I honestly have no clue how to answer. My last hearing test was part of my DOT physical in 2003? They put me in a sort of phone both box with headphones on and told me to push the button when I heard the sounds in the headphones.

LOL I had too much trouble hearing the phones ringing in other rooms, people walking down the hallway talking to clearly hear the sounds. Their opinion was I had suffered some hearing loss in my right ear. 30+ years of sitting next to a turbo charged diesel engine or the sound proofed box wasn`t exactly that?

Maybe so, maybe no?

My bilateral hearing loss started when I was in my late 30s, not my earliest symptom, but not too far behind.

Loss is severe now, profound in a very few ranges, and is accompanied by what are probably cognitive issues, i.e word and sound processing problems as well as, during bad periods or days, pain with loud noises.

Degree of "processing" ability does seem to change a little with good days/bad days, and with what I now know were exacerbations. The actual loss is irreversible.

Hearing impairment has, until recently, been the hardest to deal with as it has left dh and me very isolated. Fortunately, he has always been reclusive and over the years, prior to major impairment, I had already slowed down on my social "flitting" ;) so it hasn't been as awful an adjustment as it might have been. :)
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Wow, all I can say is to make sure your neuro's all know your stories.

I too have had the and "pop" out and "fade back in" hearing in both ears and I totally don't believe there was an air bubble! Or the "fade out" and suddenly "come back" hearing. Tinnitus has always been a problem for me. As a child I had tubes in and out so many times that I lost count!

I will see if I can't get a hold of the article my neuro is referring too.

Frank, I do believe your problem with hearing is associated with that long list of music!!! :D

Tante, do they attribute your hearing loss to MS? Or something else? Have they ruled out AIED (autoimmune inner ear disease)? Have you had blood tests to rule that out? Do steroids help your hearing loss? Do you have any family history of hearing loss?

I'm just curious, because I think that degree of hearing loss is a bit unusual in MS, isn't it? Is something else perhaps going on?

Sorry if you've posted about this elsewhere and I missed it!

Can you get a cochlear implant? Do you have an audiologist who is knowledgeable and helpful about assistive hearing technology?

Nancy T.

Sometimes meds will cause hearing problems. My hearing loss (which was intermittent) and tinnitus was rectified by stopping Celexa.

Cherie

Nancy T
 

It has, for the past several years, and to some extent before that, been associated primarily, with my other neurological deficits/disorders....now diagnosed as MS.

One referral did feel it was due to a hereditary disease that would cause deafness and blindness...did no testing to support this, and NO relatives on either side lost hearing till quite old, and visual problems in family other than mine, are all due to aging eyes. The dr. that sent me to this person was really PO'd by the off the wall and unsubstantiated dx that took nothing below my neck into consideration

I have only had steroids twice, in o6, and I lost a tad bit more hearing then, and then have been on them now since November (tapering off) with no improvement in that regard.

I really don't know about the blood test, I have had a BAER which is abnormal.
I have never had tinnitus or dizziness though ...sounds as though it should go with AIED.

I know hearing impairment is not a typical MS symptom, but I was told degree of loss when it does occur can vary and mine has taken some time to get this bad with the major changes occuring, as in '05, with a nightmare episode /flair.

I was told no, that they weren't for my type of neurosenseral (sp?) loss, but I just did a quick search, and I don't see why not :confused: might ask again.

As for audiologists....so, so. I have $6,000.00 worth of computers in my ears, and have them adjusted real regularily. I also have amplifiers on 2 phones, a vibrating alarm clock, 2 weather alarm units, a dog who lets me know when there are people at the door. and a hubby who is used to "yelling" sweet nothings in my ear ;)

The point of this survey is that it is NOT regularly thought of as a MS symptom, but my neuro found some article (which I will try to get) that supports the theory that hearing loss can be associated with MS. It seems from what he read that this thinking may be changed around.

I think we should make sure our neuros know when or if we have ever had hearing problems.

I am wearing an aide in my ear of hearing loss that is believed to be from MS. There are no other explanations for my loss.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15732838

here is the article that my doctor found!

So I misunderstood what he said. This was one case. But he believes I may be also have had this for a first sx....

Hi Tante, thanks for the further info on your situation. What a bummer to have so much hearing loss.

So it really does sound like it's likely connected with your other symptoms and not a hereditary thing. (Don't you hate those off-the-wall, completely unsubstantiated diagnoses!!) I hope you don't have any further loss of your hearing. It must be frustrating to have this and not know the exact cause.

I feel very lucky that I only had the one-time loss and nothing since (in 9 years). I recently found out that my insurance WILL pay for a Baha (bone-anchored hearing prosthetic for single-sided deafness), so I'm really excited about that! (My speech discrimination in my bad ear is so bad that a conventional hearing aid won't help.)

My ABR was very abnormal on both sides but my right-side hearing remains perfect, thankfully.

Good luck to everyone suffering from hearing loss. It may be considered uncommon in MS, but uncommon doesn't mean nobody gets it! (Mine hasn't been attributed to anything definitively--most likely a vascular trauma from sneezing hard.)

Nancy T.