Hi, so I've been SSD since birth. I was born without the auditory nerve in my right ear. As a result, my left ear is extra sensitive, with about 70% more hearing than normal. I love music and I'd love to try out the Yuni mono headphones which would literally change my life as I've never heard in stereo before. However, my mom is insistent that this will damage my left ear more. Is that the case? I've been playing instruments for over a decade at this point, been to my fair share of concerts, and have suffered no hearing loss.

Is this paranoia on her part, or should I speak to a doctor before trying mono headphones?

I’ve been completely deaf in my left ear since my cholesteatoma surgery four years ago. Since then, I only started back to work recently. I worked retail for two months, and although it was challenging, it’s nothing compared to the challenges of my new office job.

For starters, my office is a big open space with cubicles all around. You can hear everything going on. As you all know, it’s very difficult to discern exactly where sounds are coming from when you are deaf in one ear. The office is constantly full of chatter. People will walk up behind me at my desk and ask me a question, and I won’t even realize they are addressing me. They’ll stand there waiting for a response, and I will finally notice them there, or when they repeat themselves, I’ll realize they were talking to me.

My supervisor is extremely soft spoken. I have to ask her to repeat herself all the time. Not only does she not raise her voice any louder when she does, but she gets noticeably aggravated about having to repeat herself. I explained to her on my second day that I can only hear out of one year. She is not the only person I have encountered who gets irritated when I need them to repeat themselves. I have a close family member who gets down right pissed about it, despite knowing why I need them to do it.

My last issue is that a large part of my job is interviewing people about very sensitive subject matters. Considering I have to do this in an open office space that only offers my cubicle walls as privacy, they naturally don’t want to speak loudly. To make matters much worse, the way my cubicle space is set up makes it to where my clients have to sit to the left of me, speaking into my deaf ear. It is so embarrassing having to ask them to repeat themselves over and over again throughout their session with me, especially when they just gave details about something such as being sexually abused as a child. I asked if there is any way things could be rearranged, and I was told there is not.

I am very thankful to have found a good job with good benefits after being out of the work force for so long, but damn if this mono-hearing isn’t stressing me out on the job all day, every day!

Thanks for letting me vent. It’s nice to know there are people out there who can understand.

Today was the day that I finally told two male colleagues of several years that I was partially deaf. I posted last week about anxiety over an upcoming holiday party and what to do. I decided finally not to go, because 14 noisy people around a restaurant table is a situation you just can't overcome with SSD.

So I told my colleague. I told him that I wasn't coming because I was partially deaf and in the noisy environment it was impossible. Told him my hearing was "mono" while his was stereo and all the crosstalk is too hard.

There was no response. Except later my other colleague (bff of my first colleague) invited me to his house for an important conversation rather than to a cafe or restaurant, after my first colleague visited him.

And I'm extremely anxious about it. 😅I read an article about how males tend to think there's something seriously wrong if you tell them you're partially deaf, and feel sorry for you and think you're a debilitated loser. I wish this hadn't had to happen but it just seems like that social stigma of SSD never leaves. Deep and thought tonight.

Hi!

Was wondering if anyone has any tips for someone with new moderate hearing loss when traveling by plane? I checked the HoH designation on my ticket but I still have panic attacks in new sound environments and traveling is stressful enough. I can still hear a little out of my right ear but it is hard to pinpoint the location of the sound and I have to ask people to repeat themselves if I'm not facing them. I also wear an ear plug so I can "pretend" and keep calm in new sound environments. Idk why it works but it does! But my earplugs are loops and idk if they have metal in them when going through security.

All that to say, any tips?

Thanks!

as said in the title i cannot really hear anything at all upon waking up even when someone is speaking right next to me. everything is really quiet. later on it goes back to normal. when moving jaw i hear a crackling popping noise. this is in both ears but is mostly in my right one. the problem that stays all day is that the hearing from my right ear appears to be gone. ive been aware for a while but when given a ear pod i can hear it fine out of left ear but not anything at all out of right.

I am having a similar problem. I am already deaf in my left ear from having a bad ear infection when i was little but now my right ear has randomly lost hearing and there is ringing and feels like i have fluid in it. ENT put me on 60 mg of prednisone for 2 weeks and i took my last pills today and nothing has really changed. Im going back to the doctor in a couple days and am going to beg to be put on an antibiotic but i have also heard people with this problem be put on an antibiotic but it just gets worse for them so i dont know what to do. When i plug my nose and try and pop my ears all the air just goes out my eye, makes me think something is blocked there or something. Has anyone had this problem and been able to fix it??

