Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about sudden sensory neural hearing loss.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash SSNHL or in the ear, nose and throat section of the 0-2-finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Sudden sensory neural hearing loss, or SSNHL, is defined as hearing loss over less than 72 hours,

unexplained by other causes.

This is considered an autological emergency and requires immediate referral to the on-call ear-nose-and-throat team. The diagnosis is made when somebody rapidly loses their hearing

and no conductive cause for the hearing loss can be found.

It's worth mentioning the conductive causes of a rapid onset hearing loss,

and these are not classified as sudden sensory neural hearing loss.

And these conductive causes include earwax, or something else blocking the ear canal.

Infection, for example, otitis media or otitis externa,

which is infection in the middle ear with otitis media or the external ear with otitis external ear.

Fluid in the middle ear or an effusion, use station tube dysfunction or a perforated tympanic membrane.

With sudden sensory neural hearing loss, the hearing loss is most often unilateral, only affecting one side.

It may be permanent or it may resolve over days to weeks.

Let's talk about the causes of sudden sensory neural hearing loss. Most cases around 90% are

idiopathic, meaning that no specific cause can be found. Other causes of sudden sensory neural hearing loss include infection,

for example meningitis, HIV or mumps,

many airs disease,

autotoxic medications, for example gentomycin,

multiple sclerosis, a migraine, stroke, an acoustic neuroma or Cogan syndrome,

which is a rare autoimmune condition which causes inflammation of the eyes and the inner ear.

...