This website requires JavaScript
Sudden Hearing Loss

Sudden Hearing Loss

Edited by: at 10/10/2023

Hearing loss from one moment to another is called sudden hearing loss or sudden hearing loss.

Dra.. Eva María Herrera

Sudden hearing loss can occur in both men and women, is more frequent between 40 and 54 years. The main causes are viruses, vascular diseases, cranial traumas, autoimmune diseases, tumors and ototoxic drugs. The picture starts abruptly, with loss of hearing in one ear, tinnitus (ringing) in the ear and sometimes accompanied by vertigo, which, if present, is usually intense.

The diagnosis is based on a high index of clinical suspicion and physical examination, we should also perform an audiological study to corroborate hearing loss, and extension studies to find the cause such as: computed tomography of the ears, laboratory tests (cholesterol, triglycerides , Blood biometrics, glucose, vdrl tests (syphilis), antinuclear antibodies, complement determination. In some cases it will also be necessary to perform Magnetic Resonance.

The treatment depends on each case, it is very important to initiate it early to try to preserve the function of the auditory nerve, preferably in the first week since the installation of hearing loss.

There are factors of poor prognosis to recover hearing despite having started the treatment in a timely manner, and these are:

  • Age under 15 and over 65
  • Intense vertigo
  • Loss of hearing in the opposite ear
  • Severe hearing loss.
Otolaringology in Cuauhtémoc