Small hearing "in-situ" fluctuations normal?

Well user172, I’d sure love to trade audiograms with ya!!! It’d make my day, you betcha!

I can empathize with your anxiety if this hearing loss is recent and you being in a profession where hearing is key.

That said, speaking for myself, my hearing varies a LOT depending on whether my aids are properly seated, AND (even wierder) depending on the weather. If there’s a drop in barometric pressure, my right ear kind of stops hearing. If temperatures go up overnight by a significant amount, both ears will start BONG! BONG BONGING!

Try to take deep breaths, relax, and KNOW that there are some remarkable solutions out there to compensate for hearing loss. No one has a crystal ball, so there’s no point in trying to second-guess your own condition.

@janofh said:

unless it’s a consistent change.

Thanks for your response. Can you please clarify what you mean by “consistent change?”

I agree with bluejay here! They’ve posted very good knowledge. I am similar in that I can have shifts depending on the weather, tiredness how much caffeine I’ve had, sleep amount, overall health i.e if I’m sickly my hearing bottoms out for a week or 2 and even medications they all can have a positive or negative impact on my hearing daily. For me my hearing drops when storms roll in we can travel through a front and boom my ears are going nuts and feel full and loose sounds I normally hear.

Certain medications can impact it too for me benadryl or any antihistamine that’s drowsy increases my tinnitus and occlusion feeling so I feel clogged. Tiredness is a big one so if I do a hearing aid test with an audiologist or Costco I absalutely need a good night’s sleep it allows me to clear my mind and often results in a slightly better test for certain high pitches.

If I sleep poorly like 4-5 hours my hearing results drop a few decibels down on high pitches. I queried with an audiologist years ago why.some tests show a tiny improvement and others show a tiny loss she went so many things can impact that, weather, elevation, allergies, illness, sleep heck even blood pressure increase, stress she explained that is why they did a yearly test for the long time to make sure I didn’t have any major sudden changes in losses. Now they recommend a 2 year wait
for me between tests unless I feel something bad changed just because it’s remained stable for 34 years.

It’s understandable to be anxious when you loose hearing suddenly, but testing yourself as often as you do will further increase that worry. Take some deep breaths there’s being cautious we all have moments of oh no did my hearing get worse. You can always reach out to your audiologist or ent if things don’t improve in a few weeks if you notice a big change.

Couldn’t have said it better! I also forgot to add that my ears go NUTS when taking certain meds - antibiotics used to just about kill them.

Your audi is perceptive and knowledgeable! All those things listed above are even more factors that impact hearing - at least for me with a sensorineural issue.

I especially like your advice about just letting go of the obsession! If the negative thought is out of one’s mind, it makes it easier to focus on other, more positive activities. Or so I’ve found after years of my own bouts with that.

@1Bluejay said:

at least for me with a sensorineural issue.

thanks for your insights and comments! was your hearing loss sudden? mine is SSNHL - didn’t know so many things could affect it! certainly helps me relax and not obsess over the minutia.

Yeah, I think my hearing loss was sudden - the split-second I was conceived! Born with hearing problem that took a NOSEDIVE after an Elton John concert at Dodger Stadium, then progressed down to it’s current plateau about 15 yrs ago… Not much wiggle room to go down from here tho, if that’s any compensation.