I have been dealing with SSHL in my right ear since October 28th 2024

My hearing has gotten better at lower frequencies. I can detect voices in my affected ear but they do not sound like they are supposed to. At onset, I was >100 db hearing loss at all frequencies. Currently I am at 13 decibels at 250hz going to 62 decibels at 8khz.

There is also a lot of static that is occurring in that ear as well. My higher frequencies, I still struggle with. I continue to have tinnitus (crickets constantly). The fullness feeling has subsided significantly.

What I am currently dealing with has been impacting my daily life significantly. I have vertigo that comes out of nowhere. Example, yesterday I was completely fine. Today, it is awful and has not yet subsided and has been significant since 7am. I called my ENT and he stated that this is a normal part of the healing. Is it really? I have tried Meclizine 25 mg with no effects. The Eply maneuver also with no effect. Low sodium diet, minimum caffeine and Minimum alcohol.

At onset, I was >100 db hearing loss at all frequencies. Currently I am at 13 decibels at 250hz going to 62 decibels at 8khz.

My ENT stated that he does not know what caused this and we may never know. I did do 60mg prednisone taper which I began 3 days after symptom onset and took for a month. I am also taking Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.

I am losing my mind with the vertigo and the inability to handle any loud sounds. Sometimes, my voice even drives me insane when I am taking.

I am completely open to any suggestions that you have to help with the symptoms that go along with this SSHL. What works for you? What has not? How long have you ben dealing with the symptoms?
I know that this is not a one size fits all. But, I am willing to try anything at this point.

Heya so I was treated in 3 weeks and 3 days late. However my hearing has improved 3 times and it's been 7 weeks. Could I still get any more improvement? I don't know whatever to wait it out or get cochlear implant. It's so stressful.

I hear sounds but they aren't clear and are static. Some sounds I can just about hear them, but very minimal.

Hello! I just found this sub after I had significant hearing loss in my left ear last weekend (7 days in today). I’m 34F.

In April I lost most of my hearing in my right ear, and I’ve had tinnitus in that ear since. I had an MRI at that time and it came back clean. I saw an ENT and he didn’t prescribe anything, but told me to come back if it got worse. It’s been generally fine for the last 7 months until now.

7 days ago I lost what seemed like almost all of my hearing in my left ear. My husband sat right next to me and I couldn’t understand his words. I was able to see an ENT PA on the 3rd day of the hearing loss in my left ear.

I had a hearing test and they said I don’t have sudden hearing loss, but I’ve gone from mild hearing loss in April to now moderate hearing loss, almost moderate-severe. I can’t remember everything they told me, but I can hear sounds but I’m having a hard time comprehending words at the volume people naturally speak at. But she cleaned out ear wax and she said she’s going to treat it like I had sudden hearing loss, and put me on Prednisone. 3 pills each day (I think 60 mg) for 5 days, 2 pills/day for 3 days, and 1 pill/day for 3 days.

I’m in the middle of the steroid treatment now and 7 days into my hearing loss. I’ll be seeing an ENT doctor (apparently a really good one) on Dec 16th. My PA said “I’m a PA, but I want you to be in really good hands. I’ll schedule you with him. He’s really done a lot…” (she mentioned things like medical school, regularly going to conferences, etc)

I know it’s not the greatest to seek medical advice on the internet. But I’m wondering if people here on this sub might suggest that I go to the ER or try to see another ENT and ask for the ear injection if that were possible?

I’ve been searching this sub and seeing people say that the first two weeks are critical. I’ve read people saying they wish they had gotten the ear injection in the first two weeks. My next ENT appointment is Dec 16th which will be more than 2 weeks from the start of the hearing loss.

So I thought I’d come here and ask you all and try to gather information from people who have lived this. Thanks for reading this, and thanks in advance for any thoughts shared.

I experienced moderate right-sided hearing loss in August. Oral steroids led to no improvement, so my ENT said he'd do three rounds of injections over the course of six weeks. I had my first injection on 10/14/2024.

Since then, the ENT's office has canceled my last two appointments due to "staff sickness," and I have now been rebooked for 01/20/2025. I've called the office a few times to get an earlier appointment, but they keep telling me that my appointments aren't considered urgent.

Should I even bother pursuing any further injections? I'm in the UK, so my only alternative is paying for private care (on top of being double charged for the NHS), but I don't know if it's too late to pursue any further treatment.

I do feel like the one injection has helped a lot!

