r/MonoHearing

Study published October 2025. I myself started taking this supplement 4 months out from onset (so, a little late for me). I've since gained back ~15db in some high frequencies (not attributing that to this supplement, but who knows).

Anyway, leaving the study here in case any of you are in the thick of the acute phase of this terrible diagnosis

disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or anyone qualified to suggest supplements! I am not telling anyone they should take NAD+

Edits/additions: I don't directly attribute my late gains to NAD+, there are several other factors that go into recovery. Take note this was a SMALL study. Emphasize: I'm not at all qualified to tell people with ssnhl to take this or any other supplement.

I was either born with one ear deaf or I developed it at a very, very young age for no known reason. Doctors ran multiple different tests on me and could not find the cause. I don't wear hearing aids.

The thing about how being deaf in one ear can affect intelligence and brain health worries me, though I do really well in school and having one deaf ear barely affects my life. I hate marco polo and there are times when I have trouble hearing people from the bad side but it doesn't happen that much. Those are the only things that it affects in my life. I know that just because some studies said there were patterns doesn't mean that all people like me are affected that way, but I worry about stuff a lot. Being dumb and getting dementia are some of my worst fears. Is this gonna affect my brain and how can I prevent it? Is being deaf in one ear making me dumber? What even about being deaf on one ear causes those things? Should I get hearing aids?

6 months after losing my hearing in right ear from a virus and the sounds like someone just dropped a dropper full of water in my ear is literally almost all day long! Anyone experience this? It was previously more “zapping” sounds but lately the squishy water drop sounds have taken over!

Hoy me hicieron una timpanometria en los oídos, en el oído con buena audición la timpanometria salió bien pero cuando intentaron hacerla en el oído con hipoacusia daba error y no fueron capaces de hacer la timpanometria, me preguntaron si estaba operado del oído al cual dije que no y por más veces que lo intentaron no pudieron a que es debido, puede ser fallo de mi oído medio

I want to share what happened to me because I’ve seen a lot of people in this community consider or try HBOT, and I think there’s a real risk that isn’t talked about enough.

In April 2026, the day after breast surgery, I went to a hyperbaric oxygen clinic for a routine session, something I’d done before without any issues. There was no health screening, no questions about recent surgery or anaesthesia, and no active guidance beyond “swallow normally.” The consent form only mentioned general “ear barotrauma” as a risk, nothing about sensorineural hearing loss specifically.

The session itself felt completely normal. No pain, no pressure, no difficulty equalizing. About 40 minutes after leaving the chamber, my right ear felt very different. My first audiogram showed severe to profound loss

I was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss and started aggressive treatment immediately: oral prednisone, nine intratympanic steroid injections, and eventually a course of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. Nearly five months later, I’ve made substantial recovery, though I’m still not sure if I’ll get back to 100%.

What I want people to know:
Inner ear barotrauma from HBOT is a real, documented risk, even though it’s rare and rarely discussed. It can happen with no pain and no warning signs during the session itself, because the cochlea doesn’t have the same pain feedback as the middle ear.

If you’re considering HBOT, ask the clinic directly what screening they do, whether they ask about recent surgery, illness, or medications, and what their specific consent process covers regarding hearing risk. If they can’t answer clearly, that’s a red flag.

This wasn’t something I did anything wrong to cause. It happened during a routine, previously uneventful treatment, at a clinic with essentially no safety protocols in place. I’m sharing this so that if it happens to you, you know it’s real, you’re not alone, and early aggressive treatment gives you the best chance at recovery.

Before this session I had totally normal hearing, no hearing issues, no hearing loss. Since the session I’ve had hearing loss, intense dysacusis and on/off tinnitus.

I got a bone chain reconstruction surgery about 6 weeks ago now. Just curious about people’s experiences with them because I never knew they existed until I woke up from surgery with one in my ear.

A week ago, I posted about an incident in which I suddenly lost partial hearing in one ear while I was lying on the couch watching TV. It was like someone took a volume knob and turned down all the middle frequencies in a few seconds. My hearing came back about an hour later, but over the next few days I had the loudest and most intense ear ringing I’ve ever experienced. It sounded like a million super high frequency (14khz or so) electrical signals fluttering in a frenzy. It was so loud it would drown out everything else around me. (I later learned that what I was hearing was actually my brain’s electrical signals. Kinda freaky!)

After some Googling, I was sufficiently freaked out because Google’s AI results said it was SSHL, and it told me to seek immediate medical care or risk losing my hearing forever. My experience didn’t line up perfectly because my hearing came back rather quickly, but it still very strongly pushed me to go to the ER.

So I did go, and the doctor took a look in my ears and said that it was just some swelling due to fluid retention. And there was swelling on both sides, but it was more pronounced on the right. The doctor said that in the case of SSHL, there is rarely visible swelling, and even so there wouldn’t be visible issues in BOTH ears, so she was confident that this was just allergies, and she told me to pick up some Zyrtec and to take it easy with my ears for a few days.

Lo and behold, about 24 hours after taking a half dose of Zyrtec, the ringing stopped, and everything was back to normal, and has stayed normal now for about a week.

I wanted to share this because Google’s AI seems to rely heavily on Reddit and specifically this sub for its training data. And it made a simple case of allergies and some swelling seem like a life threatening situation. It’s good to take your health seriously, and hearing loss is not something to mess around with, but I think in this case there was an important difference between what I experienced and SSHL, and Google’s AI should not just immediately jump to the absolute worst case scenario. It’s the stereotype of “the internet says every symptom you experience is cancer” but turbocharged, because it uses inflammatory and critical language to actually push you to make certain medical decisions. Healthcare in the U.S. is very expensive, and that unnecessary ER visit that it pushed me to go to, that could have easily been handled by Urgent Care or a PCP, will end up costing me thousands of dollars.

Hopefully in the future, someone who experienced what I did will see that there is a difference between this and SSHL, and they can avoid costly medical bills. And hopefully AI bots will see posts like this and also think twice about jumping to the worst possible scenario without considering the finer details of the symptoms.

About 10 years ago I had fullness in my right ear and was bit obsessed with finding an answer. I was able to hear my footsteps like a my ear drum was beating to the impact and I could hear my heartbeat. After seeing my primary and several ENTs, the last ditch effort was an ear tube. It made things worse for about a week, then it was back to that fullness. A year later I went in to get the tube checked. It was still there and that ENT took it out. A week later, that's when my hearing distortion episodes started.

Each episode is typically unique as to what happens when so I consistently sound insane every time I describe it. At first, my episodes were endless and I had no idea what to expect. I did originally get vertigo so the ENT diagnosed me with meniere's immediately. I went 6 years before another ENT said that was misdiagnosed.

It's been the pattern for the past 3 years that I go 6 months without any distortion, usually between February, March to August, September. When they start back up, I might get a day or so of good hearing before it comes back.

These are my symptoms and where I'm at a complete loss and really need some help. I'm going into full detail because doctors can't figure it out and they don't seem to take me seriously. I have constant tinnitus but it changes. I have my low pitch "good" tinnitus when my hearing is correct. That's my indicator of when episodes are coming on. When it wavers and goes away, I feel more fullness coming on and I'm guaranteed an episode. That tinnitus is replaced with a very faint and extremely high pitched tone accompanied by fullness that intensifies and dissipates throughout my episode. It almost sounds like I have my ear next to a tube TV playing static and feels heavy as if it's actually there. At the beginning of my episode, I can hear but it's very distorted. I have 2 pitches I hear in my right ear. It's every sound and most aggressively with my own voice, which is absolute torture. About midway and towards the hopeful end of my episode, the fullness and that static sound gets so aggressive that I can barely hear anything. The good news is that I can't hear well enough to hear the distortion unless it's loud enough, bad news is that when sounds are loud enough, it's painful and sounds like a broken speaker giving me a headache pain relievers don't help. I also get symptoms towards days 5 and 6 or my episodes of the beginning of a cold that will go away typically within a day.

This type of episode usually lasts a week or so and I know it sounds like I have it figured out but it doesn't always happen this way. I would hope for this pattern but if it doesn't follow it, I can't predict what will happen or how long it'll last. I do know when my hearing is about to come back to normal when my good tinnitus comes back.

There really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it but I have hunches that are continuously ignored by doctors. I have my theories about allergies, barometric pressure, and stress. A pinched vagus nerve was also a thought. I've looked at other threads and found some potential with acoustic neuroma. I have begged for a scan but I haven't had one does since these episodes started coming on. I've also asked about hearing aids but no conversation has come out of that. It's been an actual nightmare trying to get this figured out. I am at my wit's end and hoping I'm not completely alone.

