Jun 12, 2008 11:04 am US/Eastern
Kiss Of Deaf: N.Y. Woman Loses Hearing From Kiss
Daughter's Show Of Affection Turns Woman's Life Upside Down
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A mother from Hicksville, N.Y. has suffered a very rare injury. Her 4-year-old daughter's sucking kiss on her left ear caused a loss of hearing, mystifying doctors.
CBS
Medical experts say a kiss on the ear by a 4-year-old girl has caused a unique chain of events that has severely damaged her mother's hearing.
It was a kiss from a child. She is her mother's joy. It was an expression of unconditional love.
But for one Long Island mom, who we are not identifying because of her concerns for her daughter's emotional scars, a big, suctioning, squeaky smooch on her left ear from her then-4-year-old has left shocking permanent damage.
"It was a long sucking kiss in my ear. I couldn't push her away. I was almost frozen. When she stopped, and the kiss ended, I realized I had no hearing in that ear. Nothing," the mother said.
"I got very upset and yelled for my husband, 'I can't hear out of this ear! I can't hear!,'" she said.
Her daughter was devastated.
Abruptly, the silence was followed by ringing, screeching noises. Days later, spasms and wind whooshing sounds were present. Finally, she couldn't even hear a dial tone.
"Until that time - and I'd had it tested - my hearing was perfect," the mother said.
Her doctors were mystified. After months, they referred the Hicksville, N.Y. homemaker to the "Guru of Hearing," Professor Levi Reiter, Chair of Audiology at Hofstra University.
Reiter said that like a vacuum cleaner or plunger, the daughter's suctioning kiss had unintentionally pulled her mom's eardrum out toward the ear canal, detaching tiny ligaments and nerves.
Reiter is publishing his findings in the National Hearing Journal later this summer, predicting his patient may get better as years go by.
"I just have to give it time, but want everyone to know a kiss on the ear can be very dangerous," the mother said.
In investigating this, Reiter said he has found only one similar case, from the 1950s, but he thinks many others who are unaware, especially children, may have suffered hearing loss from a direct kiss into the ear.
Reiter is publishing his findings in the National Hearing Journal later this summer. He is also warning parents to avoid kissing into the ears of newborns.
CBS News Interactive: Healthwatch
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