Has anyone experienced eustachian tube clicking with essentially every swallow in their SSHL ear? I never noticed it before (perhaps I wasn’t paying attention). Curious if this normal or not and potentially part of the healing process and will go away in time. Thanks!

So I know it’s not the wisest to seek medical advice outside of ENT professionals, but still wanted to hear your opinions especially if you’ve gone through the same thing I am.

Past Wednesday I was diagnosed with sudden hearing loss on my right ear (100% loss) which began past Monday (it’s Been exactly 1 week since then) My treatment goes as follows with prednisone:

3 days 60mg 3 days 45mg 3 days 30mg 3 days 15mg

Deciding to seek a second opinion, I went to another ENT today. I told him I’m seeing minor improvements especially on lower frequencies which he says is a good sign. He looked at the treatment and he says that if I’m seeing that sort of improvements, I should do a longer treatment and do 5 days of each instead of 3 days. I asked him about injections and he said that’s something we will do later on if I don’t get better. Previous ENT said the same.

I think I’m going to try and get a family doctor to take a look today but still wanted to ask here and hear your opinions and if I should seek another ENT. I don’t want to play around with the prednisone so I want to be very careful about this. Thanks!!

Has anyone noticed that (at least in America) people tend to shift to the left when hugging? I hate it because often the person hugging you will say something but I can’t hear them or read lips!

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has tried airport preboarding with single sided deafness. I was born with hearing loss in my left ear and like many am often overstimulated in noisy environments such as the airport. I have a solo 12 hour flight coming up and I was thinking about asking for preboarding as I get anxious trying to listen for my boarding group when I'm by myself, and I feel like this could greatly reduce my stress travelling alone. Any advice is welcome :))

I have been deaf in one ear for a long time and honestly it hasn't affected me much. The only thing I fear every day is that something might happen to my good ear. And if that happens, well, I’m done. I never learned sign language because I can speak just like everyone else and my hearing is normal in my other ear. Do any of you also fear that something could happen to your good ear or is it just me?

I had SSHL in my left ear (with pre-existing mild loss) a month ago. This resulted in tinnitus. Ate a course of steroids from GP on onset of ringing/ear fullness which I think helped to return the lower frequencies somewhat back to baseline. No audiogram done before SSHL so I can't compare, though i think it could still be off by the 5-10db originally. The high frequencies above 6Hz for both ears could not be recovered (i've read online that higher frequencies are harder to recover). I saw an ENT specialist a week later, was told to wait it out for 3-4 months and wasn't prescribed anther week of steroids or any other treatment though upon further research, think I should have tried asking for more. I honestly think I should have went back to the same GP who treated it as a sudden loss with medication for the follow-up instead of asking to be referred to an ENT.

Anyway...since then, i've been trying to wait it out (with sleep and vitamins), though incidences of tinnitus spikes and new tones in my left ear even after 2-3 weeks in has left me more concerned (frankly on the edge) about my condition. I've been browsing various reddit subs and tinnitustalk forums finding out if there are positive cases of gradual hearing recovery from SSHL as that would precede tinnitus recovery/alleviation.

It may be rare, but i'm still keen on reading some testimonials to be hopeful. Any form of recovery story even down the line months/years later, even only with some frequencies, even a ~5db recovery would be a positive sharing. Thanks (:

Hi everyone,

I have had sudden hearing loss in my right ear for 2 weeks. It was mild until 2 days ago and now I suspect it is moderate as of new onset of intermittent stabbing pain and more loss 2 days ago. This was caused by what they think is a viral infection.

I went to the er as you do for these things. They gave me T3s and gabapentin. I'm on 70mgs of prednisone and have been for almost 2 weeks. Things have gotten worse on them somehow. I'm also diabetic so I've been struggling with my insulin (but it's sort of in control and I'm followed by an endo).

The thing is my ent will not see me in person til I get a 2nd hearing test. My audiologist will not see me until the ear pain is dealt with (which is ???? but I guess it's a liability). I'm talking to my ent tomorrow morning on the phone and the er doctor told me to request an mri of my brain because my ent can expedite it. But how do I deal with the intermittent ear pain? It's stabbing and awful, it wakes me up worse than my tinnitus. Even on the T3s it wakes me up. I'm also trying to deal with this new loss and tinnitus and don't know if I'll get my hearing back.

I guess my question is has anyone been in this situation before? How do I express the amount of pain I'm in to my ent if she won't even see me in person? I'm at a loss!

