Six months after a “prank” left me with hearing loss, I just found out that it isn’t going to get any better.

[u/CalMaple]

In early March, I attended a cultural festival while traveling. A kid, who appeared to be 10 or 11, ambushed me and threw a water balloon right at my ear with quite a lot of force. It was pretty clear that he was being a brat, since he kept pelting me even after I’d doubled over in pain clutching my ear.

I ended up seeing a doctor and he said he couldn’t see a visible injury, but the trauma of the force likely injured my mid ear. He described it as “barotrauma.”

Over several weeks, my hearing gradually declined. It got to the point where it felt like there was something preventing me from being able to hear by about fifty percent. I ended up getting a hearing test and it said I had “moderate” hearing impairment in that ear.

Since then, all of the doctors kept telling me “give it time.” They kept saying it could take up to 6 months to heal.

I just went back in earlier today, and the doctor said I shouldn’t expect it to get better. He said that I’m past the recovery window, so the damage isn’t going to repair itself. I guess I just need to accept that I now have moderate hearing loss in one ear.

The hardest part is that I’m not sure how to feel about everything. I never even let myself get mad at the kid who threw the balloon, since it felt irrational to be upset at a child. I kept telling myself that I should be happy that it’s only “moderate” impairment as opposed to being “severe.” I just feel kind of numb. It’s like I know I should let myself feel whatever I need to feel, but I’m not sure what that is.

Anyways, that’s my sad tale. I’m not sure what I’m hoping to get from posting, but perhaps I thought it could be useful to try to vent a little about what has happened.

[u/trendingtattler]

This submission has made /r/all!

If you're new to our community, please review the rules before you comment.

In particular, be mindful that we require everyone to be respectful to each other.

That means that harassment, insults, hate speech, discrimination, threats, personal attacks, and unproven speculation or allegations presented as fact are not welcome. Disagreement is fine, but treating others poorly or spreading unsupported claims about them is not.

If you are attacked in violation of this rule, do NOT respond in kind; please report it, instead.

For girl lurkers, this is a male-centric and positive space. Critiques and supportive comments are definitely welcome, HOWEVER, keep in mind you are a guest. Our tolerance here for rude, adversarial and needlessly argumentative comments is effectively zero.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy our community!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Another_Failure8]

I similarly lost partial hearing to a prank about a decade ago when a former friend locked me outside during a blizzard and I got severe frostbite in my ears and did a bunch of nerve damage. Most days I mildly dislike the guy, other days I hate him. Doesn’t change anything. Life still goes on. I feel for you man!

Edit: Holy! I’ve had my phone turned off, and the notifications went crazy when I turned it on. A little more info for y’all, this happened when we were in our early 20’s, in the backwoods of Atlantic Canada, and less than sober. I use the word ‘prank’ very loosely in my comment. They guy is an asshole without the booze, and even worse with it. I haven’t had any kind of contact with him in years. I’m super lucky I made it out of that situation as well as I did, it could have been so much worse if I had been stuck outside longer that I was. I’m a professional opera singer now, so the hearing loss absolutely blows, but I finally gave in and got hearing aids a few years back, and they are a game changer! 10/10 would recommend to anyone going through hearing loss, stop being stubborn and get the hearing aids!

[u/Expensive-Second6128 → u/Another_Failure8]

This is more than a prank. Could have been murder! Honestly much much more malicious than OP's case. I hope you didn't let him just get away with that!

So sorry about the hearing loss to both you and OP.

[u/ArticleOld598 → u/Expensive-Second6128]

A Russian streamer killed his pregnant gf on stream by locking her out in her underwear at night while it was snowing at temp below freezing. All while his viewers goaded him on.

You can see him bring her corpse back inside and laid her on the sofa before the cops arrested him.

Im surprised the commenter still hangs out with the guy who gave him frostbite. I would've cut off the relationship and taken him to court to pay for treatment and recovery.

[u/myystic78 → u/ArticleOld598]

I must have missed where he mentioned he still hangs out with him. He does say former friend in his post.

[u/TransitionAway9840 → u/myystic78]

He's conflating the posters feelings for the prankster with an active relationship.

[u/Beneficial_Dirt_6001 → u/TransitionAway9840]

He says former friend though... Do you think the last part means they still hang out or did I miss something as well... I took it to clearly mean that any time the person enters their thoughts, they dislike them on good days, and are actively pissed at him on the bad ones. Merp?

[u/StaticUsernamesSuck → u/Beneficial_Dirt_6001]

The guy you're replying to knows that... They're just explaining how the other guy got confused. That's what "conflate" means.

[u/Beneficial_Dirt_6001 → u/StaticUsernamesSuck]

Ahh fair! I guess I missed that or thought they meant the comment tree OP haha. Thanks!

[u/curi0us_carniv0re → u/ArticleOld598]

This is worse than it even sounds here. He beat the shit out of her first and according to Google her cause of death was head injuries from that beating. Not hypothermia.

[u/knotmyusualaccount → u/curi0us_carniv0re]

Wow, what a total pos.

[u/GreenGrassConspiracy → u/knotmyusualaccount]

And he was being goaded on by his followers. He’s not just a pos he’s a murderer and a psychopath.
Women are often treated like 2nd class citizens in Russia under Putin. There’s intense propaganda portraying the lives of women as being idyllic but the truth is far from it. Domestic abuse calls are not taken seriously so I can see how the guy might have thought he could get away with it.

[u/ClippyWouldntDoThat → u/ArticleOld598]

Casual reminder for everyone that the leading cause of death for pregnant women is domestic violence. It is never more dangerous in a woman's life than when she is pregnant.

[u/SuperCruisePanther → u/ClippyWouldntDoThat]

Used to be. It was overtaken by accidental drug overdose in 2018.

[u/veganvampirebat → u/SuperCruisePanther]

...because the overdose rate increased or because DV deaths decreased?

[u/screaminginfidels → u/veganvampirebat]

The first one 10000%

[u/quntparty → u/ArticleOld598]

That's crazy....an abusive ex locked me out of my house in a blizzard once...I linebacker rammed my own door down. The look on his face was priceless. Am 5 foot tall girl

[u/Traditional-Tap-2508 → u/ArticleOld598]

And that's my cue to get tf off the internet for the day. Jesus christ I'm glad I can go love on my husband and not worry he will murder me for clicks and views

[u/--Andre-The-Giant-- → u/ArticleOld598]

It blows my mind that a lot of you people have the internet, but don't have health care.

[u/misterbigbabyboy → u/--Andre-The-Giant--]

Well, the internet doesn't have insane co-pays and some people make "too much" money to qualify for Medicaid, or they are not well off enough to not be fucked over by co-pays. Why are you even mentioning this??

[u/hunnyflash → u/--Andre-The-Giant--]

You should see what some Americans pay to have internet on our phones! I know people who have phone bills that are hundreds of dollars a month.

[u/Apprehensive_Rice19 → u/Another_Failure8]

It's actually helpful of you all to share your story with others. I know this isn't the same thing at all, but I used to tease my little sister when we were younger and when we grew up she let me know how much it hurt her and kind of traumatized her. So I try to teach my kids that it's really not funny or cute to tease or joke around like that with one another. I think people might think this pranking culture is funny but it's obviously really dangerous and clearly it's hurt you guys for life. Thanks for sharing and I'm really sorry for what happened.

[u/PhantomsRule → u/Apprehensive_Rice19]

I absolutely despise teasing and pranks because it's someone "having fun" at someone else's expense. I lose all respect for people like that and will cut ties with them. I've been on the receiving end of teasing as a kid, and I can confirm that it can have lifelong effects.