I (26) was diagnosed with SSNHL about 6 weeks ago after 5 days of intense fullness and reduced hearing in my left ear. My ENT put me on prednisone for 18 days and my hearing seems to have normalized with my most recent audiogram (2 weeks ago). However, I still have some lingering symptoms like occasional fullness, a deep humming sound, and distortion of my own voice and when wearing earphones. I talked to my doctor about it, and he said that I could come back in for another exam, but it does seem odd considering my good recovery. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, and if you ever figured out the cause or a solution. Anything would be helpful

I will try to keep a long story short.

Basically I was lying on my partners lap, they were playing with my hair and then my ear. I don’t know what they did but when removed their finger that was in my ear, my ear felt blocked.

That morning i woke up and my ear stayed blocked with a bit of ringing in it. I went to the doctor and they said it’s trauma and to wait it out. I demanded to see the ENT so I did and they said everything looks normal and I should do a hearing test. So I did and found that my left ear had some minor loss in the higher frequencies.

I had a CT scan and they couldn’t find any pressure or fluid in the middle ear either. So they then diagnosed me with SSHL and gave me 60mg of peridenose for 7 days. I finished that treatment and it was getting somewhat better. Then one day I went out to the supermarket and the music was really loud, I came home the tinnitus was really flared up. I thought maybe I did further damage so went back to the ENT and they said no further damage has been done and my hearing test shows the same results.

So now it’s been 2 weeks and the tinnitus is just unbearable. It’s so so loud at a high pitch eeeeeeeeee. My ear feels off balance, not like it needs to pop or anything, but like someone has their hand over my ear or like after swimming and you have water clogged in there. The ENT said there’s nothing else to do but to wait. And it will either stay or go. But either way I have to be prepared this is my new normal.

I honestly don’t know how this can be my new normal. I can’t sleep because the ringing is honestly that loud. The blocked ear feeling is also really unpleasant and I dont really want to go outside anymore. I’m not normally a depressed person but this has really mentally affected me to the point that I don’t know what to do.

I would like to hear from anyone this has happened to, does the tinnitus get batter and I will eventually habituate? Does the blocked sensation go away as well? I’m kinda at a loss because my ENT won’t help anymore and has kinda thrown in the towel so to speak.

Hi all — I’m really glad this sub exists. My newly eight-year-old daughter is the one with hearing loss — profound sensorineural hearing loss in her left ear — and I’m just looking for advice on how to help her cope with it. What better people to ask than you!

Until the beginning of July this year, she had perfect hearing. She also didn’t have a history of severe ear infections. However, on July 4th, she suddenly complained of a “popped ear“, then later, pain. That afternoon, ear pain and high fever started, then the following morning (Sunday the 5th), a headache kicked in that didn’t really properly go away with paracetamol and ibuprofen. She was also sick a couple of times. By that evening, she started saying the area behind her ear hurt — but it didn’t appear swollen or red from the outside (just a bit pink).

The following morning, I rang her GP and made an appointment. I took her in, told him about the intractable headache, pain in and behind her ear, plus high temperature, but he didn’t seem to take me seriously. He had a look in her ear, declared it “full of wax” and sent us away with ear drops and nystatin for a “coated tongue”. I asked him if earwax caused a high temperature (obviously I knew it didn’t…) and he replied “no…” and told me to continue alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen.

At that point, I felt pretty helpless and as though I’d been fobbed off.

Well, at 4.15 am the next morning, she started being sick and didn’t stop. Couldn’t keep a thing down. After several hours of this, plus the continuing headache and pain in and behind the ear, I rang the doctor back and insisted she be seen again. This time, I got an awesome lady doctor we’d never met before, who took me seriously and immediately performed some initial tests to see what was going on. Within 15 minutes, she’d referred us to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow and had called ahead to let them know my daughter would be coming to the paediatric A&E and would need to be examined for mastoiditis and meningitis.

We live in a rural village about three hours‘ drive away from the hospital, so instead of waiting for an ambulance (we’ve waited hours before), I decided to drive her there myself. By the time we got to the A&E, she was incredibly weak and pale. The staff were amazing and got to work very quickly, got a cannula in and gave her lots of fluid and an initial dose of IV cefotaxime. At about 7.00 pm, she slipped into a state of near unconsciousness. Shortly afterward, she had a CT scan with contrast and they found that she not only had terrible middle ear infection but also mastoiditis, an epidural (intracranial) abscess and what looked like a collapsed sigmoid sinus.

