Noted playback singer Alka Yagnik shocked her fans recently when she revealed that she had been diagnosed with a rare sensory hearing loss, a few weeks ago. Those who heard the news couldn’t believe that a person, who didn’t have any issues with hearing capability, could suddenly lose his/her hearing. ENT surgeon Dr Vinod B Nair speaks to us about the rare condition called sudden sensory neural deafness.
A person could be affected by sudden sensory neural deafness quite abruptly within minutes. It is not a gradual loss of hearing; in fact, you may have been able to hear until a minute ago. This is the most important symptom of the rare condition.
Sometimes, it may take up to 72 hours to lose your hearing. This rare condition usually affects only one ear. However, in Alka’s case, it is said to have affected both her ears, a condition that medical experts call rare.
In her social media post, Alka said that she suddenly felt she was not able to hear anything as she walked out of a flight. She added that she lost hearing in both ears by evening. Viral infection may be the reason why Alka has lost hearing in both her ears.
Sudden sensory neuro-deafness could be caused due to many reasons. Some of them are: 1) Viral infection 2) Changes that happen in blood circulation. For instance, just like a heart attack or brain stroke, a lack of proper blood supply to the ears may cause hearing loss.
3) Auto-immune diseases 4) Trauma caused by accidents too could be the reason for sudde.