Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL): Causes, Symptoms & Recovery

Dead ear is a condition called sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) or sudden deafness.

- SSHL occurs when you have rapid (usually within hours) hearing loss in one ear.

- It’s considered an inner ear problem because there’s often damage to tiny, delicate, inner-ear sensory hairs that translate incoming sound waves into electrical information transmitted to the brain to perceive sound.

- Causes are often unknown as most SSHL cases (90%) happen for no obvious reason (called idiopathic SSHL).