Hearing Loss In One Ear....

Just went to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today about problems hearing in my left ear. He had his staff give me a hearing test to see if i was just experiencing outer ear or middle ear problems, which are typically temporary, or if it was an inner ear problem.

The test reveal my problem is inner ear, which probably means nerve damage. Doctor gave me a prescription for steroid pills and is going to check me again in three weeks. If the steroid pills don't result in helping the body repair the problem, he wants to inject the steroids directly into the inner ear. If both steroid attempts fail then we're talking hearing aid, and tests to make sure it's not a tumor, as well as on going tests to make sure it's not getting worse.

My question is, could this affect my chances of becoming a truck driver? The tests showed my hearing in my right ear is "perfect". Is one good ear enough, or is it possible my one bad ear could keep me from doing truck driving?

Thanks!

Just went to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today about problems hearing in my left ear. He had his staff give me a hearing test to see if i was just experiencing outer ear or middle ear problems, which are typically temporary, or if it was an inner ear problem.

The test reveal my problem is inner ear, which probably means nerve damage. Doctor gave me a prescription for steroid pills and is going to check me again in three weeks. If the steroid pills don't result in helping the body repair the problem, he wants to inject the steroids directly into the inner ear. If both steroid attempts fail then we're talking hearing aid, and tests to make sure it's not a tumor, as well as on going tests to make sure it's not getting worse.

My question is, could this affect my chances of becoming a truck driver? The tests showed my hearing in my right ear is "perfect". Is one good ear enough, or is it possible my one bad ear could keep me from doing truck driving?

Thanks!

Copied from the FMCSA guidelines (www.fmcsa.com):

"What are the hearing requirements for CMV drivers?"

A person is physically qualified to drive a CMV if that person: First perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than five feet with or without the use of a hearing aid or if tested by use of an audiometric device, does not have an average hearing loss in the better ear greater than 40 decibels at 500Hz, 1000HZ and 2,000 Hz with or without a hearing aid when the audiometric device is calibrated to the American National Standard Z24.5-1951.

Last Updated : April 1, 2014

Just got back from the ear, nose and throat doctor. He said he needs to monitor me for a few more months before giving me the official diagnosis for the problems I'm having, but he said it's likely going to be a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease.

In my google searching on it, it appears that a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease any time in a person's life is a automatic fail for a DOT physical. I've read they are considering possibly allowing certain treatments that show a sustained stop of the symptoms to be acceptable in the future, but for now there is no possible way for someone diagnosed with this to ever pass a DOT physical for the rest of their life.

So my career is over before it even started.

Thanks for such a great site. But I think I won't ever visit again now that this is a dream that is a dead to me.

I am suspicious of the Meniere's disease. I'm also suspicious of your ENT doctor wanting to do steroid injections before utilizing other evaluations first. This does not make sense, and this comes from a rehabilitation counselor.

Follow up, get a second opinion. If you do have just hearing loss, you can still drive via the hearing exemption that FMCSA issues. If nothing else, visit your local VR office and pursue services.