Can you lose your hearing all at once?
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Answers:
Both. You could lose it immediately if the damage was bad enough. Or the damage may not be so bad, and aging could cause hearing loss.
If the ear is severely damaged, you would go deaf at once. It wouldn't be the amount of noise, but the pressure. A sudden severe change in pressure would break the eardrums and damage the internal structures of the ear. With healing, if it is able to heal, you might recover some or most of the hearing.
Also, a severe infection can stop up your ear so bad that you are almost deaf. The infection causes fluid to build up and puts pressure on the eardrum. If the eardrum can't move-no messages get through-so no sound from the ear itself.
You can also "hear" through your bones, which is an odd, muffled kind of sound, especially if you aren't used to it.
The police use Flash-bangs which combine an intense sound with a bright flash to deafen, blind and confuse the targets. The side-effects are temporary.
Does any of this help? I hope so.
Live well!
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