Blog | Atlanta Hearing Associates | Milledgeville, GA (2024)

FAQs

How long does a blocked ear take to clear? ›

Your ears will most likely go back to normal after a couple of days if the blockage is caused by air pressure. You might have to wait for your immune system to kick in if your blockage is due to an ear infection (and, if it's the latter, antibiotics can really help). This may take up to a couple of weeks.

Spatial hearing loss refers to a form of deafness that is an inability to use spatial cues about where a sound originates from in space. Poor sound localization in turn affects the ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise.

Typically, your hearing will return to normal as soon as the infection has been fully treated. For most ear infections, this takes one to two weeks. Severe or chronic cases may take longer, anywhere from two to six weeks.

Behavioral Audiometry Evaluation will test how a person responds to sound overall. Behavioral Audiometry Evaluation tests the function of all parts of the ear. The person being tested must be awake and actively respond to sounds heard during the test.

If your ears are plugged, try swallowing, yawning or chewing sugar-free gum to open your eustachian tubes. If this doesn't work, take a deep breath and try to blow out of your nose gently while pinching your nostrils closed and keeping your mouth shut. If you hear a popping noise, you know you have succeeded.

Pseudoephedrine is used to relieve nasal or sinus congestion caused by the common cold, sinusitis, and hay fever and other respiratory allergies. It is also used to relieve ear congestion caused by ear inflammation or infection. Some of these preparations are available only with your doctor's prescription.

Your brain is able to do this by comparing tiny differences in the way that sounds affect each ear. A noise coming from the right is slightly louder in your right ear, and reaches it fractionally earlier than your left. A sound in front or behind affects each ear the same way, with intermediate effects in-between.

If you can't hear conversations when there's background noise, it's likely because your ears have trouble filtering out the environmental sounds. Trouble hearing even with mild background noise is often the first symptom of moderate hearing loss or auditory processing disorder (APD).

Silence is a 'sound' you hear, study suggests

It was that the same illusions that scientists thought could only be triggered with sounds worked just as well when the sounds were replaced by silences.

Ear infections are common in childhood. As with your daughter, some kids do have temporary hearing loss due to the build up of fluid in the middle ear, but it usually goes away with treatment. It's very rare, however, for kids to develop permanent hearing loss, even when they've had several ear infections.

How long can you go deaf with an ear infection? ›

An ear infection can cause hearing loss in a child, but the symptom is usually temporary and can last a few weeks or more even after the infection clears. An ear infection can cause hearing loss in a child, but the symptom is usually temporary and can last a few weeks or more even after the infection clears.

A myringotomy is a procedure to create a hole in the ear drum to allow fluid that is trapped in the middle ear to drain out. The fluid may be blood, pus and/or water. In many cases, a small tube is inserted into the hole in the ear drum to help maintain drainage.

What should a person do if their ears will not pop? If the ears feel persistently blocked, a doctor will likely investigate to find out the reason and treat the underlying cause. They may prescribe decongestants, steroids, or antibiotics, depending on the cause.

Muffled hearing can be temporary—lasting anywhere from a few hours to several days depending on the cause—or a permanent condition.

Your provider can also flush out the wax using a syringe filled with warm water and saline or diluted hydrogen peroxide. Medicated ear drops may also be recommended to help soften the wax, such as carbamide peroxide (Debrox Earwax Removal Kit, Murine Ear Wax Removal System).