ETA: my ent thankfully saw me in person and diagnosed me with shingles in my face but it's too late to really try any antivirals (she still prescribed them but it's been 2 weeks). I have been prescribed an aggressive pain regime to see if I can stop this from being permanent pain. Hearing loss is likely permanent though :(

Basically I'm researching again and it sounds like the same old story of a world FULL of SO MUCH technology, but nobody wants to make any of it work for us.

About all I hear that's even semi-recommended are Apple's Airpods 2 Pro... but they're not cheap (well for something not covered by any insurance or anything) and I don't have an Apple phone right now either, so it would have to be pretty good.

So much help exactly can they provide? Would it do anything for meetings, restaurants, people in your bad ear zone, etc?

The dreaded quesrion. A professional group I'm on the board of is having a holiday dinner in a restaurant in a few weeks. We do mostly zoom meetings with our 3-4 board members, which is fine. But this is a membership dinner with a dozen registered, in a sit Chinese storefront restaurant in Chinatown.

Would you:

1. Go, and sit glassey-eyed and unfollowing as people spoke around you, or possibly way down at the table end and speak with one person;
2. Skip yet another normal social event because of SSD?

1. I was maybe around 7-8(age)

2)18

3)I didn’t face significant challenges due to my single-sided deafness, except in noisy environments. In school, I managed well—none of my classmates ever knew about it. There were occasional moments when I couldn’t hear something, but I navigated those situations without disclosing my condition. Being an introvert also helped me.

That said, I’m not entirely sure how it might affect me going forward. I’ll be starting university in January, and I feel a bit anxious about how it might play out in a new environment. It’s not that I have a problem disclosing that I have single-sided deafness—it’s more about the fear of receiving unwanted attention or standing out because of it.

One day in 2020, while I was casually in my room, I have slightly lost hearing in my left ear. I can clearly remember the "pop" sound it made when it happens. It was instantaneous.

At first, I thought my ear was blocked like it happens to me often. But this time, it never went away.

I went to an ORL and a specialist to clean my ears and have them tested. In the end, I only have a very slight hearing loss, but I still wonder what it could be. I ask them but they only said "hearing loss" without specified.

I can still hear with my left ear, but I hear less low sounds and understand less others people when there are too much sounds around.

I did not have tinnitus, vertigo or anything like that, only hearing loss.

So, I wonder what could it have been?

I didn't hear anything too loud around that time or anything like that. And since that day, my hearing is still the same. My right ear is good.

I woke up Monday morning (25nov) with terrible ringing and sudden hearing loss. The day before I had terrible allergies (I get them from time to time - I’m allergic to dogs and cats and they’re around me frequently) and got the flu at the same time. I was freaked out because I’ve gotten blocked ears before but nothing like this.

I went to urgent care on the same day, and the doctor there told me to have some ear drops for infection as she saw it was a bit swollen, but to visit an ENT 48h later.

I had my appointment two hours ago (so two days later), and got a test done which showed 100% hearing loss on my right side and fortunately 0% hearing loss on the left side.

He said it was SSNHL and prescribed me an aggressive treatment of prednisone to begin tomorrow morning, after that I will get some injections. He also gave me 2 blood tests and one MRI.

I was shocked because everyone around me just said it was typical blockage from the flu / earwax accumulated and no one took it seriously. I’m glad I’m a bit of a hypochondriac because I was relatively quick booking the appointments in case it was something serious and turns out it is.

Tbh I’m so scared and I’ve been crying a lot ever since i left the appointment, just scared shitless it will happen on the other side as well. I’m also still dizzy all the time and just wondering if I will stay like this forever.

Just needed a space to vent as I didn’t know this was something that could just happen out of the blue. I’m still so scared, I suffer from anxiety so I’ve just been having a really bad time with this.

Edit 28/nov: thanks everyone. It’s comforting knowing I’m not alone in this. I just began treatment and will update here in a few days, I’m also having a 2nd doctor take a look on dec 11th (2 days after prednisone treatment finishes) as the ENT I saw yesterday leaves for the holidays. Also getting all my bloodwork and MRI done next week. I’ve taken 2 days off work to process and get my shit together, as I’ve been too anxious and I want to work on staying calm which I think is just as important. Also reducing salt and incorporating lots more hydration, gonna force myself to carry my water bottle 24/7. I’m acting fast and doing everything I can. 🙏 the worst that can happen is that I’m overall healthier and hydrated haha. Good thing is that I already feel better when it comes to dizziness / balance and I don’t feel as terrible getting up and sitting down anymore, my brain is catching up which is great.

