Adventures in Hearing Loss & Tinnitus
***UPDATE*** Oct. 2024 – Major Story Update here
The aim of this blog is to put together an account of my experiences of sudden hearing loss, single sided deafness and severe tinnitus.
I hope it’s a unique and useful resource- evidence based, but informed by experience. Hopefully it can act as a roadmap and information source for people in a similar situation. I hope to maintain a library of research and resources that I found useful along the way with guidance that may help in navigating health systems to get the help you need. Zotero is a free system for managing references to scientific papers, websites and other resources. The link above will bring you to the overall library list. You can use the tag icon to find specific types of papers.
An important caveat: this is not medical advice. It reflects my own personal experience. Seek urgent ENT help if you have sudden hearing loss. Learn more here: https://youtu.be/9XHYksDWZL4
I am writing this one year to the day since I woke up with no hearing on my left side on December 26th 2021. This series of blog posts is an account from the time, edited and polished a little. On New Year’s Day 2023 my family and I got up at crazy o’clock to get a flight to Berlin to get my cochlear implant activated on January 3rd. This blog posts below will follow the story of recovery and rehabilitation.
- Single Sided DeafA belated Christmas present arrived at the tail end of 2021. I went to bed with normal hearing and woke up with a blocked feeling and no hearing in my left ear.… Read more: Single Sided Deaf
- The ChamberFriday, Jan 7th and the call comes- I’m COVID-negative and the team has been assembled. The hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) session will start at 3:30. The trip to Galway is preceded by… Read more: The Chamber
- Get Out There & LiveWith the hyperbaric treatment complete it’s time to get back to work and experience the impact of my hearing loss beyond home and family. I have to meet with occupational health for… Read more: Get Out There & Live
- A Day in the LifeI’ll break from the chronological approach of the posts to date now and explore the impact of sudden hearing loss. I haven’t completely lost my hearing and the capital D Deaf community… Read more: A Day in the Life
- Tinnitus TalkIt’s time to talk tinnitus. I’m borrowing the title from a podcast that I found really helpful. Run by a group of volunteers with tinnitus, I went through all the episodes and… Read more: Tinnitus Talk
- Seeking SilenceSo tinnitus sucks and I try to find ways to avoid it and to deal with what is unavoidable. I learn Vampire Weekend’s Harmony Hall as a challenge before I go back… Read more: Seeking Silence
- Happy OutElation. A badly needed megadose of good news. Like a baby being born healthy or winning the lottery or getting into college. My application for cochlear implant surgery was approved by the… Read more: Happy Out
- The TripIt’s early November and I’ve left work for the final time for a while. I had spent a few weeks repeating my story and the plan at work. There was fantastic support… Read more: The Trip
- Recovery 130/11/22 After admission I’m wheeled on my bed to Theatre. I get a tour of the ceilings of the Spezialchirurgische Kliniken on the way. After Theatre check in and multiple identity and… Read more: Recovery 1
- Recovery 2It’s great to be on the open road heading for home. The ear feels good. No more pain relief today and I manage fine. I sleep in a makeshift headband to ensure… Read more: Recovery 2
- Activation02/01/23 Day before activation We put in a full touristy day in Berlin. It was a great distraction. There was a degree of disbelief that I had reached this stage. I was… Read more: Activation
- The Starlings11/01/23 Day 8 after activation I drop my kids to their piano lesson. In the relative silence of the car, I turn on Programme 4 (the loudest) and listen to the rain… Read more: The Starlings
- The Wall25/01/23 22 days after activation I try to surround myself with sound and increase opportunities for streaming to the CI. A long walk to a seawater pool across town combines badly needed… Read more: The Wall
- Tinnitus Research Initiative 2023 PresentationThe transcription below is from my presentation at the Sound Stimulation session at the TRI 23 Conference in Trinity College Dublin on June 8th 2023. It has been edited to remove all… Read more: Tinnitus Research Initiative 2023 Presentation
- What Does it Sound Like?21/02/23 I’m sitting in the Tuam Library reading in a comfy chair in good light. Time and place: The early 1970s. A pub in a town in east Galway. How can you… Read more: What Does it Sound Like?
- Lost & Found10/05/23 My eldest is playing the Elliott Smith song Lost & Found on the piano. It jauntily plinkety-plonks its way through the house on the regular while she perfects it. It lifts… Read more: Lost & Found
- Two Years OnI’m writing this on December 26th 2023, St. Stephen’s Day in Ireland. It is two years to the day since I woke up with no hearing in my left ear. On Christmas… Read more: Two Years On
- Stereo Dreams05/02/24 I dream in stereo. I only realised this recently. In my dreams it’s my good old natural polyphonic stereo hearing. Maybe this will change in time and I’ll have a cochlear… Read more: Stereo Dreams
- Finding Gibbet HillThis book excerpt outlines how my sudden sensorineural hearing loss led me to a major literary discovery and a very meaningful step in my recovery and the overall arc of this blog.… Read more: Finding Gibbet Hill
noisy silence 