The day I went deaf… in one ear: A doctor told KATE MULVEY she just had an infection – causing a delay in treatment with truly shocking results
- Kate Mulvey had sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) – a rapid hearing loss
- SSHL affects tens of thousands of people every year and is a medical emergency
- Typically, there is no warning: only in some cases will it be preceded by tinnitus
At the start of our family summer holiday last year, my sister Louise passed me the phone to speak to my dad. Unable to hear anything, I handed it back, presuming he had rung off.
‘Kate, he’s still on the phone,’ Louise said, pulling a quizzical face while handing the phone back to me.
‘I can’t hear anything,’ I wailed.
That was the moment I realised I couldn’t hear in my right ear.
There had been no warning this was coming. When I woke up that morning, I felt a bit dizzy and noticed a ringing in my right ear, but I put it down to the end of a summer cold, or the earplugs I wear at night, ironically to block noise, that sometimes get pushed in too tightly.
Kate Mulvey had sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), which is when there is a rapid hearing loss – often, as in her case, overnight – usually in one ear
I asked my sister to ring my own mobile and, sure enough, with my bad ear I couldn’t hear a thing, I changed ears and I heard perfectly.
My initial reaction was blind panic and I scrabbled to find the address of a doctor near where we were staying in Spain.
That panic eased when, during my appointment the following day, the doctor diagnosed a middle-ear infection and prescribed a two-week course of antibiotic ear drops.
Now I know that the clock was ticking, and the precious window in which my hearing could be saved was closing.
I didn’t have an infection at all. I had sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), which is when there is a rapid hearing loss — often, as in my case, overnight — usually in one ear.
Typically, there is no warning: only in some cases will the hearing loss be preceded by tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and dizziness.
Typically, there is no warning: only in some cases will the hearing loss be preceded by tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and dizziness. Kate Mulvey is pictured
SSHL affects tens of thousands of people every year, and is, in fact, a medical emergency that needs treatment within days if not hours, yet experts still don’t really know what causes it.
Theories about its cause range from a viral infection — such as labyrinthitis — of the inner ear, to diseases such as measles, meningitis or ‘even the immune system randomly attacking the membranes of the ear,’ says John Phillips, a consultant nose and throat (ENT) specialist at Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust.
‘What we do know is that, if it is caught early enough, it can be treated with steroids, either orally or injected into the ear.’
He adds: ‘Steroids work by reducing inflammation and calming the immune system. Working backwards, the fact that they seem to work suggests that the cause of this type of hearing loss is in some part inflammatory.’
Yet, for the steroids to reverse the hearing loss, they need to be given within 72 hours, ideally.
‘We don’t know why that is,’ says Mr Phillips. ‘But it would seem that, the longer the wait, the less likely the hearing can be saved.
Theories about its cause range from a viral infection — such as labyrinthitis — of the inner ear, to diseases such as measles, meningitis or ‘even the immune system randomly attacking the membranes of the ear,’ says John Phillips, a consultant nose and throat (ENT) specialist at Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust
‘The trouble is, there are no outward signs, such as inflammation, so misdiagnosis is common, and the patient can end up losing their hearing permanently.
‘That’s why, if anyone finds themselves suddenly deaf in one ear, and especially if there is dizziness as well, you need to go immediately to A&E.’
On my holiday in Spain, I was unaware of all this.
For two weeks after my visit to the doctor I would lie on one side, squeezing drops into my bad ear, waiting for the ‘infection’ to clear.
My hearing loss turned into something of a joke — my two teenage nephews would see how loud they needed to shout to get me to turn round.
I joked along, presuming this would soon be over, but I found it difficult to join in group conversations. If someone spoke to me and I wasn’t facing them, often I couldn’t hear them. And I had a constant ringing in my bad ear.
For steroids to reverse the hearing loss, they need to be given within 72 hours, ideally (file image)
Back home in London, as my hearing hadn’t returned after a couple of weeks, and my tinnitus had become increasingly worse, I went to see my GP.