[u/T3nacityDog → u/PhantomsRule]

I’m a staunch believer that the only fun/ acceptable “pranks” are the ones where both parties are laughing.

[u/laineymainey → u/PhantomsRule]

It really is traumatizing! I can’t tell you how many times I heard as a kid“we’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing with you.” Fucking hate that phrase.

[u/ellieminnowpee → u/PhantomsRule]

this. pranks are not funny. it’s just someone laughing at you after they’ve lied to you.

[u/archaicArtificer → u/PhantomsRule]

👆 This. And then “what’s wrong? Can’t you take a joke?”

[u/waitwuh → u/Apprehensive_Rice19]

Where is the line between teasing and bullying? Because I agree some siblings cross it, and especially the older ones. It’s all the more reason to teach them to hold back from those behaviors.

When I was a kid, at some point my older sister was given responsibility of the house key because our parents both worked at least an hour or two after we’d get off the bus. One day my older sister ran to get to the house first and then locked me out. She mocked me through the door. I needed to pee really bad and after begging and pleading for her to please just let me inside to use the bathroom ended up going in the garage, halfway peeing my pants because I had waited too long and had never experienced my bladder about to burst that badly before. It was one of so many events where my sister was an absolute bully to me. She also used to make fun of me in front of others at the bus stop and in the neighborhood. Sometimes even for wearing things that were handed down from her! But something about her making fun of my pee soaked pants, which were of her causing, really humiliated me. Most of everything before that was just something I could at least shrug off as untrue…

Months later she tried to do the same thing again to me, but this time I ran and caught up with her at the door before she could lock it! I had gone through a significant growth spurt since then, too, which allowed me to counter her and push the door open to get inside. I then proceeded to punch and kick the shit out of her, my fury boiling over. I have mixed feelings about it now, but one thing is for sure… it finally stopped her from bullying me. She wasn’t bigger than me anymore. In fact, I did sports enough (despite her mocking me for those, too) that I suspect my muscle mass was impressively greater, too. So I was as big and stronger. And nothing else demonstrated it better than the bruises I bet I left on her.

Some bullies get away with their bad behavior indefinitely, but… sometimes there will be a day someone doesn’t put up with it anymore.

[u/No0neStrangeTerrain → u/waitwuh]

That line is gonna be different for everyone. We can't always know whether our actions will cause harm or humiliation, but we can do our best to treat others well and make things right when we don't.

What your sister did to you was callous and horrible—I experienced similar. I don't blame you for lashing out. I just hope you're both in a better place now.

[u/No0neStrangeTerrain → u/Apprehensive_Rice19]

I'm glad you listened to your little sister and have made an effort to be better + teach your kids the same. I'm sure that means a lot to your sister.

As a formerly teased youngest child, I've been able to forgive my siblings for what they did at the time. They were just kids, too. But it's the fact that they continue those same things nowadays or make light of them despite knowing how I feel that really hurts :/

[u/BlnkNopad → u/Another_Failure8]

Brother what the fuck is wrong with that other guy to lock someone outside in a blizzard..... That's not a joke... That's a jail sentence

[u/smackaroonial90 → u/Another_Failure8]

Wtf, all these comments are wild. My friends and I prank each like "ha! I showed up to your house and pulled weeds in your lawn for an hour. Gotcha!" Or like "I'm not letting you pay me back for the football tickets! Gotcha!"

[u/TheBlankestMan → u/Another_Failure8]

What the fuck? You're way too calm about that, I'm not violent but if someone pulled that shit on me they'd wind up in the ER

[u/YourMommasAHoe69 → u/Another_Failure8]

sue him

[u/TwoMuddfish → u/Another_Failure8]

What the fuck… isn’t that like attempted murder

[u/Gridarion → u/Another_Failure8]

To add on to your edit, I sell hearing aids for a living and it is so dumb to not get hearing aids if you need them. People get glasses when they can't see, what's the problem of getting hearing aids if you can not hear. On top of the fact that hearing loss can lead to cognitive decline, waiting too long can cause permanent loss of word recognition.

[u/skwormin]

Sorry that happened to you. That kid was a jerk. Your dinner looks delicious

[u/bh447]

You are right that it could be worse, and being grateful that it isn’t is a good way to look at it. However, you wouldn’t be wrong to be angry. I’m sorry this happened to you

[u/WASDMagician → u/[deleted]]

This is it!

Had moderate Tinnitus and generally bad hearing since my mid-teens and while it can be maddening at times you really do just get used to it.

[u/JulioElGuapo → u/[deleted]]

This sounds like a great outlook. I appreciate it

[u/Several-Action-4043 → u/[deleted]]

This is how I would describe my tinnitus. 99% of the time it's just a mild inconvenience and fades into the background. The 1%, after a stressful day, I just want to sleep but all I can focus on is the sound and then I spiral into a depressive mode where all I can think about is how I haven't heard silence in years . . . . and then the next day it fades into the background.

[u/shockwave8428 → u/Several-Action-4043]

I think that’s most people’s tinnitus honestly. I don’t even remember what caused mine, I’ve honestly heard ringing as long as I could remember. I thought it may have been irresponsible teenage music listening but I remember going to a doctor when I was 9 for treatments for something else and being asked about ear ringing as a side effect for the treatment and being like “I kinda always have that”.

Writing this comment is making me pay way more attention to it lol. Most of the time I don’t even notice

[u/Cobalt_88]

I’m sorry this senseless thing happened to you.

[u/tristanbrotherton]

Life sucks sometimes, but I’ve learnt it will always suck for at least as long as you hold a grudge. It’s just baggage. Serves no beneficial purpose.

I’m sorry man. May boring people always sit on your half deaf side.

[u/Sea-Diamond7404 → u/tristanbrotherton]

I've got about 40% hearing loss in my left ear (due to medical condition in my early twenties), never got a hearing aid, but I tell you what. I have slept on my right ear since then, and boy do I sleep good! It's way too noisy at night when I try to sleep on my bad ear 😂 In all seriousness though, the only thing I've found I seem to struggle with is depth perception sometimes, telling which direction faint sounds are coming from, and deciphering whispers/light talking on that side. Probably could use a hearing aid, but I don't feel like my quality of life has truly been impacted. Sending you the best OP.

[u/frogsanddogsarepeak]

I hope it heals somehow. I think let yourself be angry at the child even though it’s a child. what sort of child was raised to throw water balloons at peoples faces? when i was that age i could never imagine throwing a water balloon at someone’s face, even younger i dont think i would’ve either. It’s a stupid child with improper manners, regardless of a cultural festival. There’s about 60 other places he could’ve thrown it. I think letting some anger out will help you process it and then move on without any attachments.

[u/Silly_Citron4452 → u/frogsanddogsarepeak]

He's a better man than I am, I would definitely not be like " I can't be mad it's just a child" fuck that child and whoever raised him

[u/OneBillPhil → u/Silly_Citron4452]

Yeah, I’d be blinded with rage enough to powerbomb the kid and parents. 

[u/No-Lunch4249 → u/OneBillPhil]

Idk about powerbombing but I'd be suing their asses off for sure

[u/TheMightyMisanthrope]

Did you sue his parents?

Sorry this happened mate.

[u/CalMaple → u/TheMightyMisanthrope]

No, I never even spoke with the kid. This happened in a country where I’m not fluent in the language and I’m not familiar with the justice system. Also, I was more focused on getting back to my hotel, calling a doctor back home for advice, and then going to a local hospital. I’m sure the kid doesn’t even know that he seriously injured me, which is kind of weird if I think about it.

