Looking for hope & acceptance experiences — how have those who suffered SSNHL/tinnitus moved on, accepted the trauma, and continued to live a decent, if not happy life? My sudden hearing loss feels like its ruining my life and my will to go on is fading.
Hi all
On February 3, 2026, I woke up with my right ear completely deaf. Luckily (can't believe I say this) with steroids and 20 HBOT, I was able to fully recovery 0-1500 Hz, and get 2000-8000 Hz up to - 60 db of loss (moderately severe), though most of this recovery likely occured before I even started HBOT. I am currently about to finish a 6 week trial of a Widex Allure hearing aid...it does not help with speech in noise, just makes my buzzing/staticky distortion at the steep cliff on my audiogram more salient (at least not louder though), and the only thing it does is provide a little bit of audio balance.
Tbh, the worst part about it is my emotional response to it —annoyance, anger, grief of the ability to hear in noisy bars and restaurants, have perfect hearing balance on both sides, and of course, constant tinnitus is challenging at times. Emotionally, I've had ups and downs — some weeks I feel back to normal, other weeks I am angry, depressed, and obsessively ruminating about my hearing loss and tinnitus and distortion. My tinnitus isn't as bad as it could be I know, I consistently test in at mid to high mild on the THI online test despite being able to hear it all the time, and luckily it does not affect my sleep.
I'm having another emotional setback for about a week and a half now, but this time it's less of an anxious one and more of a hopeless one, for the following reasons:
- A tonal, hissy tinnitus has started in my good ear, sometimes feels like its in both ears, feels related to the tinnitus I already have, as well as sometimes quiet clicks/shocks that almost seem like they are coupled with the bad ear tinnitus. My fear: what if it gets louder, more noisy, and doesn't stop getting louder? My tinnitus has genuinely gotten better since my initial loss for sure, so this new development is scary for me. I am also just so scared of developing new, louder tinnitus for no reason whatsoever...i don't know what I would do if this happened.
- My cherished relationship with my girlfriend is being tested — she said she feels like she is losing parts of me. At times it is hard for her to deal with my moods/emotions/obsessive rumination about my SSNHL/tinnitus, and I completely do not blame her. I feel incredible guilt for not being able to "tough it out" and continue to be bright, joyful, and motivated like I was just 4 months ago. She is tired of talking about my loss/tinnitus and the emotional aspects of it for the past 3 months. Good weeks are good, bad weeks are bad, and I am so afraid of losing her. She has said she would not leave me, and I am so grateful for her, but the guilt does not help.
- I just can't let go of the such bad luck of idiopathic SSNHL — I wasn't sick. I am a healthy 26 year old male who runs 16-20 miles a week and cooks all his meals. Wtf did I do to cause this? Why and how could this happen?! This in combination with the fear of new tinnitus, makes me think about suicide somewhat frequently.
I know this is a vent that is somewhat not related to SSNHL, but I am really looking for support from those who have been through it and have gotten to the other side. If you have any advice, support, or hope to share, I would love it. Thank you <3