Edit 02/dec: hi everyone!! Once again I truly appreciate the support I’ve gotten here. I’ve updated a bit in the comments but im gonna update here just in case someone comes across this post, and also to keep track myself. It’s been a whole week now since waking up with hearing loss and been a huge roller coaster, emotionally and physically. The prednisone symptoms are barely noticeable during the day but the night sweats and nightmares I get when I go to sleep are something else. Other than that I feel ok, just fatigued, probably from the angst and lack of good quality of sleep. the dizziness is minor as well. I was able to go out this weekend and wasn’t too bothered by the sounds. I’m also somewhat ok with people speaking on my right side. I test my hearing everyday with my AirPods and I can hear something, mostly mumbling (with volume at 50%) and I can detect songs and rhythm, yesterday I heard high pitched voices for the first time, but I’m still far from recovered. Right now I’m just doing prednisone and taking care of my diet + taking a bunch of vitamins and supplements. this week I’m visiting a new ENT to see if I should get the injections, and I’m also doing acupuncture. Wish I could do oxygen therapy but it’s too expensive for me so I’ll take what I can get. Other than that, trying to take it day by day. Also meditating a lot since it has been a tough time mentally and emotionally. Once again thanks everyone.

Hi all, looking for help and to share my experience.

I've used weed products for a decade without any issues. Around 6 weeks ago, I used a weed cart for a few days. I was using a Cali cart for fine with no issues. I then tried a different cart provided by my dealer. Shortly after, I noticed that the hearing in one of my ears was a bit muffled - almost like someone cranked the volume down or had plugged something in my ear. I could hear, but it was not crisp.

Having never having any hearing issues before, and still being a relatively young adult - I thought it was just me imagining it or it was just wax. But after a while, I realized that I have indeed lost some kind of hearing in one ear.

After googling and realizing this is something serious, I went to the emergency room in my hospital.

I had my ears looked into, and they were Crystal clear - no wax. This worried me. The general doctor said they couldn't see anything wrong however they gave me a single large dose of pred, and asked me to come see an ENT doctor the following day.

So at this point, I took a dose of pred and awaited seeing the doctor the following day. Around an hour after taking the pred, I felt like the 'crispness' of my ear came back.

I went to see the ENT the following day (I had taken the single dose of pred the previous day), and had a beep audiogram. It came back normal. The ENT doctor then saw me, looked into my ears and said there is nothing wrong, and that my audiogram is probably one of the best ones he's seen and was disappointed that they gave me pred at the ER. He said if it was SSHL, you would see it on the audiogram. I'm not sure if the single dose of pred the night before cured my hearing, hence the excellent result.

I returned home, and I definitely saw a massive improvement. I thought my ear fully healed, and things were back to normal. I think the Pred definitely helped, despite the ENT doctor saying there's nothing wrong (based on the audiogram). I went on for 2 weeks with normal hearing.

A few days ago, I decided to take a few more hits from this weed cart - and boom in the next day or so I noticed my hearing has become muffled in the same ear. It's not as bad this time, perhaps because I only used the cart for a day for a few hits, but it's there.

Just to clarify, I only made the connection that it was my weed cart causing this after the 2nd occurrence a few days ago.

I've used some headphones and hearing audiogram tests apps, and my results are coming back normal. My affected ear is on par with my normal ear.

There is a 'fullness' in the affected ear. I can hear out of it, but it's almost like someone has cranked the volume down and things are not crisp. If I plug my good ear, the sound out of the affected is quieter and not crisp.

I'm not sure what to do, the doctor has said there is nothing wrong after I was given pred. I'm absolutely certain the weed cart has caused this, I spent a whole day documenting and writing out my timeline, and initially noticed this shortly after using the cart.

On one hand I'm hoping I'm imagining this and to leave it be, but the other hand I'm considering getting help again. I just feel like a fool going back, especially as the audiogram came back normal (following the single dose dose of pred). I need another dose of pred from the looks of it.

Anyone else here with a similar story?

I just got back from my ENT office, and the audiologist pointed out a 5-decibel drop in my hearing at the 4000 and 6000 Hz range in my good ear. It’s still above normal, but it’s enough to make me pay attention. She said my earbuds might be part of the problem and recommended switching to bone-conducting headphones.

