What happened to my ears suddenly becoming hard of hearing?

The ears are used to hear sounds. If you suddenly cannot hear clearly, you should consider whether it is sudden deafness. If you suddenly lose hearing ability, you must pay attention to it and beware of viral infection. There are many reasons for hearing loss, and treatment should be targeted at the cause. So, what happens when you suddenly lose your hearing?

1. Viral infection is one of the main causes. Some patients have suffered from colds or viral infections caused by other diseases before the onset of the disease. Some people speculate that the inner ear is infected and inflamed by the virus, causing this disease. There are many studies on deafness caused by viral infections, including measles virus, mumps virus, varicella-zoster virus, syphilis, AIDS, typhoid and some cold viruses. The victims are mainly children and adolescents, with a low proportion of adults, and most of the cases occur in one ear.

2. Impairment of blood supply to the inner ear. The blood vessels supplying the inner ear are long and thin. Many factors can affect the blood supply to the blood vessels. For example, heart disease and low blood pressure can cause insufficient blood vessel pressure. High blood pressure has little effect in the early stages, but can reduce blood vessel elasticity in the later stages. Atherosclerosis can cause the blood vessels to narrow. Long-term smoking, alcoholism, mental stress, insomnia, etc. can cause temporary spasm of the blood vessels supplying the inner ear and interrupt blood supply. In addition, patients with weak constitution and long-term bedriddenness often form small blood clots in their blood vessels. After the blood clots break off, they may flow with the blood to the blood vessels in the inner ear and block them. After the inner ear is ischemic, the hair cells that sense sound will degenerate or even die, and the auditory nerve that transmits signals will temporarily lose its function, causing sudden hearing loss. If timely treatment is given at this time, the changes in hair cells and auditory nerves can return to normal, and hearing will improve accordingly.

3. Autoimmune diseases. Some autoimmune patients, such as those with systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Kogan's disease, also suffer from sudden deafness in both ears. The reason may be that their autoimmune antibodies destroy part of the structure of the inner ear.