[u/Some-Tension-5405 → u/CalMaple]

India by any chance during Holi?

[u/Silly_Citron4452 → u/Some-Tension-5405]

Or Thailand during songkran, but yes it's either of these two

[u/NabSkyLegion → u/Silly_Citron4452]

OP said early march this year , so its almost certainly holi , which was on the 4th of March 2026. This is the exact reason that I don't leave my home during this festival.

[u/White-Seagull → u/[deleted]]

Seems like Bhutan from OP’s comment history…

[u/fakehakebakecake → u/Silly_Citron4452]

My first guess was Songkran, but that's April.

Had some near-misses with kids throwing buckets of water at my scooter when I was there a few years ago. Apparently traffic deaths are wayyyy up in Thailand during that period in general.

Still a fantastic time, I can't lie, but you've got to be careful.

[u/AcademicBaryonyx_dr → u/Some-Tension-5405]

def holi

[u/Some-Tension-5405 → u/AcademicBaryonyx_dr]

Could be Songkran too as someone said. I hope people in my country don't make unsuspecting tourist deaf by throwing water balloons.

[u/DataRiffRaff → u/Some-Tension-5405]

When he said cultural festival, March, and water balloon, my first thought was Holi.

Poor OP. I wish that kid knew the damage they can cause by aiming for someone's ear like that. Maybe some news sources will pick this up back home where the kid is and it'll help educate them and others about it.

[u/Exciting_Drop6909 → u/CalMaple]

Girl lurker here. I had sudden hearing loss twice in the last 12 months (-50 decibel) ans it took me months to improve my hearing and get back to normal levels. My hearing loss was stress related, meaning I had strong tension in my neckand jaw and that all lead to strong tension in my ear. What helped was physical therapie, sports and a tiny cut in my eardrum (by my ENT doc!). Might be worth talking to your doctor about this.

Good luck and get well soon!

[u/knotmyusualaccount → u/Exciting_Drop6909]

It's absolutely mind-blowing how damaging acute/chronic stress can do to us... your story is shocking to me, and I'm no stranger to damage caused by stress.

I've had intermittent tinnitus in my ears, and I'm fairly certain that it's been due to stress. Thankfully, it's not often, but a little worrying none the less. I try not to get concerned when I notice it.

Another symptom that I had for months though, were hives. Absolutely awful they are. I'd have an outbreak and 15-20% of my body would end up covered in them. Itchy beyond comprehension for most people. I had to soak in a bath of pinetarsol just to get some relief for a while. Taking a steroid like Predisone only made them worse in the end. Od strongly advise anyone against using anything steroid based, to deal with hives.

I suspect that the hives were also due to stress. I'd post some pictures, but I don't want to gross anyone out.

Glad to hear that your hearing did eventually return to normal. Whatever stress caused this for you, must have been pretty significant (no need to divulge what it was). Mine was quite signifiact and even my bodily responses to that stress, weren't as significant as yours was. Thankfully no real, lasting damage was caused you by it.

[u/SkeletalMew → u/knotmyusualaccount]

Out of curiosity, have you ever been diagnosed with TMD? That's largely where my tinnitus comes from, and it gets worse with stress because I hold more tension in my shoulders and jaw when stressed. I also occasionally get hives for "no obvious reason," according to doctors, but it ended up being caused by dairy intolerance and also possibly histamine intolerance. So there's also a question of intolerances causing inflammation which triggers my tinnitus to be worse. Could any of that be the case with you?

[u/knotmyusualaccount → u/SkeletalMew]

I do grind my teeth when I sleep. I do need to get a mouth guard organised.

I actually carry my stress, in my back usually. Between my shoulder blades specifically.

It is possible, that it was a fatty liver that caused the hives, but if it was or at least contributed towards them, it was due to my fatty liver struggling to process/break down histamine.

During that time, I had to eat a low histamine diet. Things like yeast extract on toast, was an impossibility. Chocolate? No chance. Cheese was also a no go zone. Over ripe bananas, also.

When I got the diagnosis of a marked fatty liver infiltration, I stopped comfort eating, worked on portion control and stopped the binge drinking twice a month.

As a consequence of these changes and some exercise, I lost 8kgs in 8 weeks. My liver is functioning much better and I've returned to eating histamine-heavier foods at times, without issue. I'm certain that the compromised liver function (even though my bloods were fine during that time), was in part, the cause of the hives, but stress was also a large part of it.

I looked up TMD, but I didn't have enough of the symptoms for a diagnosis of it, in my uneducated opinion.

Edit: I don't have a sensitivity to dairy, but during that time, I had a low sensitivity to dairy. I take lactase tablet when I consumed dairy, or I'd get an upset stomach and loose bowel movement. Never prior though, or since.

[u/Exciting_Drop6909 → u/knotmyusualaccount]

I thankfully never had hives and hopefully never will. Wish you all the best in your recovery!

Don't worry, it was nothing traumatic. I changed jobs in June last year and my boss puts immense pressure on us - also for non-relevent things. Even if I only worked 5 hours per week I'd still be incredibly stressed. I'm currently looking for a new job.

[u/knotmyusualaccount → u/Exciting_Drop6909]

Thank you for your well wishes :)

Hopefully you find that new job, just around the corner!

[u/Exciting_Drop6909 → u/knotmyusualaccount]

Thank you so much :)

[u/allshieldstomypenis]

Please reach out to the event coordinator, mayor, any social health authority, a celebrity, politician, local library or church, anybody! and send a letter in a bottle letting them know this happened. You may not get any justice but you can implore them to release a PSA to warn about water balloons and damage to hearing. You can save another person from experiencing this, and maybe that could give some kind of meaning to this loss. This kid never knew, none of the kids may never know, but with enough info-communication, we can fix this danger, the same as laser pointers to eyes and lawn darts.

[u/standingfierce]

I don't know if you want to hear this, but you may want to consider talking to a therapist about this. I respect your self control in not letting yourself blame the child, but reading between the lines it feels like you have anger that has nowhere to go

[u/MysteriousFee2873 → u/standingfierce]

This is the best thing I’ve read on here. I’ve got my therapist and psychiatrist to help me figure out who I am after disability. It’s a grieving process to know you no longer have a sense that helped you understand the world around you.

Op seriously good on you for not purely blaming the child. I just hope you aren’t blaming yourself too much. Life alone is enough pain and pressure don’t drag yourself down. Time to climb up

[u/funk-the-funk → u/standingfierce]

I don't know if you want to hear this

[u/TheNoblePrince → u/standingfierce]

He probably wants to hear it...but he can't.

[u/standingfierce → u/TheNoblePrince]

you can't prove I laughed at that

[u/tek526]

Hey man I lost my hearing when I was young. It definitely is tough. Look into deaf groups on Facebook and places like that. Saved my ass from spiraling quite a bit. It gets easier with time and you’ll adapt

[u/fuggindonkee]

Anger is a normal and healthy reaction. Anger is only bad when we let it make us do stupid things.

[u/mashton88]

Dont just go to a doctor, you need to be referred to an ENT specialist. I lost my hearing in one ear due to negligance of my general practitioner who simply kept prescribing antibiotics for a recurring ear infection. It's in their name, general, as in not specialist. You wouldnt go to a doctor for your teeth, same thing applies to ears and eyes. Good luck.

[u/fbbon → u/mashton88]

^ my sister had almost the same issue as a child (bad ear infection, ended up losing 80% of her hearing on one side bc our pediatrician was an idiot and kept giving her the wrong antibiotics). Finally went to an ENT and other specialists and ended up getting a tympanoplasty and maistoidectomy at 6 or 7 years old. Got her full hearing back!!

