Stapedectomy

Sami
Sami Posts: 4,634
edited May 2008 in The Clubhouse
No, it's not the latest sci-fi movie in theaters, but what looks like a surgery in my future. Symptoms started all of a sudden and got worse real quick, to the point where I couldn't hear any high notes with my left ear at all. Scary, and kills most of the enjoyment for music really. At the start of the symptoms, one audiologist measured near normal hearing, only slight difference between the two ears. Now, 30dB difference across the board.

Good news in the middle of all this troubling development is that the Weber test showed it is conductive loss (outer/middle ear), not sensorineural (nerve/inner ear), and can be fixed! 95% of the stapedectomy surgeries restore hearing within 5dB of normal, and in most cases very close to normal. So wish me well!
Post edited by Sami on
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  • Ricardo
    Ricardo Posts: 10,636
    edited March 2008
    Everything will be fine. Good thoughts sent your way.
    _________________________________________________
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    2008 & 2010 Football Pool WINNER
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    Thank God for different opinions. Imagine the world if we all wanted the same woman
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited March 2008
    good luck, wishing you a complete and speedy recovery.:)
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • AdamRagland
    AdamRagland Posts: 521
    edited March 2008
    yea let us know how it works out. good luck bud!
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited March 2008
    Imagine all the money you can save by not worrying about the left channel anymore!
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited March 2008
    dorokusai wrote: »
    Imagine all the money you can save by not worrying about the left channel anymore!

    Dude, quite the opposite! I need to get the left channel 30dB hot to even the listening field. ;)
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  • BaggedLancer
    BaggedLancer Posts: 6,371
    edited March 2008
    So this is what the balance knob was for....
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited March 2008
    I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you get well soon!
    polkaudio RT35 Bookshelves
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    Front projection, 2 channel, car audio... life is good!
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  • daboyz
    daboyz Posts: 5,207
    edited March 2008
    Good luck!! I'm sure all will go well.
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  • SKsolutions
    SKsolutions Posts: 1,820
    edited March 2008
    Don't know that I've ever been:
    Sami wrote: »
    . . within 5dB of normal

    Hope all ends well. GL.
    -Ignorance is strength -
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited March 2008
    Best of luck Sami!
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited March 2008
    Sami wrote: »
    Dude, quite the opposite! I need to get the left channel 30dB hot to even the listening field. ;)

    LOL :)
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • fatchowmein
    fatchowmein Posts: 2,637
    edited March 2008
    Hope you have a full recovery.

    Good luck, Sami!
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  • Music Joe
    Music Joe Posts: 459
    edited March 2008
    Dam! I do wish you a full recovery...the wiki on that looks tricky serious.
    "The Web is a monoblog"
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,605
    edited March 2008
    Good luck. I'd hate for you not to enjoy the hobby.
    Let us know when the surgery gets scheduled.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • fireshoes
    fireshoes Posts: 3,167
    edited March 2008
    I hope everything turns out ok for you.
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  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited March 2008
    Awesome! I am glad it can be fixed. It should be a treat to listen to your rig afterwards. Good luck!
    Sharp Elite 70
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited March 2008
    I have an appointment with the surgeon on Monday and I try to get the surgery scheduled ASAP. It was a very pleasant feeling when I could hear the tones with the "headphone" that was attached behind the ear, transferring the sound via the bone instead of ear canal. What a relief. I knew there was something funky when my hearing would improve momentarily when I "stretched" my ear canal, then go back to muffled.

    I've still been enjoying music and tinkering with my system, but had decided not to spend anymore money on major upgrades when I wasn't sure I could enjoy it to the fullest. Hopefully the surgery is the answer, and I'm on the 95% group. A co-worker just told me yesterday he had it done and it was a success. 1st day great hearing, then basically deaf on the ear for 2-3 weeks, and then hearing is restored. I'm trying not to get too hopeful as it might not help, but at least there is hope that the damage is not permanent.
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  • venomclan
    venomclan Posts: 2,467
    edited March 2008
    Best of luck.
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited March 2008
    Well no wonder you couldn't hear the difference in cables last weekend....geez

    Best of luck to you, I'm sure they'll get you fixed up in short order...
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited March 2008
    Dibs on the Aragon amp.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited March 2008
    Polkmaniac wrote: »
    Well no wonder you couldn't hear the difference in cables last weekend....geez.

    My right ear is still fine, I can pick up the tone differences, I just can't enjoy them in stereo. I didn't really hear any difference but I didn't bother to try to analyze as I was the one doing the cable swap, it's almost impossible to hear any difference that way anyway. If I had to analyze the results I'd say the QA interconnect had the most information at high frequencies, but like said it's impossible to say whether there truely was a difference or not. Even if there was, it's not like it's amp/preamp kind of difference. Are you ready for some blind testing? ;)

    Russ, you heartless SOB! :p
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,664
    edited March 2008
    Good luck and best wish. Let us know how it is afterwards.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited March 2008
    Good luck buddy. Oh, sorry GOOD LUCK BUDDY!

    My left ear is shot too, can I have your old ear canal?
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited March 2008
    Tell the surgeon that you have spent much money on audio and need him to do his best.

    Good luck.
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  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited March 2008
    What did he say I couldn't hear. Sorry couldn't resist.

    GOOD LUCK!!! Prayers for a quick recovery.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited March 2008
    steveinaz wrote: »
    My left ear is shot too, can I have your old ear canal?

    What kind of damage do you have? I was worried that this was irreversible but since it is conductive loss there is hope. I've always been protective of my hearing; double protection in the military/shooting and whenever I worked in factories with high noise machines. I listen to music loud but not loud enough to get this kind of damage, and it went from great hearing to very bad in short time.
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited March 2008
    Good luck!

    Have you considered good old fashioned mono sound :rolleyes:
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited March 2008
    Sami wrote: »
    What kind of damage do you have? I was worried that this was irreversible but since it is conductive loss there is hope. I've always been protective of my hearing; double protection in the military/shooting and whenever I worked in factories with high noise machines. I listen to music loud but not loud enough to get this kind of damage, and it went from great hearing to very bad in short time.

    I think mine has been of the accumalative variety. In reality, it doesn't seem to effect my music too much---I do tend to sit a little closer to the left speaker. But the test show my left ear is pretty bad. I think my left ears' canal is smaller or something, because I have difficulty getting ear plugs in my left.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited March 2008
    Good Luck Sami.....Try some mono for a little while.

    Chuck
    Testing
    Testing
    Testing
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited March 2008
    stereo_luver wrote: »
    Good Luck Sami.....Try some mono for a little while.

    Pretty much is mono right now, 30dB is quite a lot.

    Steve, what did the docs say about it? You went through all the tests? Weber test was quite revealing. Simple test too:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber_test

    One of the reasons I posted about this is men are men, they don't want to go and see a doc. Hearing loss is hard to admit, and many believe it can't be fixed. I was surprised what they actually can do. So if you have hearing loss, go and have it checked out with a specialist to see if there is anything that can be done!
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