Help with hear loss about a month ago in was admitted to the hospital through the er with n1h1, pneumonia, and the start of organ shut down because i am a type i diabetic. i pulled through with little complication. however i do have profound hearing los

It : It sounds like the infection has caused fluid in your middle ear which blocks the vibration from gettign through. Good news is that most get better on their own , bad news is that may take up to 2 months. You may get benefitt from an ENT draining the fluid and possible putting in tubes. Another type of hearing loss is due to damage to the cochlea (turns vibrations into nerve impulses) or the hearing nerve (carries the nerve impulses from the cochlea to the brain). This can be due to age, loud noise exposure, some medications... The fluid causing hearing loss can be treated or it can resolve on its own. The nerve type hearing loss cannot be treated, but can respond well to hearing aid usage. I think you shoul dfollow through with tht appintment to the ENT or try to find one that can get you in quicker (maybe he has a partner with open times).

You : You should get a copy of the hearing test and look at the tympanogram and the reading. If the tympanogram is type b and you have a conductive loss, ear tubes may help if you have had no improvement with the antibiotics. If you have a sensorineural hearing loss, tubes will not help. If mixed, it may. You can also look at the speech discrimination score, if it is over 80%, you may also be a good candidate for hearing aids and may want to try an otc one to see if it helps. The speech discrimination score is the percentage of words you got right during the test when the words were spoken at a level you could hear at. The higher the number, the more likely the hearing aid will help. Good luck.