Latest victim of hearing lost and tinnitus.

I had 2 weeks ago a scare after riding the ear in some dives. At first it felt like ear clogged with mucus or water then it started making this constant noise. Thank god 3 days after it healed. I think I have had same thing happen one more time in the past.

John kuang said:

Thank you for the reply and you are soooooooo lucky to heal in 3 days. I am into the end of second week, no improvement in fact the right ear tinnitus increased with multiple layers of white noise and glass scratching sound. God help me.

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Sorry to hear.....A dive buddy told me he has ruptured his drums 4 times. He said because he was young when it happened it will heal. A local super strong old diver among the first instructors told me he burst the drum s and they never healed fully and one ear he hears less.
May you wake one morning to hear perfect again and never push equalisation again.

You know, if you need a good hearing aid, I think you should see a doctor. I used to have hearing problems , though not so serious , and the audiologist near me helped me a lot . Perhaps you should also contact him for advice. I advise him because I know that he is not one of those who tries to advertise something, but really tries to help a person choose the most comfortable option. I think he will tell you what kind of hearing aid you can buy inexpensively but of excellent quality. Good luck to you!

Any update to this? I know it' almost two yrs old but I'm having the exact same problem. Went snorkeling three days ago for 3 hrs with dives no deeper than 20 feet. No pain or problem equalizing. Came out if the water, left ear felt muffled. Usually I shake me head left and right to drain the water, and I'm back to normal. But not with my left ear this time. It wasn't too bad so I let it be and I again went snorkeling two days ago. Oddly enough that seems to have cleared it mostly up, so I figured it was just some earwax that was pushed in and then later flushed out.

However overnight last night it again cane back, with a vengeance. I wear earplugs so I assumed that was more proof of it being earwax which happened to get pushed in again.

Went to a Dr today (general practitioner as there is no ENT specialist here on the island) and he said the outer ear is completely clear. He prescribed some over the counter decongestant but I am not congested... Told him I can equalize just fine, two my eustachian tubes are fine. He said there's nothing he can do.

Like you, I lost much hearing in that ear. Everything is muffled. I can't hear many kinds of sounds. I also have a constant ringing in my ear. When I'm back from this trip I'll see an ENT specialist but I'm really confused. If it's water in my inner ear, how could it get there? My eardrum is not punctured. I can still equalize and freedive without issues. What the heck caused this, and how can I get it to go away??? It's really frustrating this muffled hearing and ringing!!!

How old are you? This is not uncommon in later middle age. It could be just 100% coincidence that you also dive/snorkel.

I'm 46 and am quite fit.

Ok, three days later, and i can hear a tiny bit better. So I assume it's draining.

I've also come up with a working theory. I defog my mask with spit, but since I snorkeled 3-4 hours that wore off over time. I the resorted to putting some water in my mask and moving it around every minute or so. I know this caused quite some slimy mucus in my nose as I blew it out a few times. I assume that while equalizing going vertically down, or while blowing my nose, some if it was forced into the middle ear.

What I don't understand is why it takes so long to drain when I'm not congested and have no allergies and am very fit. I'd assume when I equalize now on land and force air into my middle ear, that would in turn push the liquid out through the eustachian tube. Oh well. Pretty scary to go almost deaf for no apparent reason but I assume it will slowly keep draining.

Well I was diagnosed with issht. Sudden Sensorineural hearing loss. I'm on a steroid prescription now and will see if i can get 90m of hyperbaric oxygen daily. Together those are the current best recommendations for this. Therapy had to start within 2 weeks or the loss is likely permanent. 60% of people recover some hearing. I knew it wasn't water behind my middle ear as I could and still can equalize just fine.

mkivtt said:

Any update to this? I know it' almost two yrs old but I'm having the exact same problem. Went snorkeling three days ago for 3 hrs with dives no deeper than 20 feet. No pain or problem equalizing. Came out if the water, left ear felt muffled. Usually I shake me head left and right to drain the water, and I'm back to normal. But not with my left ear this time. It wasn't too bad so I let it be and I again went snorkeling two days ago. Oddly enough that seems to have cleared it mostly up, so I figured it was just some earwax that was pushed in and then later flushed out.

However overnight last night it again cane back, with a vengeance. I wear earplugs so I assumed that was more proof of it being earwax which happened to get pushed in again.

Went to a Dr today (general practitioner as there is no ENT specialist here on the island) and he said the outer ear is completely clear. He prescribed some over the counter decongestant but I am not congested... Told him I can equalize just fine, two my eustachian tubes are fine. He said there's nothing he can do.