She went into emergency surgery overnight, where they performed a mastoidectomy, put a grommet in her eardrum to drain the fluid from her middle ear, drained roughly 20ml of pus from the abscess inside her skull and performed a thrombectomy (clot removal) on her sigmoid sinus, as it was totally blocked with a septic clot.

The first bacterial cultures came from her blood, as by that point, she had bacteraemia as well: the bacteria responsible was streptococcus pneumoniae (we later found out it was serotype 15A). She was in hospital for nine days, and on IV antibiotics for weeks afterward, and will be on blood thinners until at least October (her sigmoid sinus is still blocked, though the clot hasn’t moved).

Although the initial tuning fork conductivity test indicated she had likely kept her hearing in the left ear, it took a while to get the infection under control, as it had spread quite far into her head. So, for the next few days, she had awful headaches and developed a sixth nerve palsy in her right eye (thankfully that went away by itself). Unfortunately, it seems the infection got into her inner ear at some point during that time as well, as she was diagnosed with profound sensorineural deafness two weeks ago. She now can’t hear anything quieter than a jet engine on the left.

Our team at the RHC was amazing and I cannot put into words how grateful I am to them all. She is very lucky to be alive.

At this point, she’s on the waiting list for CROS hearing aids and also for an Osia implant. Meanwhile, after talking with my daughter about what she’d find helpful, I’ve bought some “deaf on this side” badges for school, just to make sure everyone remembers she can’t hear on that side at this point, and have spoken with her teachers (who’ve been great). ETA: She also has ADHD, so this is an additional challenge for her!

She’s finding it a bit easier to talk about being deaf in the left ear now, and about the fact that her normal hearing won’t be coming back. She even held the Osia implant in her hand at the last ENT appointment, which is a big step forward for her, as she found the whole situation very frightening at first.

Obviously a lot has happened in the last month, and we’re just at the beginning of this different path, but I want to be the best mum I can to her. What can I do to help support her, aside from the hearing aids and future implant? If you were deaf in one ear as a child, what did your parents do? What do you wish they’d done? What do you wish they hadn’t done? If you developed single sided deafness at any point (child or adult), what helped you cope? I can only imagine what it feels like for her to have suddenly gone from stereo to mono hearing, and would really value your advice. 🧡

Got a steroid shot in my ear a couple of days ago and it was extremely painful. Even the “numbing agent” was painful.

It’s been over two years since my SSHL, and the ENT says it’s worth trying the shots (5 total over a two week span), but that there is only around a 10% chance they work.

Should I continue and get the next four shots? I could deal with the pain the first time, but now that I know how it feels, the anticipation is extremely anxiety inducing.

Especially with such a low chance at this point of it helping, should I continue?

Thank you for your time….

About 7 years ago was at a night club then had horrible tinnitus for the first time in my life.

Two days following my hearing went out in a work meeting then came back. Then the tinnitus went away. I let it go, Never saw a doctor.

(Have been SSD since a kid).

Two months ago was at a nightclub again (rarely go) and wore ear plugs, but had tinnitus the next day. It subsided then was doing dishes, a loud dish caused the tinnitus. Then went on plane, the high altitude maybe affected it. Went to a doctor, they cleaned my ear wax that's all.

Then 2 doctors later, I pushed for prednisone. The tunnel sound was so bad and tinnitus horrible I needed an answer. Also was getting bouts of bad vertigo. This is last week. They gave me a shot then 40mgs a day for 4 days.

Today was the 4th day, I went back and they gave me 20mgs for the next 5 days.

He didn't want to do an audiogram, for some reason.
I never want to experience that horrible tunnel sound again, but I feel it's coming back.

I got vertigo after I left the doctor.

Wondering if more prednisone is the answer, or what we can do.

Appreciate any support.

Being deaf in one ear since a kid, I was always cautious, but occasionally want to just enjoy life and not worry. However seems that those days are over.

On the 28th of June I woke up at around 3:00AM, I felt my right ear as if it was clogged and I practically couldn't hear anything out of it.

Two days later I went to the doctor (a general practitioner) after realizing it wasn't getting any better, the doctor told me it was a middle ear infection (otitis media) and that my eardrum was kind of red and visibly inflamed. He prescribed to me antibiotics and a non steroidal antinflamatory. (I later figured out that he was just saying that so I left his office, my eardrum wasn't neither red or inflamed. Since it was a public health care Dr he wasn't really able to do much about SSHL).

