Educational information, not medical advice. This article is written to help you understand common ear and hearing issues. It is not a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment. If your symptoms are severe, sudden, or persistent, please consult a qualified doctor or audiologist. For urgent symptoms (sudden hearing loss, bleeding from the ear, severe pain with dizziness, or a head injury), seek medical care the same day.

A blow to the head can damage the eardrum, the hearing bones, the inner ear or the nerve, causing hearing loss, ringing or dizziness. Any new hearing change after a head injury needs medical assessment. Some causes heal, others can be treated with surgery or hearing aids.

The direct answer

Yes, a head injury can cause hearing loss, tinnitus and dizziness. The ear sits within the temporal bone at the side of the skull, and a blow, fall, road accident or blast can injure the eardrum, the tiny hearing bones, the inner ear or the hearing nerve. Any new change in hearing after a head injury deserves prompt medical assessment.

How a head injury can affect hearing

Eardrum tear (perforation): from a blow or blast, causing sudden hearing loss and sometimes bleeding.
Disruption of the hearing bones: the chain of three tiny bones can be dislocated or broken, giving a conductive loss.
Inner-ear concussion: damage to the cochlea without a fracture, causing sensorineural loss and tinnitus.
Temporal bone fracture: a fracture through the ear region, which may also affect the facial nerve and the balance organ.
Blood behind the eardrum, which muffles hearing.
Balance problems, including a type of positional vertigo. See Epley manoeuvre for BPPV.
Central effects: brain injury can affect how sounds are processed, causing difficulty following speech in noise even with normal ear tests. See auditory processing disorder.

Get help urgently if you notice

Blood or clear fluid leaking from the ear or nose after the injury.
Sudden hearing loss, severe dizziness or vomiting.
Weakness of one side of the face.
Bruising behind the ear, or worsening headache, confusion or drowsiness.

These need emergency care. Do not put drops or cotton in the ear.

What assessment involves

An ENT examination of the ear and eardrum.
An audiogram to measure the type and level of loss. See understanding your audiogram.
Middle-ear testing, and balance testing where dizziness is present.
A CT scan when a fracture or bone damage is suspected.

Treatment and recovery

Eardrum tears often heal by themselves; some need repair. See perforated eardrum.
Disrupted hearing bones can often be repaired surgically.
Inner-ear damage may recover partly, or be permanent. Hearing aids help many people. See tinnitus treatment options.
Vestibular rehabilitation helps with dizziness.

Hearing tests soon after injury and again at follow-up give the clearest picture of recovery. Book a free hearing test, and we will work with your ENT. If your injury happened at work, also see workplace hearing protection. This article is general information and does not replace medical advice.

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