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Comment by GeorgeWBasic | Hacker News Reader

I recall reading that discussion when it was first posted. There was something I didn't understand at the time, and now that it's brought up again, I want to ask: He mentions there being a fairly short window in which an ENT physician can try to treat the damage, after which no treatments will be possible. I thought all hearing damage was permanent, always, notwithstanding the potential new advances in growing the hairs back. So what exactly could they try, and what difference does time make?

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This comes up fairly often on tinnitus fora. Basically there is some "consensus" that a shot of steroids within a very short window, ideally less than 24 hours, can help. Unfortunately, the most common response to damaging one's hearing seems to be to sleep it off for a week and hope it gets better, making it difficult to conduct a study on early responses.

There are studies though, and my conclusion is that it's still mostly inconclusive. Still, if my tinnitus suddenly worsened id be down at the doctor's begging for the steroids.

I had minor hearing loss after a festival, went to an ENT around 72 hours afterwards and was prescribed steroids

After a week my hearing was back to normal, so at least in my case it worked (although I guess there's a question of whether it would have recovered anyway)

Also works as an emergency short term fix for vocal folds as well - some singers if they have inflammation just before a big performance will take some, however, it's not without risk as you can cause additional (potentially irreversible) damage.

If I understand correctly some of the most common painkillers are steroids.

I might have seen Ibuprofen mentioned explicitly in relation with hearing loss.

Can anyone confirm or deny if taking Ibuprofen could help if one is stuck without a doctor?

> If I understand correctly some of the most common painkillers are steroids.

Most over-the-counter painkillers (other than acetaminophen/paracetamol) are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. OTOH, if the reason steroids work against hearing injuries is anti-inflammatory properties, NSAIDs might also work.

(OTOH, regular use of NSAIDs and acetaminophen is known to sometimes cause tinnitus and hearing loss, so, there’s that...)

Well, ibuprofen is certainly not a steroid - it is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drug)

Aha, thanks for clearing up : )

Ibuprofen is a NSAID (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).

[Edit: okay I was beaten to it :-)]

They prescribe systemic steroids. Steroids reduce inflammation and might help recovery a little.

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