Like most clinical tests, audiometry produces only a snapshot of a single point in time. For that single moment, you know the truth, but only for that one moment.  Unfortunately, many diseases are either fluctuating or progressive in nature and these snapshots can be misleading and must therefore be understood in a broader clinical context.

A recent patient of mine had an unusual situation with profound unilateral sensorineural deafness and a contralateral ear with a condition called ‘Auto-Immune Inner Ear Disease’¹. His ability to hear in his good ear would change, sometimes quite dramatically, over the course of any given day.