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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Assessment online; hearing tests and examination happen in person.
- Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a medical emergency: corticosteroid treatment gives the best chance of recovery when started early, ideally within about 72 hours of onset.
- Over 1.5 billion people worldwide are estimated to live with some degree of hearing loss.
- Earwax that muffles hearing often clears with softening drops such as olive oil used for three to five days.
- If sudden hearing loss comes with facial drooping, limb weakness, slurred speech or severe spinning dizziness, call 112 now.
If hearing in one or both ears has dropped suddenly, over minutes, hours or the last day or two, treat it as an emergency, not a wax problem. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is most treatable in its first days: steroid treatment is usually started as soon as possible, ideally within about 72 hours of onset. Book the fastest consultation available today or go straight to urgent in-person care, and do not wait to see whether it comes back. If sudden hearing loss comes with facial drooping, limb weakness, slurred speech or severe spinning dizziness, call 112 now.
Can an online doctor help with hearing loss?
Yes, in a specific and honest way: fast sorting. A video consultation can establish the same day whether hearing loss looks like sudden sensorineural loss needing emergency steroid treatment, a blocked or infected ear that can be treated, or gradual loss needing formal hearing tests. A video call cannot measure hearing or see the eardrum, so examination and audiometry are arranged where needed.
That sorting is worth more than it sounds, because the three situations run on completely different clocks. One is measured in hours, one in days, and one in months. Mobi Doctor, an online platform with licensed doctors, exists to get you onto the right clock the same day you notice the problem, rather than after two weeks of assuming it is wax.
Sudden hearing loss: why the first 72 hours matter
Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is the emergency hiding inside an ordinary-feeling "blocked ear". The inner ear or hearing nerve stops working over minutes to a few days, almost always on one side, sometimes noticed on waking or when the phone goes to the wrong ear. Corticosteroids are the standard treatment, and outcomes are best when they start early, ideally within about 72 hours of onset, which is why guidance treats recent sudden hearing loss as an urgent same-day referral rather than a routine appointment.[1][2]
The cruel part is how mundane it feels. There is often no pain, just one ear gone dull, frequently with new tinnitus, a blocked feeling or slight unsteadiness, and every instinct says "wax, it will pass". Sometimes it is wax; the two cannot be reliably told apart without examination, and only one of them forfeits its treatment window while you wait. So the rule is blunt: hearing that has dropped suddenly within the last few days gets assessed the same day, full stop. Where loss is confirmed sensorineural, specialists can offer oral corticosteroids, and in some centres steroid injections through the eardrum; exact pathways and prescribers vary by country, and the doctor confirms what applies where you are.[1] Even hearing loss that started up to a month ago still warrants urgent referral, though earlier is decisively better.[1]
What the doctor checks in an online hearing loss consultation
The consultation is built to place you on the right clock. The doctor will typically assess:
- Speed and side, first and always: sudden or gradual, one ear or both, and exactly when it started, documented precisely because the referral pathway runs on that timestamp.
- The story around it: a cold or ear infection, swimming or water exposure, a flight or dive, loud noise or an explosion, recent cotton-bud use, or a head injury.
- Companions: ear pain or discharge point to infection; new tinnitus or fullness often ride along with sudden sensorineural loss; spinning vertigo raises inner-ear and, rarely, neurological causes.[2]
- Medicines: some antibiotics, chemotherapy agents, high-dose aspirin and certain diuretics can injure hearing, and the doctor screens for them.
- Noise and work: years of loud work, gigs or headphones shape both the diagnosis and the prevention advice.
- Function on the call: how you manage conversation, which ear you favour, what happens in background noise: crude signals, never a substitute for audiometry, and not treated as one.
- The red-flag screen: one-sided loss with one-sided tinnitus, hearing loss with facial weakness or other neurological signs, and persistent smelly discharge, all of which change the referral.
Is it just earwax?