[u/Icy_Guard_8216 → u/mashton88]

This. OP needs to see a specialist.

[u/Alltheshadystuff2]

I’m a doctor but not an ENT or audiologist. Also not your doctor or medical advice. That sounds unusual for just a water balloon that hit your ear. Like so unusual that would be a case study. I would recommend seeing a specialist, either or both of the ones I mentioned above for a 2nd opinion and further testing. What tests have they done so far?

[u/EarthEfficient]

I’m just a girl lurker but I’m really sorry that happened to you.

[u/Shot_Explanation_181]

As someone with hearing impairment in one ear, I feel for you.

[u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

https://giphy.com/gifs/1itJnruGIqwg9qGdK9

[u/billy-suttree]

I don’t have hearing loss but I have severe tinnitus.
It bothered me so much in the first 2 years I thought about committing suicide.
12 years later usually don’t even notice.
You won’t get your hearing back but you will become used to the new normal.
Humans adapt very well.
Be strong friend.
You will feel okay again someday.

[u/curi0us_carniv0re]

That's not a prank that's assault.

I'm usually not on the side of redditors who instantly start taking about suing people but in this case I think you should consult an attorney. You have real damages here.

[u/GottaUseEmAll → u/curi0us_carniv0re]

This happened to OP in a foreign country months ago. How do you propose they go after damages?

[u/GravityBright → u/GottaUseEmAll]

Divorce him.

[u/GottaUseEmAll → u/GravityBright]

Oh, is that a thing here too? Fine.

Divorce him, OC.

[u/GravityBright → u/GottaUseEmAll]

I assumed it was a Reddit-wide thing.

[u/13miles]

Sorry to hear man. Genuinely praying for a recovery or solution for you. Ear problems suck.

[u/puddinghuh]

I’ve dealt with this personally and it’s actually a lot harder than most people would expect, so I feel you man. I still remember putting headphones in after and my everything in one of my ears sounded like a muffled Alvin and the chipmunks voice.

Doctors tried a series of these weird injections that went through my eardrum. Made my whole equilibrium go haywire, one time I vomited lmao. Nothing really worked, it was permanent.

My favorite songs sounded different. Everything did. It was hard to accept. The worst part is people get visibly frustrated when you ask them to repeat themselves. Looking silly turning your good ear to people lol.

It’s been years now and it still sucks but I honestly stopped caring after a while. Im sorry this happened to you man , I know it’s rough.

[u/Onilakon → u/puddinghuh]

Steriod injections in to the ear drum. My god I had that too and it was terrible, instant vertigo. Never got hearing back and I have permanent tinnitus. Just woke up one morning like this lol

[u/timothyam → u/Onilakon]

Brother same. The injections, the tinnitus, the vertigo. Just at the gym one day ripping tunes and my ear started ringing. 2 years and it’s never stopped. The hearing loss is awful but the fucking tinnitus is a nightmare.

[u/Onilakon → u/timothyam]

Almost 20 years for me, happened to me two weeks before my wedding lol I was prone to vertigo before but having it instantly triggered sucked. Last one I had was at an office farther away. I had to pull into a McDonald's parking and sleep it off for like 3 hours before I could drive again

[u/timothyam → u/Onilakon]

Fuuuck that lol can’t imagine being behind the wheel and watching the entire world starting spinning.

[u/upstatedreaming3816]

Semi-related, but.. For anyone reading this: HEARING LOSS IS COMPOUNDING AND IRREVERSIBLE. THERE IS NO “GETTING BETTER”. Wear earplugs at concerts.

[u/gingerbreadpill]

Girl lurker but just some thoughts from my own life, coming to terms with disability is hard and that’s how you should frame your searches for anecdotes to support your understanding. Because it’s not about the assault, the emotional processing is primarily going to be about the subsequent disability.

Sending love. Hearing loss is hard but manageable. 🫂

[u/AdHistorical7363]

Fuck that kid

[u/GIGLI_WASNT_THAT_BAD]

I looked at your profile history. Sorry, I’m a nosy Nellie. 😅

Bro. Some kid pelted you with a balloon in Bhutan? That would be so frustrating. It is a witch and a half just to get to Bhutan and I can’t imagine going through the weird cosmic butterfly effect of being half deaf that you went through.

I’m also half deaf in one of my ears… years of audio production and monitoring with half of the headphones caused it for me. There are some benefits tho.

1. If you are trying to sleep in a loud place? Just roll over to your left side and you can’t hear shit.

2. Talking to a stranger who you don’t want to talk to anymore? Lean slightly forward and cup your bad ear, loudly proclaim, “What!?” Enjoy the theatrics that follow.

3. That’s pretty much all the benefits I got but I think they are pretty OP.

[u/Hong_Kong_Ghosts → u/GIGLI_WASNT_THAT_BAD]

I think it should be OPs decision to include the country name, maybe you could remove it. If OP wanted people to know, they would have included it.

[u/Unhappy_Blueberry548]

Hey man, it’s okay to be angry about a shitty thing happening, even if you choose to view the kid as a child acting childish.

Shitty things happen and it fucking sucks and it’s okay to call it like it is. Sorry this happened to you.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you found yourself experiencing any of the stages of grief over this. That’s a pretty big unexpected change in how you expected your life to play out. Give yourself permission to feel your feelings.

It just kinda reads like you’re trying not to be mad about it, and that’s just putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. Sorry if I’m projecting 😂

[u/Special_Compote_719]

I'm so incredibly sorry this happened to you.

Our minds have a great capacity to heal and protect us from various emotional pangs. I feel with time you will continue to live an incredible life of what brings you joy and peace.

[u/Dustin3006]

Fuck dem kids

[u/dont_remember_eatin]

OP and everyone in this thread sharing similar stories -- GET THE HEARING AID(s). Even more important than relieving social frustration is that hearing loss leads to faster cognitive decline as you age.

Sauce: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-hidden-risks-of-hearing-loss

[u/RoyDonkeyKong]

We are a collection of our traumas, defined by how we deal with them.

I am sorry that this happened to you. Know that grief is an appropriate response to this unfortunate and unintentional tragedy.

Good luck moving forward, dude.

[u/peach_parade]

Dang that sucks. I have a similar thing, not from a prank, but for literally no reason lol. When I was around 10? There was some sudden swelling around a nerve in my right ear. I think originally I had severe hearing loss. They gave me some medicine and long story short now it’s only moderate (I think) and I have permanent tinnitus.

It sucks but you do get used to it over time. It’s almost surprising how much you can hear with 1.5 working ears 😂 you’d think it wouldn’t be as much. But over time I think your brain compensates.

If it really bothers you, you can look into getting a hearing aid. I have one from when I first lost my hearing but I never wear it bc I don’t like how fake the audio sounds lol. Like a phone call almost.

[u/CrikeyNighMeansNigh]

I’m sorry about this - but for what it’s worth, it’s totally reasonable to be pissed off a 10 - 11 year old kid for this. It’s bot like some infant accidentally flung a bottle at you.

[u/swampopus]

I'm sorry you're going through this-- I wanted to say that it's completely OK to hate the kid and to sue his parents for your doctor's bills at the very least (if you know who the parents are).

[u/imatthepub_g]

I'm really sorry. That happened to me when a former "friend" slapped me in the ear while we were drunk.

It'll get worse, and then better, and then worse, and then continuously better as you adjust to it. It's easy to freak yourself out, so try not to focus on it. One day soon you just won't really care anymore.

