question: Hello doctor,I am a 73 year old male. I have recently become progressively deaf in one ear. It took about six weeks during which it progressed through various stages of tinnitus, a hissing sound, heavily pulsed, becoming almost constant and some degree of loss of balance. The present situation is that I am completely deaf in the one ear except for a very slightly pulsed hissing sound, although the balance issue appears to have resolved itself. Also, when I press on the inner ear I hear a squelchy sound. I have been diagnosed as having a dead aural nerve. I understand that the hissing sound could be generated anywhere within the aural system but, the squelchy sound must be generated at the ear. So, how is that transmitted to the brain if the aural nerve is not functioning?