Deaf in one ear and diving

[Klopos]

I was born completely deaf in one ear and my parents have told me that diving poses an unacceptable risk. I've never really asked a professional about it or anyone else for that matter. So far, I've always been stuck snorkeling and would love to try out diving, but not at the possible risk of complete deafness. Just curious, but does anyone have any thoughts on how great the risk of deafness is?

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Klopos,

The risk of significant permanent harm to hearing from scuba is quite small given careful equalization of the ears, conservative dive profiles and the exercise of common sense, e.g., not diving when the ears are congested, aborting the dive at the first signs of not easily correctable ear discomfort.

However, even the diver who is endeavoring to do everything feasible to protect the ears can sustain damage from events such as pressure-related middle or inner ear trauma and decompression illness of the inner ear. Typically these do not result in total deafness, but can result in such conditions as permanent reduction in hearing acuity and tinnitus.

Acceptance of risk is a very personal thing. Each individual has to decide for themselves the relative risk levels with which they are comfortable.

Helpful?

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual and should not be construed as such.

Regards.

DocVikingo

 

[Klopos]

Helpful and much appreciated. What kind of doctor are you out of curiosity? It's a tough thing to weigh as deafness in one ear is barely a handicap at all (one only cannot triangulate where sounds are coming from), but reduction in my good ear would be pretty serious.