Sometimes, and it is the most fixable cause on this page. Wax typically builds gradually: muffling, itch, fullness, often worse after showers or swimming when it swells. Softening drops such as olive oil used for three to five days often clear it; when they do not, the fix is physical removal by irrigation or microsuction, which is an in-person procedure.[4][5]
The honesty here is simple: an online doctor can tell you when wax is the likely story, prescribe nothing you do not need, advise on drops and warn you off cotton buds, which pack wax deeper and scratch the canal. What no online service can do is remove wax, so if drops fail, you will be pointed to a local clinic that removes it, and told which findings would change the plan. The one thing wax must never be allowed to do is serve as the comfortable explanation for a sudden loss that was never examined.
What causes gradual hearing loss?
Gradual hearing loss usually comes from ageing of the inner ear, cumulative noise exposure, or a mechanical problem such as wax, fluid behind the eardrum or stiffening of the middle ear bones. It typically affects both ears, creeps in over years and shows up first as difficulty following speech in noise. WHO estimates over 1.5 billion people live with some degree of hearing loss.[3]
The pattern matters more than the label. Both ears fading symmetrically over years, conversations manageable one-to-one but lost in restaurants, the television creeping louder: that is the classic picture of age- and noise-related loss, and its pathway is a formal hearing test with an audiologist, then a hearing-aid discussion. Modern aids are small, effective and dramatically underused; the average delay between noticing loss and doing something about it is measured in years, and none of that waiting improves anything.[3] One-sided gradual loss plays by different rules: hearing fading in a single ear, especially with one-sided tinnitus, needs specialist assessment to rule out rarer causes, including benign growths on the hearing nerve.[2] After ear infections, muffled hearing usually reflects fluid that clears over two to four weeks; in children, persistent fluid ("glue ear") with hearing difficulty is a standard reason for audiology referral, covered in the children’s section of our ear infection page.
Which hearing loss pathway might the doctor recommend?
Assessment follows the speed of onset and the company the hearing loss keeps. This is the decision framework our doctors use, aligned with the cited guidance:[1][2]
Swipe sideways to compare →
| Presentation | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When referral or in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sudden loss in one ear within the last few days, with or without tinnitus | Same-day assessment; steroid treatment works best started early, ideally within about 72 hours | Yes, as emergency triage today | Always: urgent specialist referral is the outcome, and loss within the last month is still urgent |
| Gradual muffling with fullness or itch, worse after water, little pain | Likely wax: softening drops for 3–5 days, then removal in person if still blocked | Partly: advice and drops online, removal in person | No improvement after drops, pain or discharge, or any doubt that onset was truly gradual |
| Muffled hearing during or after a cold or ear infection | Treat the infection where needed; fluid usually clears over 2–4 weeks | Usually yes | Hearing not recovered within about 4 weeks, or persistent glue ear in a child: hearing test and specialist review |
| Both ears fading gradually over years, speech hard to follow in noise | Formal hearing test (audiometry), then a hearing-aid discussion with audiology | Yes for assessment and routing | Testing and fitting are in-person; one-sided or unexplained patterns go to a specialist |
| Hearing loss with severe vertigo, facial weakness, head injury or other neurological signs | Emergency in-person assessment | No | Always; call 112 for stroke-like symptoms |
Availability of individual medicines and who may prescribe them vary by country; your doctor confirms what applies where you are.
Not sure which row is your hearing? A doctor can tell you in one consultation.
See available times →Treatment options for hearing loss
What you can do yourself
For sudden hearing loss, the only correct self-care is speed: note the exact time it started and get assessed today. For everything else, the useful habits are quieter: softening drops for suspected wax, nothing smaller than your elbow in the ear canal, volume discipline with headphones, and proper ear protection for loud work, concerts and power tools, because noise-related loss is largely preventable and entirely irreversible.[3] After a cold or flight, give a muffled ear a couple of weeks and the pressure tricks (swallowing, yawning, gently blowing against a pinched nose) a fair chance before worrying.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation, and for hearing loss the honest version is that medicines help specific situations only: corticosteroids for confirmed sudden sensorineural loss, started urgently through the pathway your country uses;[1] antibiotics or drops when an infection is the cause, prescribed against the criteria on our ear infection page; and treatment of contributing conditions. No tablet, drop or supplement restores age-related or noise-related hearing, and anyone selling one is selling something else. What genuinely works there is a hearing aid fitted after audiometry, and the consultation’s job is to route you to that testing without a detour.
