Help in Hearing Senior Audiologist Wendy Davies, wants to raise awareness of the importance of quickly responding to sudden hearing loss, following her own recent first-hand experience.

Wendy was driving home from our Farnham Common practice when she noticed a sudden drop in her hearing while listening to her audio book. Her left ear felt blocked, and her hearing was very distorted and reduced in that ear. This was further exacerbated by an onset of tinnitus. 

24-hour time frame response to SSHL

Responding to SSHL (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss) within 24 hours is vital to the outcome. With years of experience, Wendy knows the importance of reacting quickly, so she arranged to see another audiologist who lives close to her home. Following a hearing test to confirm a 30db high frequency loss in her left ear, Wendy was immediately sent to A&E at Frimley Park Hospital.

It was evident that the response protocol was very much in place, as Wendy was seen promptly for health checks including blood pressure, temperature, pulse, oxygen levels and cognitive tests to establish if the sudden hearing loss might be caused by an undiagnosed medical condition. Knowing that time was crucial, A&E contacted the ENT consultant on call that evening who agreed to start Wendy on a course of high dose steroids, together with Omeprazole to help protect the gut.

Hearing improvement

Wendy picked her up prescription that evening at a late-night chemist and much to her relief, she responded to the treatment very quickly, noticing a positive change in her hearing by the next morning. She had a follow up with the ENT department the next day and a hearing test showed the improvement that Wendy had already started to notice. If the response to oral steroids had not been as marked as it was, a secondary treatment plan would have been to give her a trans-tympanic steroid injection. However, on discussion with the ENT consultant it was agreed that Wendy did not need to take this route.

Having worked as an audiologist for over 35 years, it was quite a shock for Wendy to personally experience this episode. She has always been keen to raise awareness of the condition and the importance of going to A&E and now even more so.

Don’t wait and see

Wendy commented: “Responding to SSHL is time critical. If you, or anyone you know, wakes up one morning with reduced hearing, or if it suddenly happens at any time during the day, please do get checked out and don’t hesitate to go to A&E. I know we all dread going unless we really have to, but it is definitely worth it. There is no ‘wait and see’ when it comes to SSHL. It needs steroid treatment, or your hearing will not be restored. I would like to thank everyone who helped me out, from my audiologist friend Michael to the A&E and ENT departments at Frimley who responded very well. The protocol is in place, and everyone should be aware of it.”

Please do call us for advice if you have any issues with your hearing. If you think you have sudden hearing loss, we will book you in for an emergency hearing test and refer you straight on to your local A&E department. Don’t hesitate for a moment, we are just a phone call away. Farnham Common or Marlow 0345 2220579/ Henley 01491 577555.