Should I see a doctor?

[AccaliaMarie]

I was in Biology today and I set my books down when all of a sudden, more so then normal, I went deaf in my left ear. I felt this pressure rise up in my ear and the sound travel to my right ear, and then all of a sudden an extremely loud ringing in my left ear. I pulled my left ear and hit it. Nothing worked for a little before it returned to normal. I sometime lose hearing in my left ear, never in my right, but never as intense as that, and the ringing was extremely loud. Should I go to a doctor? Is this... Normal?

[AccaliaMarie]

I think that it may have gone out for perhaps a good minute, but no longer than that. I have a feeling that it was between 30sec-1min, though.
I also, even though I'm not sure it's connected, get this IRRITATING sound at the base of my skull in the back that, and it's the only way I can describe it, sounds to me like a rainstick. It's loud and it feels like that area tightens, along with my ears, but goes away. But with this, it was go something like this.
Sound (5 sec [Loud]) - stop (20 sec) - Sound (12 sec [Louder]) - stop (5 sec) - Sound (3 sec [Soft] - stop (15 sec) - Sound (8 sec [Loud]) - stop (10 sec) - Sound (10 sec [Fading])
When it gets to be a fading like, I don't realize it.
I don't notice usually when it goes away, and it varies a lot.
I told this to my neurologist, but he just got flummoxed.

[Nancy T]

Yes, you should see a doctor. If your hearing returns quickly, it probably isn't anything serious (maybe a Eustachian tube problem??) , but you should have it checked out and get a hearing test. How long does your hearing go out for--seconds? minutes? longer?

I have permanent deafness in my left ear, but after that happened (when I sneezed one day), I would sometimes get episodes like you describe, where I'd get a sudden "closed-off" feeling in the ear as if I'd gone deaf (even though I already was). That feeling would suddenly "jump" to the other ear and the left ear would ring for a half a minute or so before the whole thing went away.

Other people with ear problems describe this frequently. I don't know what causes it, and I don't know whether people with "normal" ears get it--I've never heard others describe it except those with ear/dizziness problems.