r/CochlearHydrops

I had a follow up routine appointment with my ent who wanted to do an audiogram. Based on the results, compared to my audiogram last year, he thinks it might show some conductive hearing loss. I haven’t had an episode in the time from my last audiogram to today and have in fact been very diligent in protecting my hearing and wear earplugs a lot these days (at the movies, in a crowd, on an airplane, etc.).
Is it possible to have hearing loss progression in my bad ear despite not having had an episode?
My ENT seems more concerned about progression now and wants me to add a diuretic. He also ordered a VNG, ECOG, and VEMP. Does anyone have any insight on this situation?

A few months ago I was convinced my hearing was permanently getting worse.
I had repeated episodes of low-frequency hearing loss in one ear, tinnitus, fullness/pressure, and diplacusis. It was terrifying. At one point it kept fluctuating for weeks and I genuinely thought my life would never go back to normal.

Doctors considered Ménière’s disease, cochlear hydrops, vestibular issues, and I went through multiple tests including MRI. Thankfully there was no tumor or major structural problem.
What made my case strange was that I never really had true vertigo attacks. No spinning room, no vomiting, no balance issues. Also, my symptoms were strongly connected to sleep position, neck tension, stress, and exhaustion. All episodes happened during sleeping with my head/neck in a bad position.

Over time I noticed a pattern:
bad neck posture or sleeping position -symptoms worse
stress and muscle tension - symptoms worse
better ergonomics, physiotherapy, proper pillow, hydration and reducing overload -symptoms improved

The biggest turning point in my case was switching to an ergonomic/anatomical pillow and paying much more attention to my neck position during sleep. After that, the major attacks completely stopped.

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve only had two very mild episodes, both clearly connected to sleeping in a bad position. In both cases the low-frequency hearing fluctuation improved and normalized again during the same day.
I still occasionally get mild fluctuations, especially after overloading my neck or sleeping badly, but nothing like the severe episodes I had before.

I also started taking magnesium, riboflavin (B2), CoQ10 and betahistine prescribed by my doctor, and things gradually stabilized.

The important thing I want to say is:
hearing fluctuations do not always mean a progressive disaster.

Reading Reddit during my worst period made me believe recovery was almost impossible, because people who improve often disappear and stop posting. I promised myself that if I ever got better, I would come back and write an update.

I’m not claiming I found “the answer” or cured anything. I still have a sensitive system and occasional mild fluctuations happen. But today I function normally again, my hearing mostly returned, and my life is not controlled by fear anymore.
If you are currently in the middle of this nightmare:
please don’t lose hope too quickly. 🙂

Hey all, I have been going through a lot since the past 2 months, but honestly I think this started back in 2023.

Around mid August 2023, I woke up one day feeling like my right ear was not like before, like slightly muffled or less natural. It was devastating because my right ear had always felt like my “good ear”. I went to an ENT and did a hearing test, but it came back normal. I was extremely confused because something clearly felt different.

Over time I developed this coping mechanism where whenever I went outside, I would pinch my nose and suck air inward to reduce background sound and make conversations easier. Weirdly it helped, and life became manageable again.

Then around 15th February this year, things got worse. Suddenly I felt like I had to put effort into understanding speech, especially softer speech or conversations in noisy places. I started my first job on 26th February and was terrified about how I would manage conversations and my career.

I went to another ENT. They found wax in my left ear, cleaned it, and did another hearing test. Again normal. Around 10 dB across frequencies in both ears. I was shocked because my hearing absolutely did not feel normal, especially in noisy places like cafeterias.

30th March: another hearing test, again around 5–15 dB.

18th April: after a cold, another ENT found mild conductive hearing loss in both ears, worse on the left. At this time my left ear genuinely felt extremely blocked, like cotton was stuffed in it. I was prescribed mucinac and told to do Valsalva many times a day.

Eventually I felt like Valsalva slightly improved the left ear muffled feeling. Then on 2nd May I had another hearing test and it was again normal, around 5–10 dB.

At this point I completely stopped trusting audiograms and started feeling like maybe I was “cheating” the tests somehow.

Then on 3rd May while coming home from office, I suddenly got a loud low-pitched tinnitus in my right ear and everything went quiet for a few seconds. It recovered quickly, but afterward I felt like my right ear became slightly weaker permanently.

Did another audiogram on 7th May. Again normal, 5–15 dB both ears.

Since then I’ve had multiple transient tinnitus/muffling episodes. Initially everything felt shifted toward my right ear, but now everything feels more centered or even slightly shifted left.

Then yesterday (16th May), while out with friends wearing earplugs, my right ear suddenly muffled again, but this time without tinnitus. Afterward it never fully felt the same again.

The weirdest part is:

• speech in quiet at home is mostly okay
• but soft speech, speech from another room, or people talking while facing away is harder
• noisy places are difficult
• music feels flatter and distorted at higher volume
• bass/ambience/warmth of the world feels missing
• everything sounds like I’m listening through phone speakers sometimes

I also now have high-pitched tinnitus in both ears.

Another important thing:

• I constantly do Valsalva / ear popping throughout the day
• I can trigger clicking sounds in my ears/jaw
• there is also a low motor-like hum sometimes that changes with pressure and often disappears after naps/sleep

I genuinely don’t know what is happening anymore. I’ve had multiple normal audiograms but my hearing perception feels completely altered and my quality of life has dropped massively.

Hello lovely people, I'm so sorry for a 'do I have this' post, but I'm at a loss. If you have any insight or advice I'd love to hear it!

I've had tinnitus for over a year now, worsened by severe noise exposure in January of this year. I've been getting instances of transient noise / sbutts very frequently since December, but chalked it up to TMJ. In February I had an 'attack' where one ear rang like crazy for 30minutes and left behind a lingering tone for days. Similar tinnitus attacks have happened frequently since. I also sometimes get a dull sensation in one or both of my ears, which I also thought was TMJ.

However, yesterday I had something new. The transient high pitched ringing I usually get only lasted for about a minute, but this time it was followed by INTENSE numbness in the affected ear as well as a loss in hearing. I can't tell for sure if it was low frequency, but it was definitely a drop. This numb/hearing loss combo lasted for 30-40 minutes. The same attack (ringing, numbness, less hearing loss this time) happened again a few hours later.

This was less than 24hours ago so I am still extremely shaken by it. I have NO IDEA what caused it, but have been Dr Google-ing and suspecting cochlear hydrops? Any advice on how to proceed?