An Amersham lady has spoken about her ordeal after she lost her hearing overnight.

55-year-old Nikki Magrath had suffered from hearing problems since her early childhood, but her life changed forever when she lost her hearing in a single day.

Nikki said: “I had childhood conductive hearing loss which left me virtually deaf in one ear, but my other ear was fully functioning, and I managed for 40 years until suddenly in July 2000 I woke up one morning to find I was totally deaf in my good, hearing ear, leaving me with just 25% hearing in my already deafened ear.”

After a full investigation into her hearing loss, it was confirmed that Nikki had Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL). Unfortunately, it was not diagnosed early enough, and it was too late to treat, meaning her hearing loss would not recover in that ear.

“I was living in USA at the time and I became a hearing aid wearer straight away to maximise what little hearing I had left in my other ear which already had poor hearing. It took me a while to get used to and in 2004, four years later, we moved back to the UK and I sought the advice from my incredible audiologist.

“They were able to match me with the best possible hearing aid for everything that I needed, and I was amazed by the hearing aid technology that now exists so I can live my life with practically no restrictions.

“They also taught me a lot about SSHL and how it should be treated just in case it ever reoccurred; although I never dreamt that it would.”

Sadly, Nikki was struck by sudden hearing loss again in 2016 and was left completely deaf.

“When my good ear became deaf with SSHL it was a lot harder to adjust. I had to become a hearing aid wearer 24/7. The most important thing for me was to be able to always hear my two young children. But then when I had my second SSHL loss my life changed again. I was terrified.

“With the quick action and support of my audiologist, I was lucky to get the right treatment and to save some of my hearing. I realised how precious the voices of my family are to me and how much I would miss them if this were to ever reoccur. It is important for people to be aware of any sort of sudden hearing loss as this could happen to anyone.”