1.What is sudden deafness?
A: Sudden deafness, or “idiopathic sudden deafness”, or “sudden deafness” for short, refers to a sudden, unexplained Sudden deafness is a sudden, unexplained “sensorineural” hearing loss.
2.What is the cause of sudden deafness?
A: The cause of sudden deafness is unknown. The main causes of sudden deafness that are widely recognized are the viral infection theory (the virus destroyed the nerves in the ear), the circulatory disorder theory (the blood vessels supplying the ear have problems), the autoimmune theory (similar to rheumatism), and the membrane vagus rupture theory. However, in practice, they are often not found.
3.What are the clinical manifestations of sudden deafness?
A: In sudden deafness, the main clinical manifestation is sudden unilateral hearing loss, which may be accompanied by tinnitus, a feeling of ear blockage, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, etc. In milder patients, it may often manifest as tinnitus, and the hearing loss is not obvious.
4.What are the tests for sudden deafness?
A: Audiological examination pure tone audiometry: Hearing curve generally shows moderately severe or more sensorineural deafness, mostly of high frequency decline type. Acoustic conductance testing: The tympanic chamber pressure curve is normal. Otoacoustic emission and cochlear electrogram suggest snail damage.
Imaging CT of the temporal bone and MR of the internal auditory tract suggest no significant organic lesions in the internal auditory tract or the skull. (Below, auditory neuroma)
5.What are the deafness characteristics of sudden deafness?
A: Most of the deafness is unilateral and occurs suddenly. The patient’s hearing usually drops to the lowest point within a short period of time, and a few patients appear to have increasingly worse hearing within a short period of time.
6.What are the characteristics of tinnitus in sudden deafness?
A: Tinnitus can be the initial symptom, or even the only symptom. Most patients can develop tinnitus at the time of deafness, but tinnitus can also occur after deafness. After treatment, most patients can improve their hearing, but tinnitus is relatively slow to recover and may even persist for a long time.
7.Does it cause vertigo?
A: Some patients may have varying degrees of vertigo, mostly rotational vertigo, with nausea and vomiting. It may occur at the same time as deafness or before or after the occurrence of deafness. Patients who develop vertigo have a relatively poor recovery.
8.What are the treatments for sudden deafness?
A: Treatment mainly includes hormones, drugs to improve microcirculation, hyperbaric oxygen and other treatments.
First, hormones include oral, intravenous and local (behind the ear, inside the ear) hormone injections, which are the main drugs for the treatment of sudden deafness. Depending on the severity of the disease, the dose of treatment and the schedule of dose reduction are chosen, and the side effects are still minimal. Local (behind the ear, inside the ear) hormone injections are mostly used in more severe patients or as a remedy for poor results of other treatment measures.
Many of the next drugs to improve circulation include ginkgo biloba preparations, prostaglandins, etc.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It is worth noting that hyperbaric oxygen is usually not used in early stage patients to avoid aggravating reperfusion injury.
Other drugs: nerve nutrition such as methylcobalamin Antioxidants: a-lipoic acid, edaravone, etc.
9. Is recovery from sudden deafness good?
A: Large-scale surveys show that recovery of sudden deafness is still good, and about 2/3 can recover. The following factors are detrimental to recovery.
Elderly patients, especially those with cardiovascular disease.
Patients with concomitant vertigo.
Those who started treatment late.
Those with severe hearing loss.
10.How long does sudden deafness treatment take approximately?
A: The basic treatment takes about 10 days, increasing or decreasing according to different conditions. Usually there is a certain tendency of self-recovery within three months, and it is more difficult to recover beyond three months.
11.What are the characteristics of sudden deafness?
A: Low-frequency descending type, common in young people, easily induced by exertion and tension, often manifesting as ear stuffiness. It is relatively easy to recover, but has a tendency to recur.
The high-frequency descending type is common in middle-aged and elderly people, with vascular and viral factors predominating, and often accompanied by obvious tinnitus. Relatively difficult to recover, especially high frequency, but less recurrence.
Total deafness type, mostly flat, severe, and relatively worst recovery.