Mom Goes Deaf after Kissed by Daughter

Gail Schwartzman was the proud mother of a four year old little girl.  After a long day separated from each other, Schwartzman sat down next to her daughter to say hello.  “She grabbed me and gave me a hug and a really big kiss on the left ear.  And while she was doing it, it felt like she was sucking the air out of my head.  I couldn’t push her away because I had this terrible sensation in my head,” she said.

 “When she was finished, I had no hearing in that ear.  The hearing slowly came back but with screeching noises in my ear. “The “screeching noises” she heard is medically known as tinnitus.  Lisa Freeman of the American Tinnitus Foundation describes tinnitus as “the perception of sound in the ears or head.  The sounds can range from ringing, clicking, swishing or buzzing and can cycle to moments of highs and lows. 

Freeman went on to explain that tinnitus can occur when an individual is exposed to a sound that is greater than 85 decibels.  A rock concert can reach 110.

Dr. Anil Lalwani notes that tinnitus is caused when hair cells in the inner ear’s cochlea are damaged.  The inner ear’s cochlea is responsible for transmitting sound signals to the brain.

After reading a story featured in Newsday, Schwartzman contacted Levi Reiter, a hearing expert at Hofstra University known for his rhyming lectures.  Reither claims that the kiss that left Schwartzman deaf acted like a form of vacuum cleaner causing damage to her ear.  He believes that the suction disturbed a small group of interconnected bones within the ear, the hammer, anvil and stirrup.  The kiss allegedly detached the stirrup from the muscle causing an inflammatory response.  “It’s possible that things will get better as time goes by.  Her tinnitus has gotten better; the other ear is just fine,” says Reither, “It could have been a lot worse.”

Only one other case of a kiss leading to deafness has been reported.  A retired University of Connecticut professor talked about a similar case in the 1950’s, although a scientific report was not written.

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