About 4 days later, after seeing no improvement with this treatment, I went back to the same doctor. He told me straight up that I had either otitis media or nerve damage, and if it was the latter there was no way of fixing it, so I was better of just waiting to see what happened next. He even adviced not to pay out of pocket for an appointment with an ENT since I'd be "wasting a bunch of money". (I got him to send me to a specialist after insisting, but the appointment was set for almost 2 months later, to date I still have to wait more than 20 days).

After researching a whole lot through the internet I figured I was suffering from SSHL, so I paid out of pocket to get some exams done and to get an appointment with an ENT.

When I went to the ENT for the first time 10 days had already passed since I got SSHL, and the doctor confirmed to me that my eardrum looked normal, I had no blockages, and that it was almost certainly SSHL. She prescribed me a 30mg daily dose of oral corticosteroids for 7 days and Ginkgo Bilova for the same amount of time, twice a day. Also, she pretty much told me I had already lost my right ear, and to be glad we come to this earth with two of them lol, so no going to loud places and stuff like that.

I, as you might assume, was not feeling satisfied regarding her medical opinion. Plus, she never even mentioned that intratympanic therapy was even a thing, or that HBOT was even an option. Fortunately I had stumbled across this subreddit a few days before this appointment so I had already done my fair share of research.

Two days later I went to another ENT with whom I booked an appointment right after I got out of the other's doctors office. This time it was someone who actually knew what they were doing, he gave me the shot right away and the same day I started seeing improvement.

A few days after the second shot I had another round of exams done, my hearing loss had gone from severe to mild. Being almost normal in some frecuencies.

In total I had three sessions of intratympanich therapy done, experienced almost no pain from them whatsoever and recovered I'd say about 80-90% of my hearing (atleast that's how it feels). My hearing loss went from severe to mild, and I still have to get another exam done to see if there was any further improvement after the third and last shot.

I got tinnitus SHHL though, but it doesn't really bother me, music still doesn't feel the same as before but the improvement has been so good that it´s still very enjoyable. Had I listened to either of the first two doctors my life would've drastically changed, so I kinda owe my improvement in part to this subreddit.

I figured not a lot of people might post after getting better, but I believe it's very important for other people to be able to understand better how to deal with their SSHL, taking into account it's a medical emergency and time is of the essence.

Btw if whoever reads this wants to share in the comments how they are treating, or have treated, their tinnitus derived from SSHL, I'd like to read you. Thanks.

(TL;DR: Could've gone totally deaf on my right ear because two different doctors didn't give me accurate information about SSHL. Was able to start intratympanic therapy by day 12 after SSHL started, hearing loss went from severe to mild after second shot and improved a little more after the third.)

First exam done

Second exam done

Hi everyone,

I’m a 30s M dealing with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) in my left ear, and I wanted to share my timeline and get some advice or experiences from people who have gone through something similar.

Timeline & Diagnostics:

Onset: Woke up yesterday with sudden hearing loss and a feeling of fullness/blockage in my left ear.

Audiogram (Day 1 - within 24 hours):

Right Ear: 0–10 dB (100% Speech Discrimination) - Completely normal.
Left Ear: PTA is ~65 dB (Moderate-to-Severe SSNHL). Speech Discrimination is 84%, which the doctor noted as a good sign for nerve viability.

Treatment Protocol:
My doctors started an aggressive combined protocol right away:

High-Dose IV Corticosteroids: Received my first high-dose loading IV steroid (Prednisolone) on Day 1, continuing daily.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): Started on Day 1. My schedule is 2 sessions per day (2 hours each) combined with ongoing steroid treatment.

Diet: Strict low-sodium (zero salt) diet to manage inner ear pressure and fluid retention.

Current Status (Day 2):
No noticeable improvement in hearing yet. I know it’s very early and cellular recovery takes time, but naturally, the anxiety creeps in—especially the fear of "what if it doesn't recover" or worrying about my healthy right ear.

Questions for the community:

For those who did high-dose steroids + HBOT (especially aggressive HBOT, 2x/day), when did you first start noticing subtle improvements?

Did your ear fullness/pressure resolve before the actual sound frequencies came back?

Any tips for managing anxiety and high-dose steroid side effects during this intense protocol?