A 28-year-old woman from Taiwan became deaf in one ear after wearing earphones daily for one month for prolonged hours. The victim, Xiao Jing, said she used her headphones to enjoy binge-watching on teledrama series, her daily stress reliever after work. Needless to say, she has her earphones the entire time she commutes every day from work to home and vice versa. After one month of keeping this practice, Xiao Jing had noticed that her left ear seems to be unreceptive of any sound. While she initially thought it was the earphones that were not working properly, she only realized that it was her left ear that was experiencing problems after she tried on two other earphones for her listening but to no avail.
Hearing Loss Causes
Xiao Jing immediately went to a doctor to seek medical treatment. She was with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), commonly known as sudden deafness. SNHL is a medical condition that is widely considered as an emergency. SNHL happens when there is damage in your inner ear. Problems with the nerve pathways from your inner ear to your brain can also cause SNHL. Soft sounds may be hard to hear. Even louder sounds may be unclear or may sound muffled. A number of factors contribute to having SNHL: illnesses; drugs that can harm sensory cells in the ear; genes; aging; a head injury; and listening to loud noises or explosions, among others. As such, several cases of hearing loss had been associated with listening to loud music especially with headphones or earphones on.
Hope for Recovery
Luckily for Xiao Jing, she had successfully revived 80% of her hearing, thanks to her decision to immediately seek medical help. Her doctor said if she had delayed any longer, she might not be able to hear in her left ear again. However, her road to recovery was not easy. Xiao Jing had to endure steroids and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Dr Zhang from the Department of Otolaryngology, Luodong Bo-ai Hospital advised anyone who may experience sudden deafness to seek medical treatment within three days to clasp on a higher chance of recovery. He also pointed out that sudden deafness affects the elderly and young adults, alike especially those who are constantly tired and fail to get enough rest and sleep.
