‘The
earlier
you
get
your
treatment
done,
the
better
the
chance
of
recovery.’
Alka
Yagnik
posted
this
week:
‘A
few
weeks
ago,
as
I
walked
out
of
a
flight,
I
suddenly
felt
I
was
not
able
to
hear
anything,’
and
then
shared
what
she
was
suffering
from.
Photograph:
Rediff.com
Archives
Singing
legend
Alka
Yagnik
shared
heart-breaking
news
this
week
when
she
announced
that
she
suffered
from
a
rare
sensory
neural
nerve
hearing
loss
due
to
a
viral
attack.
Just
what
does
that
mean
and
what
causes
it?
More
importantly,
how
can
we
avoid
it?
Dr
Suresh
Singh
Naruka,
Senior
Consultant,
ENT,
at
Apollo
Hospital,
Delhi,
has
been
treating
patients
for
15
years
and
does
a
quick
FAQ
with
Ronjita
Kulkarni/Rediff.com,
advising,
“Never
use
your
amplification
hearing
devices
like
headphones
and
Bluetooth
for
more
than
half
an
hour
in
one
go
and
try
to
moderate
the
intensity.
It
should
not
be
90
or
100
decibels.
If
you
want
to
enjoy
your
music,
45-50
decibels
is
fine.”
What
does
Sensory
Neural
Nerve
Hearing
Loss
mean?
The
ear
serves
two
functions.
One
is
to
make
ourselves
hear
the
world,
and
the
second
is
to
maintain
balance.
So
we
stand,
sit
and
we
walk
because
of
our
eyes,
our
ears
and
our
joints.
Like
other
organs
can
lose
their
functions,
the
ear
can
also
lose
their
functions.
Sudden
hearing
loss
means
the
functional
capacity
of
ear
goes
off
all
of
sudden.
The
ear
has
three
components:
The
outer
ear,
middle
ear
and
the
inner
ear.
The
outer
and
middle
ear
serve
transfer
the
sound
from
the
environment
to
the
inner
ear.
The
inner
ear
has
some
hair
like
cells,
which
transfer
the
sound
by
making
them
into
signals
to
the
brain.
This
is
how
we
hear.
Now
if
these
hair
cells
lose
their
function,
we
cannot
hear.
This
is
what
we
understand
as
hearing
loss.
Hearing
loss
is
bilateral
or
unilateral,
which
means
either
both
ears
or
it
can
affect
only
one
ear.
Sometimes,
the
ear
can
lose
function
but
not
completely.
So
the
hearing
loss
is
not
100
percent.
One
can
have
a
partial
sudden
hearing
loss
too.
Sensory
Neural
Hearing
Loss
means
the
inner
ear
is
not
functioning.
What
are
the
reasons
for
this?
There
are
two
types.
One
is
idiopathic,
which
means
we
don’t
know
the
reason.
Majority
cases
are
in
this
category.
In
the
second,
it’s
a
known
cause.
These
known
causes
can
be
sound
trauma,
viral
infection,
bacterial
infection
like
meningitis
and
trauma.
Sometimes
we
can
have
sudden
hearing
loss
because
of
tumors.
In
her
post,
Alka
Yagnik
cautioned
against
loud
music
and
headphones.
Is
that
also
a
cause?
Yes.
In
medical
science,
we
understand
these
situations
as
noise
trauma.
If
there
is
a
sudden
blast
or
if
you
go
to
a
(night)
club
where
there
is
loud
music
of
100
decibels
and
if
you
expose
yourself
to
that
for
more
than
30
minutes,
you
may
get
sudden
hearing
loss.
Is
this
age-related?
Sudden
hearing
loss
is
not
age-related.
Gradual
hearing
loss
is
age-related.
Nerves
start
aging
like
the
other
parts
of
the
body.
Diabetes,
chronic
diseases,
liver
disease
and
blood
pressure
can
make
the
nerve
age
faster.
But
sudden
hearing
loss
can
happen
at
any
age.
We
have
seen
kids
with
sudden
hearing
loss.
What
are
the
symptoms
for
Sensory
Neural
Nerve
Hearing
Loss?
Sudden
hearing
loss
itself
is
the
symptom.
Sometimes,
sudden
hearing
loss
is
associated
with
dizziness
or
imbalance
because
the
other
purpose
of
the
ear
—
balance
—
may
also
get
compromised.
They
may
also
feel
vertigo
and
vomiting,
but
not
always.
What
is
the
treatment
for
this?
Again,
there
are
two
types.
If
the
cause
is
known,
the
treatment
becomes
a
little
easier.
You
have
to
remove
the
cause.
Like
if
it
is
a
bacterial
infection,
you
remove
the
bacterial
infection
and
you
can
get
your
hearing
back.
If
it
is
a
tumour,
you
remove
the
tumour,
and
you
can
get
your
hearing
back.
But
the
most
important
factor
in
idiopathic
hearing
loss
is
time.