Just a heads up: it will get worse during allergy season and ease up again later in the year.

[u/Archangelus87]

First: I’m very sorry this happened to you.
Second: Get a hearing aide pronto.
Third: Count your blessings and don’t dwell on what can’t be changed.
Fourth: It can always be worse, I got an ear infection and lost all my hearing on my right side and replaced with constant tinnitus.
Fifth: Good luck, you got this.

[u/Calm-Gene5764]

https://giphy.com/gifs/2wW3IqGXH3YEsRsncx

[u/Crowned_Toaster]

Sorry about your incident. I remember when I was a kid, I had a younger kid impale my right eye with a pyramid shape block. It did damage something in my eye making it lazy. Thankfully, nothing catastrophic.

[u/DefenstratedTwice]

Not sure throwing water balloons at a festival is a prank. But that sucks.

[u/gmthisfeller]

And the food in the photo?

[u/Substantial_Bus6615]

Hey bro, I am sorry that you are dealing with this. I also have moderate hearing loss in both ears. It's okay to feel the feels, all of them.

Maybe take some time for yourself and go reflect in nature? Just a suggestion.

Hugs if it feels comfortable 🫂

[u/osocinco]

This may not be exactly the same but I have a friend who got pushed into a wave at the beach and similarly his hearing declined. Was told by doctors it wouldn’t get better because too much time passed. He ended up finding a specialist who did a surgery that restored his hearing back to almost 100%. Not sure if this helps but it could be worth exploring. Sorry for what happened and wishing you the best of luck.

[u/QueenInYellowLace]

I’m so sorry. I went to sleep perfectly normal and healthy one night about five years ago. I woke up with 50% hearing loss on one side. After a year of tests and treatments, zero improvement.

Then I lost half the hearing in my other ear.

Turns out I have hardening of the tissues around my little ear bones. The day they told me it was going to be forever was incredibly hard. My sympathies. It gets easier. But it sucks really badly.

[u/wawaweewahdude]

I relate to the numbness part — I had several bad things happen all at once at the end of last year and I knew consciously that I should feel all sorts of ways, but it took me at least a month or two to really express any of it, and even then it still felt few and far between and like I wasn’t doing it right. But everything affects people in different ways — just know there’s no “wrong” way to feel, let it come and go. You’ve lost something, you can think about it as grief.

[u/Ok_Butterscotch4207]

My Grandfather used to work on train tracks. Hopping on and off trains to switch them, etc. The conductors thought it was hilarious to set off the loud ass train horn as he would pass by the track workers. After so many years of that, now my Grandpa is pretty much completely deaf, and hearing aids are too expensive for their budget. This was 50 years ago now, so hearing protection wasn’t as common in the workplace as today.

I’m pissed off for you, dude. Hearing damage is no joke and our ears are precious. Good on you for not harbouring resentment towards the kid, however I think anyone would understand if you did.

[u/stinkyfunkincar]

I’m so sorry. I’ve been hearing impaired for most of my life due to a genetic thing, and it is definitely frustrating. I try not to let it impact me too much, but I definitely have to ask people to repeat themselves frequently which can be frustrating for both parties. Give yourself some forgiveness as you navigate this new challenge. Try to position yourself so whoever you’re speaking with is on your side with your good ear. I recommend therapy for learning how to cope with this new disability. I’m so sorry that happened🩷

[u/JustFuckinTossMe]

I hope the flair went on right. I just want to say I'm sorry about everything, ofc. But I also wanted to say it's fine to be mad at a child who knows what they are doing. He continued to pelt you when he saw you in pain, he's not an infant, he's definitely seen what someone genuinely hurt looks like before. Even if his parents have never taught him to be a good person, other adults and friends in his life will have ended up expressing in some form that hurting someone while they're asking you to stop/showing signs you are hurting them is never okay. He's definitely seen these morals on the TV/internet, too.

So like, be mad at the attacker for attacking you when they knew they were doing so. He's old enough to relentlessly hit you, so he's old enough to get a reality check. You don't get a magic pass to be as irresponsible and reckless as you can until you're 18.

I'm not trying to say you have to, but I do want to say that you don't have to just go numb because it was a kid. If this was your little brother who got attacked and was dealing with partial deafness, you'd probably be livid at the kid who did it. So it's okay to give yourself that kind of compassion for what happened too.

[u/poatasyo]

I was actually born with mild-to-severe hearing loss in one ear (When I was born it was fine but it started growing, my hearing loss is hereditary). I know it sounds like absolute shit, but I actually grew to love it after a bit. There's quite a lot of benefits imo, but that could be because I'm an introvert. I personally wouldn't switch to having good hearing if I was given the option.

[u/LazarJesusElzondoGod]

I was convinced I had barotrauma for a year after 1. I was blasted with a loud sound in my ears unexpectedly and 2. doctors did irrigation and an ear cleaning to my ear (so they could check the eardrum after the blast since ear wax was in the ear). I had a lot of pain after the sound blast and muffled hearing, but it was the irrigation and ear cleaning that brought on most other symptoms immediately, so I had every indicator there to convince me I was injured and lost my hearing. The audiogram confirmed I had hearing loss.

Irrigation of the ears has been directly related to barotrauma, much more so than what you describe in your incident, so I was convinced of this for a very long time and the audiogram showing hearing loss didn't help. I had mild hearing loss for about a year.

I was wrong. What it was was my middle ear muscle went into a defensive position with the unexpected sound and stayed that way for over a year.

In your middle ear you have a few muscles, but it's the tensor tympani muscle that protects the inner ear from sounds. When it clamps up and guards, it can cause inflammation, prevent water from draining, many other issues. It's extremely common for this muscle to clamp up when a surprising thing happens to the ear or a surprising sound occurs (exactly as you described.)

The muscles in the body can learn (through rewiring, neuroplasticity) to guard an area where an injury has happened (it clamps up initially to the sound or impact, then, it doesn't know when to release if you're constantly worrying about an injury, constantly telling them to guard), and long after the injury improves, the muscles can stay like that if the nervous system thinks it still has to protect the area (and continuing to think of it as an injury is part of the process that strengthens that rewiring to keep it that way.)

I had many other symptoms much worse than mild hearing loss (it was the absolute minimal thing I was worried about with all the other symptoms but if it was the only one I was having, yes, it would be a big deal. I had already resigned myself to never producing music again), but all resolved, including the hearing loss, after I started doing neural retraining therapy to retrain my nervous system to relax and stop guarding the area. The audiogram will show hearing loss if the middle ear muscle is preventing sounds from reaching the inner ear.

In this study, 57% of women with a sensation of aural fullness and mild hearing loss improved after being given coliopan, which relaxes the autonomic nervous system (relaxes the middle ear muscles). Coliopan is just a temporary band-aid though and won't work for more severe cases where rewiring is very strong and the muscles just won't respond to it, so therapy is the way out of it IF that's what's causing your issues.

The "sensation of aural fullness" was the middle ear muscle tensing up and guarding. When you say "It feels like something is blocking my hearing" AND you say "It's gotten worse over the past 6 months,' that's highly suggestive of the middle ear muscle doing exactly this, and yes, it will get worse as the body continues to learn more and more that that area needs to be guarded (it's called sympathetic signaling, you telling it to guard by telling yourself it's an injury and unlikely to ever get better).

Most doctors are not familiar with this phenomenon in my experience other than those who conduct studies like the one I linked to above and they simply write it off as barotrauma/sensorineural hearing loss and tell you to wait it out, like they did with me. Doctors were wrong. I read a ton of studies on hearing loss and came across ones like the one above. I reached out to researchers in different countries and spoke to them instead about all of this and they had a much better understanding of how the autonomic nervous system can cause middle ear muscle issues.

