Can acoustic trauma cause blurry vision and tinnitus?

Question

Hello doctor,

Two months ago, I suffered an acoustic trauma after a loud microsuction in my ears to remove earwax. It left me with tinnitus, hyperacusis, and aural fullness. This settled after a few weeks. Later, after two and a half weeks, my wisdom tooth got impacted, and my gums were swollen. This settled, and I saw my dentist. At the same time, my eye on that side blurred. Since then, my eyes have been blurry and dry, and I feel it is worsening. I have had eye tests and got glasses for astigmatism.

R +0.50 SPH - 1.00 CYL and 170.0 axes.
L +0.25 SPH and CYL is - 0.75, and axis is 10.0.

I got glasses a few days ago, and I struggle to adjust a bit. Although they seem clearer, I feel disoriented, and the good eye seems worse and dips in and out. Compared to a week ago, the good eye appears more blurry and blurred around the edges and corners, even when removing glasses. I am sensitive to lights and sometimes slight ghosting, especially around brighter images and words. I have seen an ophthalmologist too and had my retina checked. I have not had any CT scan or MRI yet, as my noise trauma has affected me. Loud noises trigger me more, but I do want one. Eyes seem more blurry all the time, and from the corner, the peripheral vision in one eye seems more blurred. I feel terrified. I do not know what to do. Any clues or suggestions on what is going on with me?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Visual change after a noise blast seems an infrequent and unlikely event. Please answer the following questions so that I can help you better.

1) How is your hearing now?

2) Have you done any hearing tests recently?

3) Do you have vertigo?

4) Is there any spinning or swaying sensation?

5) Do you still have tinnitus?

Thanks and regards.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

If the audiometry results are within normal limits, then it is not possible that there is any damage in OAE (otoacoustic emission) or ABR (auditory brainstem response). This is presuming you have a normal pure tone audiogram in both ears. I suggest you check with a gadolinium-enhanced contrast MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of the brain with particular attention to the orbit, optic nerves, retrocochlear area, cerebellopontine angle, and inner ear nerve bundle. This can give us more details.

Thanks and regards.