I did a research fellowship at Kresge Hearing Research Institute ( http://www.khri.med.umich.edu/ ) and was involved aith a study involving Sudden HL and antibodies found in those patients and results of various treatments.

In short, a large percentage had a specific antibody. An impressively high number of with this antibody, showed remarkable recovery or a significant improvement when given immediate ( or close to onset of symptomology ) , very high-dose prednisone therapy for a period of 1-2 weeks.

To refer a physician to necessary info , here are two publications on the topic and findings:

Carey, TE, Nair, TS, Gray, JP, Zeitoun, H, Lansford, CD, Fisher, SG, Dolan, DF, Raphael, Y, Miller, JM, Ramakrishnan, A, Lee, DS, Denny, ED, Arts, HA, Telian, SA, El-Kashlan, H, Disher, MJ, Sataloff, RT, Yeom, K. The search for the inner ear antigen of autoimmune hearing loss. In: New Frontiers in Immunobiology. Veldman, JE, Passali, D, Lim, DJ. Eds., Kugler Publications, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2000, pp 67-74.

I'm am now going to see a third specialist in October. My hearing loss has been progressive over the last year and an acoustic neuroma still has not been ruled out.

Julie how are you coping with your tumor? I'm assuming it's an acoustic neuorma. Do you have any idea of what caused your inital hearing loss 20 years ago? Thank you for relating your story. It means alot to me that I can ask these questions to people who are going through the same ordeal.

Thank you and remember when people around you get frustrated because you can't hear them, remember that it is hard for them too.