I believe I may have lost a significant amount of hearing in my right ear, in staged drops, over a period of around two and a half months?
I live alone in a near silent environment and do not go out so drops in my hearing wouldn’t have been immediately noticeable.
At first I noticed my right ear couldn’t hear the pita-pata of rain drops outside. Then around 10 days later my right ear felt warm and clogged one morning. Over the next few days, I realised that the hearing in my right ear seemed to have dropped by 75% but it could have been dropping gradually since the pita-pata rain incident (15 days or so earlier or perhaps even longer?).
Nearly two months later, I’d say the hearing in my right ear had dropped by 90%. A week after that and I can’t hear anything from my right ear unless the sound source is next to my right ear and at least 50 db. For example; I can rub my hands together (measured at 50 db) right next to my right ear and I hear it (at 15-20% loudness compared to the left ear). However, if I rub my hands together 30 cm away from my right ear then I can’t hear the rubbing. (For clarity; while testing one ear, I covered the opposite ear with an earmuff to ensure I was only hearing sound from the ear in question).
Now here is the odd thing: if I tap my right ear (my near deaf ear) with my fingers, I can hear it fine in my right ear. Also, if I scratch my right ear lobe or run my fingers along the bone behind my right ear lobe, I hear that fine too. In fact when I do the same things with my left ear, the loudness sounds quite similar to the right ear.
I have felt some tings of pressure and discomfort in my right ear over this 2-to-3 month period but nothing I’d call painful.
Anyone?