I’ve used bone-conducting headphones before (Aftershokz), but I always felt like I needed to crank the volume way up to compensate for my open ears. I mentioned this concern, and she said that even at higher volumes, bone-conducting headphones are safer because they bypass the eardrum and middle ear, and don't give as much pressure. She said over the ear headphones will have the same problem. She even suggested looking for models that sit behind the ear for added safety.

Anecdotaly she said the local sheriff's department switched from the shoulder radio to binder conducting precisely for this reason.

Does anyone have experience with bone-conducting headphones for hearing health? Have you found them effective without blasting the volume? Are there specific models or brands that work particularly well? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

How long did it take? How did it play out?

and the hearing loss is likely permanent after all this time according to my doc.

I've not reached out for help with a community until now, but I'm struggling. From my understanding having severe SSHL at 24 (soon 25) is already a genuinely exceedingly rare thing to happen, and the vertigo just makes it so much more difficult. It's not total loss in my right ear, but it's enough that the ear is useless in nominal conversations, and significant enough that hearing aids seem much more like inconveniences and obstacles than doing any aiding for my hearing. It just becomes an annoyance and no matter how much I try to acclimatize to it I just get rid of it. I don't want to completely dox myself but the doctor I am seeing is incredibly prestigious at a university hospital so I'm in good hands medically speaking, this is more about the emotional effects. Though, if you have any advice medically, I would be inclined to hear it. When I ask an AI service or try to do my own research, big scary numbers about how rare it is for somebody at 24 (diagnosed at 23) to have it, like one in several hundred thousand, one in 500,000, just numbers that seem very imposing are given in response. I thought I've been okay the last year and a half but I don't think I am. My psychiatrist says I'm showing a lot of signs from PTSD, though those are likely related to my vertigo as well, so I'm reaching out to see if anybody here has any advice.

Firstly, does the vertigo get any better? It's episodic. Every 6 to 12 weeks appears to be the timetables for attacks. We've tried several things medically, but the best thing we've discovered is just steroid injections into my vestibular, as well as rubinal when I think an attack is coming. But when the attacks do happen I can be bedridden for several days, though that's only happened a couple times I'm still at least confined to my bed for a day during the episode. I can't underscore how bad they feel. I've never felt anything like them, and during my attacks if you offered hearing loss in both ears just to stop the vertigo I would accept it immediately. I'm also having issues with employment not wanting to make a reasonable accommodation regarding attendance during my episodic attacks. I might reach out to the EEOC soon with my most recent employer, but data on SSHL related vertigo specifically for attendance policy stuff leaves me wanting and nervous.

Secondly, support groups. Are those scary numbers kind of accurate with how rare it is to have SSHL and the accompanying vertigo at my age? I really want to find some support groups to help me with a lot of the issues I have, but anywhere I go just... I'm not ageist but everybody seems so old, and it's really hard to voice my own struggles because I interact with it such a young age compared to everyone else. I know hearing loss in general terms for 20-year-olds probably has better numbers nowhere the wacky percentages it gives me as there's lots of ways to lose hearing other than SSHL -- scratch that, almost assuredly is nowhere near those numbers -- but the level of hearing loss and vertigo does seem much rarer, to the point the groups I found with people in my age group (20s) almost always are more generalist total deaf groups and I'd feel like I'm impeding on a space I don't belong there. I don't even know ASL, and it's only one ear. I can still hear, sort of: my hearing test doesn't quite have my right ear as profound hearing loss, but as I stated in the above, my nominal day-to-day interactions I just can't use the ear. I can hear sounds but nothing distinguishing. So I've been craving social interaction with people who can better understand how hearing in one ear can be much more debilitating than it might seem, or even just being able to share the type of interactions with the world could probably do me a lot of good--at least according to my psychiatrist.

Third, does it get better? I thought I could deal with the hearing loss as long as my vertigo goes away, but it's at the point where I've noticed somebody could make fun of me straight to my face and I might just nod along because I can't hear them or understand them -- unless it's an ideal environment or they make an effort to speak to me on my left side. It's weird, because I always felt that going deaf in one ear would be like the most easy disability ever, but now that I have it, it's had such a profound impact on my ability to even interact with the world that I'm still kind of shocked. And that's not even total loss in that ear. It makes me feel dehumanized like there's some sort of issue with my intelligence, as if though I just can't interpret what they are saying properly. And people are in insensitive, and they will say things along the lines of 'I must have trouble understanding.' But I don't. I just can't hear them. It's so incredibly frustrating. I don't even like going out to restaurants because unless somebody is with me it's a coin flip whether or not I can order without help because I can't understand the waitress. I would take any advice I can get.