Like you, I lost much hearing in that ear. Everything is muffled. I can't hear many kinds of sounds. I also have a constant ringing in my ear. When I'm back from this trip I'll see an ENT specialist but I'm really confused. If it's water in my inner ear, how could it get there? My eardrum is not punctured. I can still equalize and freedive without issues here https://rubmd.net/. What the heck caused this, and how can I get it to go away??? It's really frustrating this muffled hearing and ringing!!!

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Hearing loss and tinnitus have claimed yet another victim, adding to the growing number of individuals affected by these life-altering conditions. The onset of hearing loss often comes gradually, making it difficult to recognize until the damage is significant. Tinnitus, a relentless ringing or buzzing in the ears, can be equally debilitating, affecting concentration, sleep, and overall quality of life.

I got tinnitus in my right ear. As far as I know it got caused by a suddenly way to loud headset at a helpdesk job I once did. Tinnitus, once you have it, it will stay forever.

I notice diving makes the tinnitus worse, or at least more noticeable. Perhaps it's due to pressure, equalization, but it could also be just because of that diving makes us focus on the ears and so the tinnitus that finally blended into the background is being observed again. I'm not a doctor, I'm just theorizing.

For me, luckily, the tinnitus is a very high pitched constant sound with no variation, pulse, rhythm or anything, so it's somewhat possible to get used to it. Apparently some people have non stop disco beats.

Fun fact for my case: the hearing damage in my tinnitus ear caused the loss of hearing for a wide range of high frequencies, but for some reason this high pitched tinnitus, right in the middle of my hearing gap, is there. Wtf.

mkivtt said:

Any update to this? I know it' almost two yrs old but I'm having the exact same problem. Went snorkeling three days ago for 3 hrs with dives no deeper than 20 feet. No pain or problem equalizing. Came out if the water, left ear felt muffled. Usually I shake me head left and right to drain the water, and I'm back to normal. But not with my left ear this time. It wasn't too bad so I let it be and I again went snorkeling two days ago. Oddly enough that seems to have cleared it mostly up, so I figured it was just some earwax that was pushed in and then later flushed out.

However overnight last night it again cane back, with a vengeance. I wear earplugs so I assumed that was more proof of it being earwax which happened to get pushed in again.

Went to a Dr today (general practitioner as there is no ENT specialist here on the island) and he said the outer ear is completely clear. He prescribed some over the counter decongestant but I am not congested... Told him I can equalize just fine, two my eustachian tubes are fine. He said there's nothing he can do.

Like you, I lost much hearing in that ear. Everything is muffled. I can't hear many kinds of sounds. I also have a constant ringing in my ear. When I'm back from this trip I'll see an ENT specialist but I'm really confused. If it's water in my inner ear, how could it get there? My eardrum is not punctured. I can still equalize and freedive without issues. What the heck caused this, and how can I get it to go away??? It's really frustrating this muffled hearing and ringing!!!

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Hi there,

This looks like an old post, but thought I'd reach out anyway in case anyone is steal interested...

I had a similar issue after free diving while on a snorkelling trip. My equalisation was generally okay, though once or twice struggled and came up on one dive with a bit of pain that lasted for a few minutes. Otherwise, no fullness, vertigo, or any other problems other than a low level tinnitus, which I put down to the dives.

Fast forward a week after returning and woke up one day to find that tinnitus had started to roar in my ears. My initial thought was the diving, so I saw my GP and he said I had some fluid behind my ears and perhaps mild trauma to the middle ear. Fast forward again, the tinnitus continued to ring as loud as ever. I saw two ENTs, one of which was a diving specialist. Neither could help, saying that it would be unusual for baratrauma to result in the symptoms I described. One prescribed a 7-day course of steroids, which did nothing to help. However, I noticed the slight feeling of fullness subsided a bit, perhaps enough to reduce some inflammation. This led me to thinking about the role of inflammation, as well as the fact that I had been listening to music on my headphones during a long pottery session a few days before.

In my research I came across the idea of secondary endolymphatic hydrops, which started to match up with some of my experiences, such as really loud tinnitus after a salty meal in the evenings, not to mention the fact that the tinnitus was reactive to sound (forget about masking it!). I tried a salt-free meal a few times and somewhat miraculously the tinnitus dropped to its lowest level and found I could sleep.

So now I consider the possibility that my diving and loud music caused injury to my inner ear, and this may have precipitated endolymphatic hydrops, which is a kind of inner ear inflammation. The endolymph is regulated by sodium, and salt in my diet is a clearly causing the tinnitus to spike.

Next steps for me besides dietary changes is acupuncture as this may also be related to kidney imbalances that already existed, making me more susceptible to inner ear injury.

Happy to hear anyone's thoughts about all of this!