Most hearing loss arrives so slowly that people barely notice it slipping away. When hearing drops off over a matter of weeks instead, the pace itself is a clue, and it can point to a problem that has nothing to do with aging ears.
That is the case made by a team of ear, nose, and throat specialists and a neurologist at Sunderland Royal Hospital in England. In a review of rapidly progressive hearing loss in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, they started with a patient whose hearing worsened over 12 weeks and then searched the medical literature for everything that could explain that pattern. They found 15 possible causes. Most were serious or affected the whole body, and in some, treating the cause could restore hearing.