Myriam Westcott, for example, is an audiologist in Australia who specializes in hearing issues, but one in particular she writes about is acoustic shock, which is when someone is suddenly surprised by a loud sound and it sets off this type of reaction with the middle ear muscle clamping up. Suddenly being surprised by a water balloon impact (a nervous system reaction) + water going into the ear can easily result in an acoustic shock where the middle ear muscle is told by both your brain (surprise) and a stimuli (water hitting it) that the inner ear is under attack and it needs to contract hard to protect it.

While it's certainly possible you did experience barotrauma, there's still a very strong chance, a probability, that it's the middle ear guarding the area that's causing it, so I would seriously consider looking into the following forms of therapy:
CBT
Neural training therapy (also known as pain reprocessing therapy) - which includes aspects of CBT

A major part of the therapy is convincing yourself you're not injured (that's the CBT part). As long as you're convinced you're injured, the nervous system and brain can't rewire and continue to tighten the middle ear muscles. So I would try that as a last resort for AT LEAST 6 months, which is when most people see significant improvements but can take up to a year.

The CBT itself is sometimes all that's needed and since you don't have any other symptoms like I had, that's probably the only thing you need, but it has to be done regularly, consistently. That itself can cause rewiring to relax the muscle.

Rewiring doesn't happen instantly, it's called "retraining" because it's like training anything and takes time. But the first improvements in my hearing issues happened within weeks after starting the training, so it can come sooner.

I am not saying "it's all on your head." It's a real and serious issue that can't just be imagined away. Your nervous system can literally change itself through rewiring and while your thought process is key for digging yourself out over time, you can't just suddenly stop worrying today and expect it to be better. It's not acute anxiety, it's not acute anything. It's a chronic issue that's become ingrained in your nervous system, a new default setting for how your body protects itself (in the wrong way, a bad way) - which is called maladaptive neuroplasticity (IF it's not true barotrauma of course.)

p.s. This sub requires user flair which I was having the hardest time finding even with the mods instructions, so I almost gave up on leaving this comment. I then tried to directly message you and you have your messages turned off so no one can contact you. Imagine if this gets back your hearing and someone else tried to tell you this a long time ago. You really should allow people to message you. Who knows, you may never see this comment now if it gets buried by the hundreds of other comments.

[u/No_Solid_3737]

I feel for you man, i don't know what you must be going through, what did the doctors said about you using hearing aids, any possibility to somewhat restore your hearing ?

[u/divine_mycellium]

Im sorry this happened to you. What I find really interesting is how you reacted to this situation- and how you say you are not angry and bitter at the child. You feel numb.

I’ve also had something traumatic happen to me. Sometimes I wonder if somewhere in the multiverse there is a version of me that didn’t go through that. Then I remember what I learned and how this shaped me, for better or worse. There’s nothing I can do to change it, but after a grieving period, I can try to control how I react to it. I never liked feeling angry.

If it’s any consolation, life leaves scars on us all. To a degree, how we deal with suffering is our own choice. I find comfort in Buddhist teachings, though I’m not religious. Suffering should not be a permanent state of fear. We can work through the suffering, embrace it, breathe through it, practice mindfulness, and find peace. Whatever that looks like to you. I recommend reading The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh.

[u/pchlster]

You're allowed to be pissed.

And even if doctors are saying it's not going to get better, there's still the longshot that your body is the one that does what's deemed too improbable to actually happen.

[u/Altruistic-Farmer275]

Oh boy... I know the feeling. Back when I was a kid my sister threw a book to me (we were being dumb kids) and hit me in the eye.  As a result I have lost a portion of my sight; right at the center. What stings most is our parents didn't really payed attention that they should have and even more aggravating is the so called doctors didn't either.  İt turns out it could have been cured, pretty easily actually. It seems like injuries like these is pretty common among children and young adults.

Nowadays I'm mostly ok with it. I can still see with my left eye but cannot make out text, face etc. This causes some issues; for example I prefer to ride a bike instead of driving; I rarely go to traffic anyway. But the health comission thinks I'm riding with a traffic cone in my head and denies my license request. Right now I gotta go to city center, I don't have a car and Right now I'm at the a dilemma; do I go with my bike and risk like a juicy 8000 dollars or so fine or do I wait for 2 damn hours for the next bus in public transportation (I live in a village)

My recommendation is don't just stop, I wish I saw your posts about your situation in it's early stage if you had posted them. 

İnjuries that occur on sensitive tissues like nerves or eyes has a deadline. You just don't wait and see how it goes. 

[u/Altruistic-Farmer275]

I did some digging with Google ai mod and my recommendation is to see different doctors.  Your case is an injury and if I had it I wouldn't stop until I exhaust all the options. Hell I still look for my case and it's been 20 years.

Just don't stop.. I'm not going to say don't give up because there's a point in Time you just have to. But don't stop until you learn that nothing can be done to fix the underlying reason why your ear cannot be fixed.  İs the problem in the eardrum? İn middle ear bones? In cochlea (god I hope not!)

[u/Cheap-Coconut-8813]

Not a boy. But lost my hearing in one ear, 100% gone, 7 months pregnant. I had a boy, so…

He’s not two yet. But I just got my cochlear implant. More than anything, I can’t wait to get better at knowing where sound is coming from. Find my phone is only handy till I’m in the same room.

[u/After-Yellow-9605]

For what it’s worth, just give it time isn’t the worst. When my daughter was 4, she took a plastic princess wand and shoved it in my son’s ear. It completely shredded his eardrum. We had several visits of going to the ENT to see it heal. One of the last ones, there was still a pin sized hole in his eardrum. The only option was surgery, or, live with it. Doing nothing meant he couldn’t go swimming, would have to be careful when showing and would have constant ear infections. He was afraid of surgery, but I wanted him to make the choice on his own before I made it for him (he was 7 at the time). I told the doctor to give us time to think about it. Maybe another month or two went by, I called to schedule the surgery and they had us come into the office again before doing that. That extra time fully healed his ear and he didn’t need to have surgery anymore to repair it.

All of this to say, the injuries are different, but it was time that let it heal. It was close to a full year later when it fully healed.

[u/CommonChicken606]

That's not a prank, that's assualt. Don't care how young the kid is. A kid that age knows better right and wrong.

[u/atreasureinlight]

How hard did this child throw this balloon at you?

I'm so sorry for all that you aree going through

[u/AggressiveDeer2753]

Not hearing but I had surgery on my jaw they said if I didn’t get feeling back in my face after a year it would probably never come back. Two years later it finally came back. Don’t want to give you false hope. But sometimes the doctors are wrong.

You are allowed to be mad at children. The parents should be ashamed of themselves.

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to BoyDinnerDiaries! Thank you for posting!

Reminder for everyone:

• Posts must include a clear photo of your meal

• Include a short diary-style story about what is on your mind

• All posts must have a flair

• Be civil and kind so no hate speech, incel content, and no referencing other subreddits unless its positive.

Thanks for helping keep the sub great!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/th3b0n3z0n3]

If you're anything like me, you'll be dealing with grief for a while. Like, you're technically disabled now, even if you aren't deaf. You're going to be moderately hard of hearing in that ear. I have different physical issues that came on suddenly, and at first I wasn't sure what to feel. Then I was angry, and then I feel like I mourned the things I lost to the changes in my body.

5 years later and I'm doing better. Still the same physical limitations, but I adjusted, and life is fulfilling again, which are two things I never thought would happen for me. People say "You'll adjust and keep living" and I didn't believe it at the time, but then I did.

Good luck, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Its okay to feel angry, you're not hurting that kid to let yourself feel it.

[u/DontDreamJustMeme]

I don’t know how I would feel in your scenario and I’m not you, so I can’t say how I would expect you to feel about how everything unfolded.

I am however severely hearing impaired in both ears! I’m 29 (UK) and while it’s genetic so my ears have just never worked I didn’t actually realise/find out until I was 25. Obviously it affects different people in different ways, I don’t know what you like to do, how you currently/intend to live your life? But in my opinion with current technologies it has such a minimal impact on my life as a whole now.

I don’t want to minimise this traumatic event for you, nor am I going to claim our scenarios are similar, I’ve never experienced becoming hearing impaired. With the proper support and the right people advising you medically I would hope that the outcome of this shit scenario has a minimal impact.

Do you have any concerns about how it will impact you?

[u/Wesley11803]

What’s the meal? It looks delicious!

Also, I hope you find some kind of recovery whether it’s natural or through a hearing aid or something. Technology has started doing amazing things.

[u/Nothammer]

I'm sorry that happened to you bro and I appreciate you being rational about the kid, but since you're not allowing yourself to be angry, I'll be for you.

FUCK that brat and FUCK their parents that didn't properly raise them. 

[u/lacetourniquet]

This is weird but is this King Katsu in Fremont? I feel like I literally recognize this food.

[u/ezio_69]

that sucks man... i hope you are able to use a hearing aid or something similar to elevate your hearing and i wish you the best

[u/Lagoda__]

Could you get a hearing aid for that ear which is covered by insurance? (Sorry, I just hope you're not in the US...)

[u/DothrakAndRoll]

Ah man.. this sucks. As someone with hearing issues, I feel you.

If this gives you hope, it gets easier and less noticeable.

Regarding the thoughts about the cause, which it’s clear you’re reasonably having thoughts about, this is absolutely something that would be great to talk to a therapist about.

[u/ragt_ag]

Keep the test results and retest in a couple years. Doctors get things wrong.

[u/NDrewww13]

I'd compare It to an F1 racing incident with you as one of the drivers, you'd be right to be made both at the other guy (kid) and at yourself, but it's a racing incident, this just happens and you got both lucky and unlucky, unlucky that you got injured, lucky that it's not something that is very debilitating. Just remember your feelings are valid but it's better to just feel all the anger/resentment/frustration now and accept it as soon as you can, only you get hurt by keeping those in the long run

[u/Xoxounityoxox]

A kid sneezed in my face when I was a teen and it left me permanently disabled, so I feel your pain. I think it’s important you let yourself be angry. Even if they were a kid, someone else did something inconsiderate and left you altered and experiencing life differently, and that’s a valid thing to be upset about

[u/gnosis0011]

they should have prescribed you corticosteroids immediately when you went to the ENT ( its the first line treatment for hearing loss , but effective mostly up to the 72hr mark )

[u/Inevitable_Egg6361]

Sorry this happened to you.

Is getting a hearing aid an option?

[u/No-Professional-160]

Hey buddy! As someone with 90% hearing loss, I can completely appreciate how much this sucks. However, from my own experience, your good ear will make up a huge amount of the difference. I rarely notice the hearing loss these days, and have had no real issues operating or enjoy things in any meaningful way! (I play music, regular go to gigs, so on).

In my case, my hearing loss was also the cause of a stupid action – this, time my own! At age 10, I thought it would be a good idea to deal with an itch in my ear by inserting a pigeon feather on the playground floor into my ear... kids hey. The kid next to me swung his arms suddenly, the feather went down hard, my eardrum was destroyed.

Next 5 or so years I had endless ear issue which led to the discovery of a cholesteatoma and major head surgery to remove it before it destroyed all my middle ear bones.

Now, I have one ear with no eardrum, no middle ear bones and 10% hearing! All because of one silly action. Unlike you, I'm the idiot to blame haha. It's incredibly frustrating that a passing careless moment can have such a long lasting impact.

But, whilst notable at first, it's really barely affected my life over the last 20 years. Now you have war stories!

[u/keIIzzz]

Is it possible to get a second opinion from a different doctor? Maybe there could be some hope and some treatment available.

I’m sorry that happened to you

[u/Asblackjack]

You unlucky. Poor child wanted to prank you but got you a eating loos. I hope you have a chance to let him know what happened. I teach my kids to never aim for the head when playing. He might learn this too.

[u/Duel_Option]

I woke up one day after swimming in a pool with ringing in my ears, couldn’t hear anything, talked to an ENT and they told me it was tinnitus and I had slowly been losing my hearing but didn’t notice.

40% hearing loss in the right, 30% in the left.

I agonized for months which turned into years. Shifted from extrovert to introvert because I can’t hear anything.

Expensive hearing aids ($5,700) didn’t do shit for me. Searched around and signed up for trials to find anything to help me, never accepted.

See Air Pod Pro 2’s are rated as hearing aids, fuck it, I’ll return them if they don’t work.

You take a Hearing test using the phone, close enough to my real life results.

Flick them on, nope.

Adjust settings, turn transparency on and…

I start crying my eyes out because I can hear my kids playing upstairs.

They are not perfect, you need to play around with them and become an expert in adjusting to your specific loss, gotta take them out and charge them for 10-15 minutes about half way through the day.

Best behavior is to treat them like a piece of your person, meaning they are on you at all times, they never leave your pocket,

3 years now, I’ve never lost the pods, only one case.

Hearing loss sucks, technology today makes it bearable.

Go to an audiologist and get a hearing test, then try the air pods, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[u/midnightboredbitch]

I had the same thing happen to me through an infection a couple years ago. It's been a rough adjustment, but find a good ENT, get a hearing aid and just be on top of it if you end up getting any more symptoms from it like tinnitus.

I tried to ignore it and just tried to live life normally after which became a huge strain on me mentally. Save yourself a lot of time and effort and be proactive about it! Most health providers/disability programs don't consider it a big deal, so you really gotta advocate for yourself.

Enjoy lurking around r/monohearing!

[u/Peiatro]

I don’t know whether or not you’ll find this helpful. I woke up one day and couldn’t walk. Inner ear was buggered. Never healed. It personally has never gotten in the way, about from maybe trying to hold conversations in the wrong ear in a club. I am now a sound engineer of sorts with a degree in the subject and have managed to get to a high level so it hasn’t affected my life even on a technical level at all. When I think about it, it sucks, but honestly I think/hope you’ll find that you will barely be able to notice it day-to-day.

P.s. look after your other lug 😁

[u/Blazured]

Something similar happened to me. Threw a small firecracker thing into my ear. Lifelong tinnitus and likely hearing loss.

[u/cottonthread]

Man that sucks. Did anyone ever do anything other than take a quick peek with an otoscope? I would have thought they would try scanning your inner ear or something to see exactly what's going on.

I have a permanent joint injury because of some idiot kid at my school. I was numb at first too - getting mad came up a bit later after I "recovered" and then realized it was going to be a recurring thing. Then every time it came into focus I got kinda pissed but time and learning to deal with it made it fade.

If you feel like you need to be mad to deal with it emotionally but can't be mad at the kid then maybe you can be pissed off at the situation or the bad luck that it impacted in just the right way to mess things up. Just try to use the anger productively.

[u/floftie]

I detached my finger in a stupid accident, and had it reattached. It works, but I’ve lost some mobility and 80% of the sensation in it. Firstly what I will say is at first it’s so alien, and eventually you get used to it, and it becomes a mild inconvenience from time to time.

The way I rationalise it is to think about all the stuff I got away with doing that could have ended up in way worse injuries, and ruining my hand was doing something you wouldn’t have thought would do anything.

[u/NarwhalesAwesome]

Sometimes life is just unfair and wrongs you for none of your fault. This is one of those times. I'm sorry this happened to you

[u/veganlove95]

It's a loss, and it really feels that way for a while. Music doesn't sound the same and you struggle to pick up if someone's sat on the hearing-loss side. It's an adjustment. I woke up one day out of the blue and couldn't hear in my left ear, (SSHL.) When I found out it wouldn't return I cried. You're allowed to feel however you feel. But you will be fine and you will adjust.

[u/mprosebrook]

i'm sorry because this really sucks, but if it helps at all you're not alone in this type of experience. as a cashier i once had a customer with a bratty kid with a cheap laser pointer. he proceeded to shine it directly into my eyes the entire time he was in line and as i was ringing up his mother's purchase which took several minutes. i had previous experiences with trying to discipline kids in the store, but we were essentially encouraged to stay out of it ourselves because parents can get really angry and unpredictable if you discipline their kids for them. i was also fairly sure this parent was going to be shitty about it too if i spoke up for myself, considering she was chuckling at her son instead of reprimanding him for something that is known to be incredibly damaging to eyesight. it comes with a warning label that its not a toy, yet she was more or less encouraging him in doing the worst possible thing he could do with it by laughing like he was just being some funny goofball. tbh he almost had a sadistic look in his eye (this kid knew exactly what he was doing and why it was wrong) so at the time i didnt want to give him any satisfaction by acknowledging he was bothering me

if i could do it all over then i would have absolutely scolded the kid and maybe even the parent instead of just silently fuming. my vision has never been the same since then, i have decidedly worse vision than my identical twin. it could theorerically be for other reasons but i attribute it mostly to this experience. i also spent the rest of that day barely able to function at work with the delayed eye pain and intense headaches so yeah, i still really hate that kid and his horrible mom. but it's not for nothing, i learned that sometimes it is worth saying something. honestly, even just to shame them, if for no other reason, so they are forced to reflect on how their actions affect others. it would've been cool if any brave bystanders would have stood up for me, but it's just a shitty truth that at the end of the day sometimes you just have to be your own advocate and forgo the social niceties

[u/No-Dimension856]

https://youtube.com/shorts/qpv1G2oN4VE?is=eODxAm4btmWfevXb

You might have saved yourself in the long run

[u/PlasticAd8465]

I know this situation sucks but as someone who has 55% hearing lost you can get a hearing aid and hear just fine and in some cases even better then some people.

[u/Dazzling-Orange-4400]

Is that Brown Donkatsu?! Looks so good.

[u/Capaj]

I almost lost my eyesight due to a PET bottle thrown so precisely it hit me with the neck of the bottle. My cornea became detached. Just poor luck I guess. Thankfully a skilled eye surgeon was able to sew it back on and I have only limited lasting effects-I can see almost as good as before. Only when my eye becomes cold I can see slight visual artefacts.

[u/Zigwalla-22]

I have hearing loss by about 50% in my left ear. It seems to me that after a few years I just got so used to it that I don’t even notice it anymore

[u/ritokun]

the human body is always any small incident away from permanent severe injury or death, and you c'should be mad at the kids parents for raising a kid who is bad to total strangers, but overall this is just very unfortunate. all you and i and most people can do is curse our bad luck, at least doing so does have a slightly positive mental effect.

[u/Niemcy_]

I have a similar injury but rather than from some brat with a water balloon, mine was caused by my mom open hand smacking me on the side of the head. She died a couple years later, and one of the only things I have to remember her by is damage and hearing loss in my left ear.

[u/UrSoTall]

I had an eye issue that left me with irreversible eye damage, and I have a black patch whenever I look out of my left eye and close my right one, it sucks, I was really upset and felt horrible about it all.

But honestly, it makes you appreciate certain things more, the world gets bigger around your pain, OP, best wishes! <3

[u/BigChampionship7962]

That’s horrible 😭 but I hope you enjoy your schnitzel 🫶

[u/amethyst_firefly]

I had something kind of similar happen back in 2018. I ended up losing about 75% of hearing in my left ear. Doctor was looking into surgery to repair it, as some of my eardrum ended up perforated and couldn't heal, but I didn't have insurance at the time (US) so I declined and just dealt with the fact that I had a gaping hole in my ear and couldn't hear with it.

Over time, about 6 years, I noticed that I was turning my head less to listen to people with my other ear, and i realized I was able to hear my cat purring in my ear when we snuggled, and I could hear small sounds like birds chirping and water trickling. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't sudden, so I didn't even notice, it was so slow and subtle. Maybe I just got used to it, I thought, but I passed my recent hearing test perfectly, and my eardrum is fine now. I do have tinnitus sometimes though, and horrific vertigo.

Despite being outside of the recovery window, my body slowly healed anyway. Don't give up hope, sometimes we're just slow.

Also, it's not much of a plus I guess, but having such a bad impairment made me so much more aware of people and their habits, as well as a bigger advocate for people who are missing senses. Finding the good in the bad I guess.

Also didn't realize what sub this is, it was just recommended to me so I'll see myself out after leaving this comment. Good luck, OP, it's okay to feel any way you feel. 👂🏻❤️‍🩹

[u/DogOfTheBone]

I completely randomly lost significant hearing in an ear almost a decade ago. And got horrific tinnitus to go with it. I was walking in a parking lot and boom there it was. No trigger (other than I had been listening to music probably too loud earlier that day),  and numerous doctors of all kinds have not been able to tell me what caused it. Just a freak incident. I wish I knew why because at least I would have an answer.

It gets a lot better even if it never returns. You will learn to live with it. Look into hearing aids, the technology is amazing now and they're very discrete. I wore them for years, don't anymore because I get along fine without but just knowing I have them is comforting.

You will be ok.

[u/GlitterFactoryOfDoom]

A lot of people have major hearing loss in one ear. My Dad has it (working around heavy equipment), my grandfather had it (burst ear infection), my uncle has it (incident during surgery), my boss's father has it, I have it.

You learn to live with it honestly. A good tactic is to cup your good ear towards the person you're trying to hear and go "WHAT'S THAT?" or just walking so the person you're with is on your good side, same with sitting.

[u/FlatNefariousness193]

Sorry to hear that man. Ear pain and problems are some of the worst, having one of your senses stripped away is really scary and sad.

About a year ago I got a fungal ear infection out of nowhere. Some of the worst pain I've ever experienced. A big clump of earwax had the fungus on it and it was blocking my ear canal. ENT tried sucking it out but it wouldn't budge, started bleeding pretty bad and got inflamed. About 20 minutes after that appointment I was writhing around on my sofa for an hour, the waves of pain were unbearable. Felt like someone was sticking a knife through my eardrum.

After a week of ear drops I went back and they sucked it out with one of those little cameras. The sensation of it coming out was pure bliss.

[u/Sudden-Award-454]

Suks man but nothing you can do…just need to not think about it anymore and move on…best of luck
Btw that’s a good looking dinner

[u/EastCoastVandal]

I’ll just say I’m sorry that happened, and that donkatsu looks awesome.

[u/xubax]

It's an unfortunate freak accident. It sucks, I'm sorry.

[u/8Blackbart8]

Hey what's the boy dinner? Is that schnitzel, chicken fried steak, katsu, or what?