I am sorry to hear that your mum has been so disturbed by the hearing loss and ringing noise in her ear for the past 8 years!
Sudden hearing loss is regarded as an "ENT emergency" i.e. if you lose your hearing suddenly, you should seek medical help as soon as you can so that appropriate medications may be started as early as possible to maximise the chances of hearing recovery.
Frankly speaking, the best chances for recovery of her hearing would have been within the first 72 hours, with many patients noticing that the peak time of recovery is within the first 2 weeks after having lost their hearing suddenly. Many ENT doctors will treat with medications up to the 6 week window: After this window, the chances of recovery begin to fall drastically. At 8 years after the sudden hearing loss happened, I'm afraid the chances of hearing recovery are very low.
I do hope that your mum has had an MRI scan of her inner ear as inner ear nerve tumours can present in a similar manner and may be the underlying cause of her sudden hearing loss. Many patients have normal MRI scans though and current research suggests that the sudden hearing loss is linked to underlying viral inflammation or perhaps, a tiny blood clot which has entered the inner ear and blocked off its blood supply.
Treatment of the sudden hearing loss within the 6 week window usually consists of a course of high dose steroid tablets and/or steroid injections into the affected eardrum which can be done smoothly and painlessly in our clinic. There is an approximately 30-50% chance of recovery of the hearing loss. What is more difficult to predict is whether the tinnitus (ringing noise in ear) will improve afterwards.
Just like in your mum's case, if the hearing fails to improve, then a hearing aid is trialled because it can also help mask the disturbing tinnitus. From my experience with many of my patients and their families, wearing a hearing aid and learning to adapt to the new quality of sound takes time, patience and perseverance. Tinnitus counselling and emotional support of the patient by my audiologist and myself is important to ensure that she continues to wear her hearing aid daily. Some hearing aids are also designed as "masking devices" which emit a band of noise at a certain frequency level to try to counter the tinnitus.
We also prescribe special supplements to try to improve the blood supply of the inner ear but results may vary from patient to patient. Simple aids to help your mum adapt to the tinnitus, especially at night, may take the form of machines which softly play certain soothing music or sounds in the background.
I do not know how severe your mum's hearing loss was, whether it was mild, moderate or severe. We find that if the hearing loss was partial, then the chances of recovery and adaptation are much better compared to cases of complete or severe hearing loss. Some patients with extremely disturbing tinnitus and complete hearing loss opt to go for a cochlear implant (inner ear implant) as all the above options have failed to help them.
So Jennifer, we do have a few options available to help your mum but the best way forward is always to see the patient herself to explore which option may be the most suitable one for her.