When we help with hearing loss online, and when we refer you
We help online: same-day triage of sudden hearing loss with an urgent, documented referral; assessment and treatment of infection-related and pressure-related muffling; wax advice and softening-drop plans with clear instructions on when removal is needed; and routing gradual loss to audiometry with a summary you can take with you.
We refer or redirect you: every suspected sudden sensorineural loss, urgently and the same day; one-sided loss or one-sided tinnitus without an obvious cause, to specialist assessment; hearing loss with vertigo, facial weakness or after head injury, to emergency care; persistent smelly discharge with hearing loss, to an ear specialist; children with hearing concerns, to audiology, because childhood hearing shapes speech and school; and anyone whose muffled ear has outlived its innocent explanation. Related symptoms have their own guides: tinnitus and earache and ear pain.
When to get in-person care
Sudden hearing loss in one or both ears needs urgent same-day assessment even if nothing else feels wrong. If hearing loss comes with facial drooping, weakness or numbness, slurred speech, severe spinning dizziness with vomiting, a first seizure, or follows a head injury, call 112 immediately: sudden deafness can occasionally be part of a stroke, and minutes matter.
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: open daily 7am–11pm. Most patients speak to a doctor within about 15 minutes of their booked time. no subscription, exact price up front.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about hearing loss: a private video call: you describe what you feel, the doctor asks what matters, and you agree the right plan together.
- Leave knowing your next step: an honest assessment, a clear plan, and a direct referral when in-person care is the right call, or a full refund.
No sign-up needed
Tick what you feel to see every condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call.
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Not sure this is the right page? Find your symptom in the symptom navigator, or book and describe it to a doctor.
Frequently asked questions about hearing loss
Can an online doctor treat sudden hearing loss?
An online doctor’s role in sudden hearing loss is recognition and speed: confirming the picture the same day, documenting exactly when it started, and arranging the urgent specialist referral through which steroid treatment is given. That treatment works best started early, ideally within about 72 hours of onset, which is why the consultation you book should be today’s, not next week’s.
How much does a hearing loss consultation cost?
The exact price of a video consultation is shown before payment, and there is no subscription. If the doctor can’t treat you online, you get a full refund and clear directions to the right care.
How quickly can I speak to a doctor?
Appointments are available daily from 7am to 11pm, often within about 15 minutes. For sudden hearing loss, take the fastest slot available today, and if none is available soon enough, go directly to urgent in-person care instead. For gradual hearing loss, a routine appointment is fine.
Is my blocked ear just earwax?
Quite possibly, if the muffling built up gradually, itches, feels full and worsened after water. Softening drops for three to five days often clear it, and if not, wax removal is a quick in-person procedure. The one rule that has no exceptions: hearing that dropped suddenly is never assumed to be wax without same-day assessment, because sudden sensorineural loss has a short treatment window.
Can hearing loss after an ear infection become permanent?
Usually not. Muffled hearing after a middle ear infection reflects fluid behind the eardrum, which typically drains over two to four weeks. It needs review if it persists beyond about a month in an adult, or keeps recurring in a child, because long-standing fluid affects speech and learning. Repeated or untreated ear disease can damage hearing over time, which is one more reason infections deserve proper assessment.
Do online hearing tests work?
Phone and web hearing checks can be a useful nudge: they screen roughly for whether your hearing is worse than expected. They are not diagnostic, they cannot tell wax from nerve damage, and no online service, including this one, can perform real audiometry. Treat a poor result as a reason to get properly tested, and a good result as no excuse to ignore symptoms.
Will a hearing aid help, and can you prescribe one?
For most gradual, age- or noise-related hearing loss, yes, hearing aids genuinely help, and using them earlier preserves listening skills. They are not prescribed like medicines: they are fitted by audiologists after a formal hearing test, through pathways that vary by country. What the consultation does is confirm the pattern fits, rule out treatable causes, and route you to that test with a clear summary.
- Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management (NG98), NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018.
- Hearing loss in adults: Clinical Knowledge Summary, NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries, revised 2024.
- Deafness and hearing loss: fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 2025.
- Earwax: Clinical Knowledge Summary, NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries, revised 2024.
- Earwax build-up, HSE, Health Service Executive (Ireland), accessed August 2026.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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