What Causes Sudden Hearing Loss In An Elderly Person?

Posted on Thu, 2 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 2 Jun 2016 Answered on

Tue, 5 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My mother age 90 has had hearing loss for several years. She has recently gotten a hearing aid and it was much better, she had gotten used to it. Two days ago, she took it out, went to bed and the next am she could not hear with it or without it. Took her to audiologist and had her hearing aid checked and it checked out good. She had been to the same Dr. the day she stopped hearing and I had the aid checked out the next day and as I said, it was good. Took her to our family Dr. yesterday and he could not find any thing abnormal in her ear.
Any ideas
Thanks, xxxxxxxx

Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Ear wax

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

You are wondering why your mother's hearing aid stopped working. Despite what your medical provider said I would think that your mother has ear wax up against the ear drum impacting her ability to hear. I would recommend that she see an ear nose and throat doctor to get a real good look at the ear canal and the possibility of wax blocking the ear drum. If her ear canal is narrow medical providers may not be able to fully see the ear drum and an ear nose and throat doctor will have better equipment to see if there is wax on the ear drum or fluid behind the ear drum.

I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar