Yesterday I briefly experienced a hearing problem. So I thought I’d see if anyone knows what it was. Below is an audio simulation of what I heard.


To be clear, my hearing is currently back to normal. As a musician, however, this was disturbing to me when it happened. Obviously I’ll discuss it with my doctor. But if anyone knows something about this condition, please chime in.

this is a neurological issue
My dad had this same issue.
Get checked for tumors, parkensons, a minor stroke in the auditory portion of the brain (which was his - slight distortion, sounds that seemed "hollow")

Hopefully it is nothing serious. But if you start feeling pressure when it happens, dizziness, get to the ER.

Shit, sitting and lying...well, that's me too, but it's often 1-note diplacusus or a few notes. Tinnitus always starts too and always one ear. Prednisone is the only thing that can help and it doesn't always work unfortunately... I know because I have irreversible damage that has set in and I know for certainty that it will NOT go away.

And it is absolutely neurological. Probably a tiny stroke. I've had 17 episodes. Drs suspect Menieres, but I suspect otherwise. I think I'm farqed, to be honest. This will keep happening until I suffer another damage to yet another section of my hearing until such point I give up altogether.

It's hard, but I suspect this is underpinned by a genetic issue. IOW, you can't really fix it, nor prevent it. Just exercise, eat good food, and drink plenty of water. Avoid ototoxic drugs, if possible, if a doctor says you don't need to take them, and avoid stress. Above all, AVOID STRESS.

It could be anything. Its important to keep a record of how often it happens and what happened before it. If it only happened once, ignore it. If it happens regularly, then see the doc. It's important to keep a diary of when this happened and what happened the day before and so on. What you ate, food, moods, sleep schedule, alcohol / drug use and so on.

FWIW.. I have epilepsy and have been living with it for most my life. Your family doctor will refer you to either an ear/nose, throat specialist or a neuro if she/he thinks its important. My advice, go the ENT specialist -- the neuro will do a EEG and MIR and then if they find nothing, just want to give you brain meds and take away your driving license. The problem with brain meds is they interact with the brain (duh!!) and they all have some sort of brain side effect -- from psychological to cognitive of some kind.

Tell me about those side effects. I've gone into rages where I thought I would literally destroy every object in the room and then some.

I decided that the risk of self-harm was not worth it for taking those meds, even if they were beneficial. Also, those same meds are also quite ototoxic, I know that at least three of the meds I tried were.

Oh yeah. Truth .

Which leaves me with no real options...

Well, I guess you need to decide what risks you are comfortable accepting in life. In my case, if I don't take the medication i run a much higher risk of dying in my sleep or car accident and leaving my kids fatherless.

FWIW.. I have been living with my condition for many decades, I have embraced strategies of coping with the medication and side effects.

That being said, if anyone new to this world is ever prescribed any sort of med which interacts with the brain, i highly recommend you also ask that doctor to also give you a medical note to take time off work as well, so you can adjust to the new med. You run a very high risk of having human interaction problems at your place of work and possibly losing your employment which will put you into a worse situation because you will be sick, on new meds, and also be out of work and broke.

OP here. Thanks to all for your responses. This has happened to me only twice—years apart, and has quickly gone away each time. It’s unnerving when it happens. (If it ever happens and doesn’t go away, my life as a musician is over.)

For the moment, exercise and proper posture seems to keep things kosher. And it’ll be on the agenda at my next annual check-up.

Old age isn’t for sissies.

If it ever happens, take heavy doses of steroids and do it IMMEDIATELY. Don't wait for it to go away because if it doesn't and you keep waiting for days and days that damage eventually becomes permanent.

This also applies to Menieres disease as well. It could well be due to a virus attacking the vestibulocochlear nerve as well, herpes and EBV (which is a type of herpesvirus) can cause this.

It's called diplacusis. I have one-note diplacusis, it requires a certain set of notes/voices to trigger it, but it doesn't bother me as much as the fullness/congestion in the affected ear.