lenscraft
Registered
My husband Dan and I were in Maui to hang out with friends and do some diving. Both of us had lessons scheduled. He was getting his 'Advanced Open Water' cert, and I was accompanying a friend who was getting her 'Open Water' (PADI).
We landed in Maui, and trekked out to 'The Aquarium' that afternoon to do some snorkeling. The water was fairly murky due to a southern swell, but there was still nice sealife to be seen, including a bunch of turtles avoiding the turbulent open water. All of us did some freediving down to 15' or so.
The next day we started our lessons, and it went well for everyone. 'Advanced Open Water' involves three 'survey' advanced courses... Dan selected 'orientation', 'deep water', and 'peak performance buoyancy'.
At some point (and neither of us remember when) Dan started complaining that he had some water in his right ear, and had trouble hearing through that ear. This wasn't that abnormal for him, and it had happened on past dives. It usually dried up within a few days.
This time, however, it didn't get better with time. He complained of a buzzing in his ear which was non-stop, making it hard for him to sleep. He kept expecting it to go away.
We flew back to the states, and roughly a week after this started, Dan went to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. When the doctor heard of the symptoms, he immediately scheduled a hearing test. This showed that Dan wasn't hearing anything below 80 decibels in his right ear, and at that level only 16% word recognition. (80dB equals the sound of a vacuum cleaner at 1 m, or curbside of busy street.) Dan was put on a program of Prednisone (50mg), a corticosteroid. He was also referred to a specialist in hearing loss at Stanford University Medical Center.
The doctor explained that with Sudden Hearing Loss Syndrome, timely treatment is critical to saving the patient's hearing. My husband was told that he had a little over 50% chance of recovering some hearing. Any time that passes between the incident and the treatment diminishes the chances of recovery. It's also important to know that most general practitioners aren't aware of this.
When he saw this specialist 5 days later, his hearing had begun to improve. He now heard sounds louder than 50 dB (equivalent to the interior of a quiet restaurant), with 85% word recognition. The specialist injected Dan directly into his eardrum with another corticosteroid, Dexamethasone. At his next hearing test, Dan was hearing at 30+dB with 100% word recognition. (30dB is the sound level inside a theatre with no one talking.)
According to one web site, "Sudden hearing loss syndrome is a sudden decrease or loss of hearing in one or both ears. It may be accompanied by static or ringing in the ears and/or dizziness up to 12 hours before the time the hearing loss occurs."
As for the cause, it's not clear. It may have occurred while equalizing during a free dive, or it may have occurred while ascending from a deep dive. The result was sensorineural damage to the inner ear. Dan doesn't remember any incidents of rapid ascents or pain while equalizing.
Again, I want to emphasize, it's important to seek immediate attention from an E.N.T. specialist if this occurs. General practitioners aren't generally prepared to deal with this situation. While S.H.L.S. often feels like 'water in the ear', it doesn't go away, and often gets worse. If your hearing is still 'wet' an hour or two after diving, I would suggest erring on the side of safety.
coyote
We landed in Maui, and trekked out to 'The Aquarium' that afternoon to do some snorkeling. The water was fairly murky due to a southern swell, but there was still nice sealife to be seen, including a bunch of turtles avoiding the turbulent open water. All of us did some freediving down to 15' or so.
The next day we started our lessons, and it went well for everyone. 'Advanced Open Water' involves three 'survey' advanced courses... Dan selected 'orientation', 'deep water', and 'peak performance buoyancy'.
At some point (and neither of us remember when) Dan started complaining that he had some water in his right ear, and had trouble hearing through that ear. This wasn't that abnormal for him, and it had happened on past dives. It usually dried up within a few days.
This time, however, it didn't get better with time. He complained of a buzzing in his ear which was non-stop, making it hard for him to sleep. He kept expecting it to go away.
We flew back to the states, and roughly a week after this started, Dan went to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. When the doctor heard of the symptoms, he immediately scheduled a hearing test. This showed that Dan wasn't hearing anything below 80 decibels in his right ear, and at that level only 16% word recognition. (80dB equals the sound of a vacuum cleaner at 1 m, or curbside of busy street.) Dan was put on a program of Prednisone (50mg), a corticosteroid. He was also referred to a specialist in hearing loss at Stanford University Medical Center.
The doctor explained that with Sudden Hearing Loss Syndrome, timely treatment is critical to saving the patient's hearing. My husband was told that he had a little over 50% chance of recovering some hearing. Any time that passes between the incident and the treatment diminishes the chances of recovery. It's also important to know that most general practitioners aren't aware of this.
When he saw this specialist 5 days later, his hearing had begun to improve. He now heard sounds louder than 50 dB (equivalent to the interior of a quiet restaurant), with 85% word recognition. The specialist injected Dan directly into his eardrum with another corticosteroid, Dexamethasone. At his next hearing test, Dan was hearing at 30+dB with 100% word recognition. (30dB is the sound level inside a theatre with no one talking.)
According to one web site, "Sudden hearing loss syndrome is a sudden decrease or loss of hearing in one or both ears. It may be accompanied by static or ringing in the ears and/or dizziness up to 12 hours before the time the hearing loss occurs."
As for the cause, it's not clear. It may have occurred while equalizing during a free dive, or it may have occurred while ascending from a deep dive. The result was sensorineural damage to the inner ear. Dan doesn't remember any incidents of rapid ascents or pain while equalizing.
Again, I want to emphasize, it's important to seek immediate attention from an E.N.T. specialist if this occurs. General practitioners aren't generally prepared to deal with this situation. While S.H.L.S. often feels like 'water in the ear', it doesn't go away, and often gets worse. If your hearing is still 'wet' an hour or two after diving, I would suggest erring on the side of safety.
coyote
