Probably Going Deaf

[danalwyn]

This post contains discussion of bodily function, although not one that's usually considered in the gross category, or actually considered at all.



So I've spent most of the past week deaf in one ear.

This happened last Thursday morning, when I blew my nose and my ear immediately clogged up. I thought it was a simple fluid problem in the inner tube, so I waited for it to go away, but it didn't. It did reduce my hearing in my right ear by about 50% or so, meaning that I could really hear only out of my left ear. That was very annoying, and I kept expecting my ear to pop, but although it made some of the right noises, it never actually popped.

After several days, I moved up an appointment with a specialist (apparently the words "suddenly deaf" form some sort of magical formula to use on doctors), and the doctor told me my problem was probably earwax.

Well, actually, he didn't. He didn't say anything actually. He just told me that I had earwax buildup, and in order to properly see my eardrum (which is how they check for fluid buildup), he was going to have to clean out my ears. So they set me up in this chair that looked like a dentist's examination chair, and, after what seemed like a brief tug-of-war, he extracted a chunk of earwax from my ear about half the size of the fingernail on my little finger.

Then he started pulling out the really big chunks, and I realized that this problem might be more serious then I thought. He got most of them like that, but eventually he had to switch to the ear vacuum, which I promptly clogged, and had to wait while he unclogged it. But eventually they managed to get all the impacted earwax out of my ear, after which they had to clean out the left ear (lots of wax, but no impaction).

The doctor asked me if that helped once he had extracted everything from the right ear. The first thing I said was "That feels much better." The second thing I said was "That's not my voice."

Truth to tell, I've never figured out a particularly good way to deal with earwax, so mostly I ignore it, which was probably a bad idea. But it was so deep, thick, and crammed in there that nothing short of sulphuric acid probably would have dented it. It's probably built up for years, and I've never known what to do with it, so I've just let it sit (which was probably a bad idea). But now that it's out, I can hear properly.

More, I can hear in frequency registers that I haven't been able to hear in ten years or more. Apparently earwax absorbs better in certain frequencies then in others, and the pitch of several sounds has changed noticeably. I also seem to be much more sensitive to high frequency noises, such as those caused by friction, scratching, and scraping. This changes the way the world is around me.

And even though my hearing is now more sensitive then it's ever been, I suspect I'm about to lose it. I find things to be very different. For instance, with my old hearing, I was playing my car radio on setting 11 and 12. Now I play it on 5 and 6, unless I'm in a fairly quiet section of road, at which I play it on 4, or less. At that volume, background noise is intense. I find the sound of the car's blinkers to be extraordinarily loud, as is the sound of me putting on my sweatshirt, or the sound that birds make in the morning. Some things that were, just a day ago, background noise, are now almost unbearably loud. It is very difficult to describe how much this change has affected me; the world seems sharper and clearer now then I can ever remember; everything seems different, like I've woken up in a dream, where everything around you is the same, but just a little bit different. But it is all very new, and very, very loud.

So I wonder if all this constant assault of noise is going to wear the edge off my new hearing. I'm almost worried about going deaf, even though I basically just learned how to hear. It's an absurd sort of thing to worry about; since I doubt that I'll go back to being as deaf as I was before, but I'm still worried, and am beginning to consider wearing earplugs all the time.

I'm beginning to think I'm insane.

Comments

[lookingforwater.livejournal.com]

....first off, eww. Qtips are your friend.

Second, you aren't gonna go deaf, you just need to adjust to being able to fucking hear for the first time ever.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Actually, Q-tips are not your friend, because unless you can see what you're doing (and I can't because I can't see in my ear) you have a pretty high chance of packing earwax deeper in your ear, where you can't get it out at all. I think that was partially to blame for the impaction, although I stopped doing that years ago. This is actually a problem with some people, and I think I fall in that category. Current medical knowledge seems to indicate that you shouldn't really do anything about earwax, and that trying can lead to problems like mine.

But I like my superhuman hearing. I can hear Canada (okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but whatever).

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

There's no need to worry -- your brain will adjust to the new hearing after a few days, and it will become "normal". The extremes will also flatten out. Right now what's happening is your perceptions were tuned to making things out through the clogging, so you're hyper aware now that the "filters" have been removed. Once the increased input settles in, the extremes will go away.

Did your doctor talk to you about lessening the ear wax buildup? There are a number of fairly simple over the counter things you can do to keep wax build up down, such as periodically putting a few drops of mineral oil or hydrogen peroxide in your ear, and then flushing it gently with warm water. When I'm working outside in heavy wind I find I have to do this myself, because the wax builds up to annoying levels in response to the wind and the dust and grit being blown into the ear.

[lil-monk.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you'll be able to hear yourself think one quiet night, or certain things that humans shouldn't be able to hear. And that would be interesting. It definitely would add dimensions to your writing.

If it helps, drive down to a beach or river at night, and see what you observe. The time for epiphanies are ripe :)