Causes of unilateral hearing loss
Unilateral hearing loss can be caused by a number of things, including:
- Injury to the ear or head
- Perforated eardrum
- Ménière’s disease (a chronic condition affecting the inner ear)
- Mastoiditis (an infection of the bone behind the ear)
- Labyrinthitis (an inner ear infection)
- Microtia (a congenital condition that affects the development of a child’s ears)
- Viral infections like measles, mumps and meningitis
- A benign tumour on the nerves in the ear (acoustic neuroma)
- Impacted earwax or an object in the ear
Symptoms of unilateral hearing loss
The most obvious symptom of unilateral hearing loss is the difference in hearing levels between your ears. One will retain its usual levels, and the other has an obvious difference.
As well as this, people with this type of hearing loss often find it difficult to separate background noise from the sound they want to focus on, like when someone is speaking. You might also find it difficult to interpret which direction certain sounds are coming from.
Treatment for unilateral hearing loss
Treatment will depend on the extent of your hearing loss, and what its underlying cause is. Generally, treatment options include things like:
- Antibiotics to clear an infection
- Removing impacted earwax or a foreign object from the ear
- Hearing aids
- Surgery to repair any damage causing the hearing loss
A hearing expert will be able to find out how your hearing is affected and suggest the right treatment option for you.
Profound unilateral hearing loss
A profound hearing loss in one ear means that you are unable to hear anything at all in one ear, while the other ear retains normal hearing. It’s also sometimes referred to as single-sided deafness.
Living with single-sided deafness
If you have profound unilateral hearing loss, or single-sided deafness, a challenge to hear in noisy environments, or to locate the direction sound is coming from. But there are some things you can do to help:
- Let people know you can’t hear out of one ear – they’ll know not to sit next to you on that side or make sure you’re sitting somewhere where you can be involved.
- Talk to your hearing expert about treatment options .like CROS hearing aids.
- Find support and advice online or in your community. Our hearing experts in store can help.
Hearing aids for single-sided hearing loss
If hearing loss is having an impact on your lifestyle, you might benefit from CROS hearing aids, a hearing system specially designed for people with a unilateral hearing loss.
People with this kind of hearing aid will need to wear a device in both ears. One is worn on the side that has the hearing loss and the information collected is then transmitted across to the gother ear, which is wearing the receiver. This helps to collect sound that would usually not be heard.
For existing hearing aid wearers in situations where hearing is more difficult (like if you’re in a busy place), you might find it helpful to use an assistive device, such as a remote microphone. The remote microphone helps by being close to the speaker(s) and streaming the signal directly to the hearing aids, cutting out some of the background noise.