He looked in both ears and said there was no sign of infection, and made an emergency appointment for me to see a specialist at Charing Cross Hospital.
By the time I walked into their ENT department, I had been deaf in one ear for over a month.
All I could hear to the right side of me was the constant screech and hum of tinnitus. Now I know that this occurs as the brain has to create sounds to fill in the vacant space that has been left by the hearing loss.
First, I had a hearing test: pressing a buzzer each time I heard any noise. The object was to see which frequency I was unable to hear to ascertain the level of hearing loss. I thought I had done quite well, but back in the consultant’s room, she had a different view.
‘The test shows you have severe hearing loss in the right ear,’ she said, and proceeded to book me in for an emergency MRI.
‘Do I have cancer?’ I asked, terrified. ‘We just need to rule out anything sinister as the underlying cause,’ she replied, tapping away on the computer.
Back at home, my mind went into overdrive. I desperately typed my symptoms into Google, and found that sudden hearing loss in one ear can be the sign of ear cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, which is so rare, it almost disqualifies itself.
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More likely was an acoustic neuroma — a benign brain tumour that affects the hearing nerve. While it is not malignant, it can affect balance and hearing, and will need surgery if it grows too large.
I would wake bolt upright in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, imagining all sorts of horrors. So when the results of the MRI came back clear three weeks later, it was a relief of sorts.
But I had been so preoccupied with my thoughts of cancer, the reality of my condition hadn’t sunk in. The doctors didn’t know what had caused the deafness, but what they did know was that my hearing loss was permanent.
In 65 per cent of cases, SSHL resolves itself without any treatment, but that almost always happens within the first two weeks. I was not going to be one of those lucky ones.
There was nothing that could be done — and, as trying steroids at that stage would have been completely pointless, the ENT specialist discharged me back to my doctor.
I walked out of the hospital and burst into floods of tears.
To learn you are partially deaf for the rest of your life is devastating, and accepting my new silent reality has not been easy.
Without two sides of sounds I struggle to identify where any noise is coming from. Simply walking down the road makes me nervous and confused, as the tangled rumble of traffic and every- day noises seems to come at me from all directions.
My social life has suffered, too. A one-to-one conversation, where there is no background noise, is OK, as long I’m sitting looking at the person and concentrate hard.
The trouble is, when I go out with a group of people, I can only pick up snippets of the conversation, and I can’t identify where the sound is coming from. I spin round in all directions trying to keep up with what is being said, but I can’t make it out.
I have to ask people to repeat themselves, and I can already detect the irritation in their voices. It is exhausting, so mostly I just pretend I have heard and smile.
‘Hearing loss affects the clarity of conversation, which means that people sound mumbled when they are talking, and they also lack definition,’ says Melanie Gregory, an audiologist at The Hearing Care Partnership chain of clinics.
‘Even though it is our ears that pick up sound, it is our brains that make sense of it,’ she adds. ‘If you develop hearing loss, it makes it a lot more difficult to follow conversations, because your brain has to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the arbitrary bits of speech, before making sense of what has been said.’
Busy bars and restaurants are even worse. I feel assaulted on all sides by a loud, screechy din that makes my tinnitus louder, and I feel disorientated and unwell.
Sometimes, I feel it is easier to avoid social gatherings and just stay at home.
Yet, seven months on, and I am slowly coming to terms with my loss. Now, when I’m watching a film, I put the subtitles on, so I can follow and understand what is being said.
And I am looking forward to having a hearing aid fitted. My initial appointment to have a mould made of my ear at the hearing clinic was two weeks ago, and I will have to wait until late spring for it to be fitted.
Of course, there is still the worry that my other ear will go, too, although I have been assured it is extremely rare for this to happen.
Finally, there is a chink of light and noise at the end of the tunnel. The thing I regret the most is missing that opportunity to at least try to save my hearing before it was lost for good.
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