The
earlier
you
get
your
treatment
done,
the
better
the
chance
of
recovery.
Like,
if
you
have
any
organ
failure,
if
you
reach
hospital
faster,
the
chances
of
your
survival
or
your
organ
survival
is
better.
The
same
goes
for
the
ear.
If
you
have
sudden
hearing
loss,
and
you
reach
hospital
in
one
hour,
you
will
get
better
chances
of
recovery.
If
you
will
reach
in
one
day,
you
will
have
more
chances
of
recovery,
but
not
as
good
as
one
hour.
So
time
is
very
important.
For
treatment,
we
use
an
audiogram
to
check
the
hearing.
We
do
an
MRI
to
check
for
tumours.
We
sometimes
do
impedance
audiometry
to
identify
hearing
problems.
We
check
your
blood
sugar
and
do
a
thorough
check
on
any
other
illness
you
have.
We
can
start
giving
steroids
through
the
intra-tympanic
route.
There
is
a
window
in
the
ear,
the
round
window,
through
which
we
can
introduce
steroid
drugs
into
your
inner
ear
and
hyperbaric
oxygen.
Oxygen
can
sometimes
revive
your
organs.
What
are
the
precautions
against
this
condition?
Avoid
noise
pollution.
Whenever
you
are
having
fever
for
a
long
time,
correct
your
fever
because
in
some
cases
like
viral
fever,
one
can
have
hearing
loss.
Avoid
the
use
of
ear
buds.
Avoid
listening
to
loud
music.
Of
course,
other
things
like
avoid
smoking
and
alcohol,
blood
pressure
is
bad,
uncontrolled
sugar
is
bad.
We
all
know
that
we
should
take
care
of
these
things.
You
mentioned
ear
buds.
Can
you
please
elaborate?
Ear
buds
are
not
to
clean
ears.
The
purpose
of
ear
buds
is
to
apply
ointment
but
mistakenly,
we
use
ear
buds
for
cleaning
ears.
We
don’t
know
what
is
inside
our
ears.
We
use
ear
buds
blindly.
Suppose
if
our
ears
have
some
structural
abnormalities,
it
can
be
damaged
with
ear
buds.
A
blind
procedure
by
using
ear
buds
for
ear
cleaning
is
not
advisable
and
sometimes,
can
be
dangerous.
Sometimes,
you
can
also
stimulate
a
nerve
which
can
stop
the
heart
from
functioning.
You
can
have
syncope
and
be
unconscious
for
a
few
seconds
because
the
nerve
which
supplies
the
eardrum
is
also
supplying
the
heart.
To
stimulate
your
nerve
from
your
ear
can
stop
your
heart
to
function
for
a
few
seconds.
So
if
you
are
on
a
flight
of
stairs
at
that
time,
you
can
fall
down
and
have
other
injuries
too.
Would
you
say
this
condition
is
common
in
your
experience?
See,
it’s
not
uncommon.
Being
an
ENT,
working
in
Apollo
Hospital,
Delhi,
we
see
such
patients
weekly,
especially
the
youth,
who
use
hearing
amplification
devices
like
headphones
or
Bluetooth
too
often.
It
will
be
disastrous
if
we
keep
up
the
noise
pollution,
for
our
ears,
for
society…
You
know,
noise
is
not
good
for
animals
too.
If
it
can
impact
animal
behaviour,
it
is
impacting
our
behaviour
too.
If
you
are
habitual
of
using
headphones
all
the
time,
the
social
interaction
is
becoming
less
and
it’s
impacting
our
behaviour.
If
you’re
listening
to
music
or
watching
movies
or
videos
all
the
time
on
your
headphones,
you
are
on
your
own.
How
will
you
bond
with
the
others
around
you?
So
for
the
future,
this
is
not
something
we
recommend.
Dr
Suresh
Singh
Naruka.
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Dr
Suresh
Singh
Naruka
What
advice
would
you
give
our
readers?
Get
a
routine
check-up
of
your
ears
annually.
Never
use
your
amplification
hearing
devices
like
headphones
and
Bluetooth
for
more
than
half
an
hour
in
one
go
and
try
to
moderate
the
intensity.
It
should
not
be
90
or
100
decibels.
If
you
want
to
enjoy
your
music,
45-50
decibels
is
fine.
We
should
not
involve
ourselves
in
activities
which
include
loud
sounds
for
a
long
time
as
are
troubling
your
ear
as
well
as
your
brain.
Like,
if
we
are
going
to
a
(night)
club,
we
should
not
be
inside
for
more
than
an
hour.
Try
to
come
out
after
30
minutes,
so
you
can
relax
your
ears
so
that
they
are
ready
to
bear
that
noise
trauma
again.
If
you
are
in
a
club
for
a
long
time,
it
is
not
good
for
your
ears.
We
should
not
use
ear
buds
to
clean
our
ears.
You
can
introduce
infection.
You
can
even
traumatise
your
eardrum.
