TUESDAY, Oct. 9, 2001 (HealthDayNews) -- As "dittoheads" worry about the future of the country's most popular conservative talk show host, medical experts say Rush Limbaugh's rare case of rapid hearing loss could be partially reversed with the help of technology.
"The good news for Mr. Limbaugh is that he's probably an excellent cochlear implant candidate. He should gain back a significant amount of hearing and potentially be able to use a telephone and communicate on his talk show again," says Dr. J. Thomas Roland Jr., a spokesman for the Deafness Research Institute.
The cause of his hearing loss is not so clear, however, and it may never be. "Sometimes, we don't have any answers," Roland says.
In recent months, some of Limbaugh's 20 million listeners have noticed that his voice sounded different. On Monday, Limbaugh revealed the reason: Since the spring, he has gone deaf in his left ear and is rapidly losing hearing in his right ear. The cause is unknown.
Audiologists and ear doctors are hesitant to diagnose Limbaugh's condition because they have not seen him as a patient. But they did speculate on what might make a 50-year-old man -- like Limbaugh -- rapidly lose hearing in one ear and then the other.
Limbaugh mentioned that his family has a history of hearing loss, and Roland says rapid deafness could indeed be genetic. "It is like getting a bad hand of cards. They're pre-programmed to lose hearing over time. But it's usually not as rapid as his hearing loss has been reported to have been."
Other possible causes include the venereal disease syphilis and reactions to various drugs, including painkillers. In many cases, hearing loss develops because renegade immune cells in the ear begin attacking the body itself.
Some have speculated that working in radio may have doomed Limbaugh's ears. But noise exposure usually causes hearing loss immediately -- such as after a loud bang -- or slowly over time. "The kind of noise exposure he'd have on the job with the headset is not hazardous to begin with. Even people who work in factories don't develop hearing losses like he has," says Dr. Robert Dobie, a director at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Experts say it's likely that the culprit in Limbaugh's case may never be found. "It just hits and you don't know exactly what it's caused by or what triggers it," says Ann Clock Eddins, professor of audiology at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Treatment in a case like Limbaugh's would probably include the use of steroids to reduce inflammation and possibly cause other positive effects that doctors don't yet understand, Dobie says. The treatment, however, may not work.
If his hearing loss isn't completely reversed, Limbaugh and those around him will have to become used to changes in how he talks. "A lot of (speech) is influenced by self-monitoring your own voice, which becomes difficult," Eddins says. People with hearing loss "sometimes speak too loudly, and they sometimes overcompensate and speak very softly. Over time their speech may become less precise."
But the news is not all bad for Limbaugh and his fans. Cochlear implant technology, which has been around only since the 1980s, could restore at least some of his hearing, experts say.
"I tell patients that our ace in the hole is the cochlear implant," Roland says. "Patients who all of a sudden lose their hearing tend to do extremely well with the implants."
Most rapid hearing loss is caused by damage or deterioration in the delicate little hairs inside the ear that detect sound and translate it into electrical signals. Cochlear implants take over the role of the inner ear and the hairs.
But doctors won't be willing to turn to the $25,000 implants until it's clear that nothing else can be done, says Robert Sweetow, director of audiology at the University of California at San Francisco. "The implant is going to destroy any possible hearing that he has left in that ear," he says.
After an implant, many people gain back enough hearing to hold a face-to-face conversation, and some are able to talk on the phone.
Regardless of what happens, Limbaugh says he will make himself heard. "I have lost my ability to hear. I have not lost my ability to communicate," he says.
What To Do
To learn more about cochlear implants, read this fact sheet from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system attacks the inner ear, are a common cause of rapid hearing loss. Get more information from the League for the Hard of Hearing.
