Anybody ever rupture their ear drum skiing? How did it effect your hearing in the long-term?

[DangerBoy]

I had a bad crash slalom skiing on my summer vacay a few weeks ago. I got a lot of water in one ear and that resulted in an infection. I thought it was just swimmer's ear but I couldn't beat it with off-the-shelf Polysporin ear drops I was using. Went to a doctor about it right after I got back home and he informed me I ruptured the ear drum. He prescribed some antibiotic drops and said it should heal up fine on its own once I get rid of the infection.

 

Went in for a checkup 1.5 weeks later and he says there's still a hole but it's healing so continuing with the drops for at least another week. The infection is gone I think. No symptoms of an infection (e.g. discharge) anyways...

 

I'm not hearing as well out of that ear as I used to but I'm hoping that my hearing will come back to or close to what it was before the rupture occurred.

 

I'm sure there's more than a few people on this forum who have also ruptured an ear drum skiing. It's a fairly common injury in our sport I think. For those of you who have gone through this, what was your experience as far as hearing loss/recovery? Did it mostly come back once the ear drum healed? How long did it take?

 

 

[Keith_Menard]

My ear drum hole never closed. Hearing is near perfect but my ear doesn't respond favorably to loud noises. I have opted against surgery for now but I wear ear plugs when I ski

[Cent]

My brother did the sane thing years ago. It healed and is fine.

[Woody74]

I ruptured mine skiing in the summer of 2018. The doctor also prescribed ear drops and told me to take it easy for two weeks. It fully healed and my hearing was back to normal.

[ESPNSkier]

Ruptured left one slalom skiing and right one barefooting. Both were years ago and both healed with no complications and no loss of hearing. Of course my hearing is not what is used to be but it’s mostly related to age.

[Wayne]

I did the same thing happen (on a vacation too) and mine healed fine. The first few days I was really worried about permanent damage but slowly over time things went back to normal.

[dthate]

What?

[The_MS]

3 times right ear and 2 left.

[jhughes]

I'm right up there with @The_MS , I think I've ruptured an ear drum 5 or 6 times at this point. After at least a 10 year spell of no ruptures I took freak fall in high winds at the buoy earlier this year that was a bell ringer, totally blew my ear drum even with ear plugs in (I use Doc's Pro Plugs). Sucked big time, forgot how intense that pain was. Got the ear drops from the doctor, seems healed up though I haven't verified it yet.

 

Your hearing should return to normal in theory.

[Zman]

Just one ear rupture, barefooting fall many, many year ago. No lingering issues.

[richfoster]

I did it once and it healed on its own and hearing became normal.

[BrianKennedy91]

I did it 17 years ago. It took forever to heal but hearing came back normal and is fine today.

[JDskiNECA]

So, ya most of the time they heal up fine with antibiotics but not always. Then more invasive procedures may be required. Your ear drum vibrates with sound just like a drum head when hit with a drum stick or anything else.

 

When you damage your ear drum scar tissue has to build up to repair the hole. The scar tissue is visible on the ear drum when it has healed via an oto scope. The area of scar tissue is thicker than the surrounding ear drum and therefore does not move/vibrate the same as the rest of the ear drum creating a slightly different sound. Just as if you put a finger down on a drum head and then strike it with a stick, the sound is different.

 

The good part is that the ear is connected to the brain by the eighth cranial nerve and our brains adapt. So there is some small level of difference in the hearing but it becomes normal. Many injuries will result in more scar tissue and more hearing difficulties. Those with hearing difficulties are frequently the last to know. You know, you keep saying WHAT because you think people are not speaking up or they are mumbling. Time to look in the mirror.

 

 

[thager]

What?

[JDskiNECA]

Here is your mirror.

[PatM]

2 times right ear, 1 time left. That was nearly 30 years ago. I have worn earplugs ever since. The ears healed fine in all occasions. Hearing is fine, but don't ask my wife. Worst part was 4 weeks of not skiing to let it heal - doctors orders. If it maters I listen to Hi Res music and can tell the difference ;)

[dthate]

What? I hate all the mumbling.

I blew my right several years ago, when I visited the ear Doc, he asked if I live in the water?

Well sorta, I have skied in Lake Austin 30 plus years in 68 degree water. He said that my auditory canals were nearly grown shut, the cold water causes the temporal bone to grow closing the auditory canal.

So he suggested removing some bone, full sedation, he laid the back side of my ear open, using a Dremel tool he removed bone material and opened my right canal a bit. Minor improvement, so I did not have the left done. What?

 

 

[Bdecker]

I’ve done it several times on each side and still hear better than my wife I think… she’ll tell you the opposite of course. Wear SurfEars plugs every set now because it sure does hurt!

[TomH]

Blew the right one about 3 weeks ago on my first OTF in probably 10 years.... Mostly back to normal. I did both within a week of each other about 10 years ago, one footing, one skiing. That was a pretty miserable couple weeks with the drainage and not really knowing if I was shouting or whispering, but surprisingly passed the hearing test on my annual work physical without any issue.....

[JDskiNECA]

I spent 27 years in the medical field. I have looked into lots of ears. After ten years of difficulty heating from my left ear I thought I would man up and go the a Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to see about a hearing aid for my left ear. I took the most extensive hearing test I had ever seen. Then the doctor walked in and told me I have a brain tumor. I hate it when doctors are right.

 

I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma (like an insulated wire, the insulation on the nerve" mialin sheath" can grow out of control for un-known reasons). This occurs on the eighth cranial nerve and puts pressure on the brain and left alone results in death. The tumor grows very slowly. Mine was the size of a golf ball. The best surgeon team in the world for the removal of this is located at that little old school on the West Coast, Stanford.

 

It takes a lot of brains to be a surgeon at Stanford and I got there. They used my brain as something to work on. After eleven and a half hours under and around 13.5 hours in surgery I completely lost hearing on my left side and the balance that comes from having both sides of your head functioning properly. After three years of pain and fatigue I finally recovered better than most from this procedure. To access the area the surgeons had to cut into my skull behind my left ear leaving that area of my skull weak. So I now wear a helmet that comes down over the ears when skiing on water or snow.

[cacman]

Ruptured once. Hearing seems ok. I now where a head band when skiing, like all the cools guys do.

[ScottScott]

This was a timely share from a friend on FB....

 

Ear drum repair

[1skinut]

Ruptured twice: 1 slalom and 1 barefoot. Ear was slow to heal. My hearing is now good except when there’s a lot of background noise.

[JDskiNECA]

ScottScott that is very interesting.