Immediately found an ear doctor and scheduled an appointment the next day. Sure it's a silly thing to immediately resort to the wcs, but we tend to take our sense of hearing and sight for granted and we dismiss a lot till it's too late, especially something as common and potentially as serious as hearing loss. With sight we can definitely catch things quickly but since our hearibg is connected with our sense of balance/orientation, information processing, and sinuses...theres a lot that can go wrong in a short a time.

[jkennaw]

This just happened to me 2 weeks ago. I went completely deaf in my right ear over a 4 hour span. Before this, I'd had tinnitus/mild vertigo for about 6 weeks. I knew the loss had to be pretty bad because I couldn't hear my own voice at all (no conduction) so it meant wax or fluid wasn't the problem. I went to the ER right away and got a dose of Decadron, then an ENT later started me on a Prednisone course. I also take zinc, magnesium, and gingko biloba on which there have been a few clinical studies with decent results. I've gained some hearing back so far but still cannot hear higher frequencies. Worse still is the overwhelming tinnitus that's only in my bad ear. I've pretty much accepted that I may not ever recover fully, as the stats around SSHL are not hopeful. I'm getting an intratympanic injection in a few days and maybe I'll gain a little more hearing back. Do NOT ignore sudden hearing loss. Don't "sleep" on it. If this happens to you, go immediately to an ER and demand steroids especially if you fail the conduction test.

[ALiRAZA-mgbd]

what if soda glycerin isn't working out for you ? i have used it for a several times but it just didn't work but I'm sure that my ear is blocked by wax cause I'm not completely def i can hear by that ear but only loudly noises