Readers Respond: Varied Causes of Hearing Loss

Learn more about one cause of hearing loss, noise.

Bacterial Meningitis

After having repeated ear infections, I was almost 2 years old when I had bacterial meningitis, and had been in the hospital with IVs full of antibiotics. Six months later, my parents noticed I only said 1 or 2 words, and that I never heard them when they called me. I was diagnosed with severe to profound loss, and wear super powered hearing aids since then.

—Guest Nancy

Congenital Rubella

My mother contracted rubella in the mid-60's while pregnant with me, resulting in deafness.

—Guest Myself

Mother - Scarlet Fever

My mother went deaf when she was 4 or so to Scarlet Fever, which is a very high fever + it affected her sight + her vocal cords.

—Guest my mother

Earphones and Hearing Los

There has been enough proof that earphones connected to walkman/ipods etc does contribute to hearing loss. I got rid of my walkman when the Hearing Aid study I was involved in told me back in the early 90's to stop doing that. People in rock bands such as THE WhO told people to wear ear protection when going to rock concerts. There is enough evidience out there that such things matter. Being someone with an hearing disability is difficult enough and one must prevent it.

—Guest booky

Own Stupidity Started It

I partially lost hearing in my left ear due to my own stupidity. My Dad was shooting off fireworks, when I was about 8 or 9 years old. And I thought that 1 of was a d"dud". Well, I went to look in the pipe that he was using to shoot them from, and it exploded inside the pipe. That was my left ear. I was about 34 when, I lost some hearing in my right ear, when coming home from vacation.My ears didn't pop on the airplane. I even tried chewing gum, and they still didn't pop.

—Guest Peggy Knecht

Autoimmune Disease

I'm 43. I awoke deaf 1/1/2010. I have MS, Fibromyalgia, Epilepsy, & diabetes. That combination along with chemotherapy & years of narcotic pain medicines took my hearing....

—Guest Mickey

From a Cap Gun (Remember Those?)

When I was in 9th grade, I tried to wrestle away a cap gun from my friend at school. As i was doing that, the cap gun shot. I've been HOH in my left ear ever since because it went off right next to my ear.

—Guest Cee Kay

Firecrackers

I was about 10 or 11 years old when I lost hearing in my left it was immediate hearing lost. I was at annual Forth of July show it was the town's final show. A teenage boy set a M-80 off close to my left ear. It did not scar my body but it blew my ear drum in not out which has puzzled many doctors. Now many years later I am losing hearing in my right ear for overcompensation of hearing for my left ear.

—IrisMarie

Genetics/Mumps

When I was about 5 years old, I had the mumps, along with a high fever. My older brother was born profoundly deaf and the doctor actually thought I 'wanted' to be deaf like him... They gave me hearing tests and I was able to trick the audiologist by using her body movements and her eyebrow twitching, along with her suggestive glancing at me to obtain a perfect audiology score! Once they were on to me, I failed my tests miserably. Therefore, after all these years, I still cry when they ask me to take hearing tests!!! My mother ended up being the 1st person in the state of MN to have a cochlear implant at the U of MN - Twin Cities in hopes of helping my brother and I to someday have the ability to hear again.. Not! Like another writer, I, too, am stuck in between the hearing and the Deaf community. I was told NOT to learn ASL as a child. Now as I get older it's frustrating! I am happy for the kids that now get "help" while in school. IF only someone had provided me with notes...

—TanguerayLu

Vicodin Addiction

Addiction affects so many things in our society. People with the money or in an occupation with unlimited access to opiates like vicodin can lose their hearing from taking these drugs in high doses. I did, sometimes it makes me feel less than other deaf people who loss their hearing through no fault of their own, but it was an illness and should be one of the things they warn people who think abusing opiates is ok especially teenagers. Telling them they can go deaf will scare them more than a lot of warnings out there.

—Guest anonymous

Premature Birth

I was born 3 months premature, 3 lb. 7 oz. I was always sick with bronchitis, pneumonia, soar throats and ear infections. I had pneumonia at age 3 and was hospitalized. I have always had tinnitus far back as I remember and back then they did nothing to help you. I am now 43 and got my ears checked for the first time and found out I have mild to moderate hearing loss in my left ear and moderate to savere loss in my right ear. I still don't know how i'm going to get my hearing aids or where when I live off $690 a month. My ears keep getting worse too.

—Guest Candy Hagy

Measles & Pregnancy

Measles, around aged 9. I was sick for 3 weeks and was delirious some of the time. The doctors think this is what set of my progressive hearing loss. However, every time I was pregnant (& I had 3 children) I also noticed my hearing deteriorate.

—Guest Felicity

Did Ototoxic Drugs Cause It?

I could hear perfectly well before being hospitalized for complications associated with leukemia. At some point I suffered from hypoxia which caused some neurological issues which have since cleared up. There was also extended treatment with Vancomycin, one dose of Gentamicin, and chemotherapy including Vincristine, and intrathecal methotrexate. All I know is I could hear a pin drop, then over the course of a week or two, my hearing dissipated until it was completely gone. It has been six months now, and the doctors have failed to step up and offer any responsibility or reasonable explanation. They just said it might come back because the cochlea is intact and the eighth nerve is okay. Then they shrug their shoulders and shake their heads and tell me they have never seen this situation before, not very reassuring. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

—Freezywhat

Acute Intermittent Porphyria

This little known genetic condition can have a huge range of symptoms, that mask the true problem. Unless very severe AIP is treated as symptomatic of other diseases, including Meniere's, Asthma, Hand and Foot Drop, Reyenald's, severe abdominal pain, leg pain, all over numbness w/wo tingling, etc... I have had progressive loss of hearing since I was 16yrs old. I have also been treated for asthma since I was 25 yrs old. It was not until my sister had extreme symptoms that AIP was discovered to be inherited cause of my families' health problems. We each suffer from some illness and unfortunately pass it one to our children.

—Deer1313

Plain ol' ear infection

This is what I've always been told. My father worked swing-shift and I was sick a LOT of days because of my stomach, starting when I was 3 days old. The day I had the ear infection none of the 5 'big folks' in my home noticed anything different until I got up the next day and was still sick. I don't know how long it was after that before they finally took me to a doctor. But my mother always denied there was anything wrong with my hearing, and it was my much older cousins we visited a few times a year that confirmed I had hearing loss as a child.

—LeCherie