Even when I had normal hearing I always struggled with my ears when flying! The combination of aircraft noise and different cabin pressures always seemed to making hearing difficult for a couple of hours after landing. During the flight I never had any problems but coming into land, the aircraft noise and I assume, air pressure changes seem to cause difficulty, but things always seemed to return to normal after an hour or so!
This year ( the third time I’ve flown with CI ) at the end of January we went to Tenerife. Again usual reduced hearing for a couple of hours plus also increase in Tinnitus but eventually all settled down.
About four days before we were due to fly back I picked up a cold just as coronavirus was taking off in China but knew if I rested, I usually manage to shift these things quickly. Come the flight home I was feeling much better and only slightly congested. I took my seat by the window above the wing ( I have an agreement with my wife that as I struggle having conversations with fellow passengers in noisy environments, I usually get the window seat ) during the flight again no problems until the landing. We arrived on the Friday night just before storm Dennis. On arrival my Tinnitus was extremely loud in both ears all speech was very quiet, I turned the volume on both my CI and hearing aid but this made very little difference. My hearing remained like this for four or five days until gradually it returned to normal. This experience has put me off flying a bit though it was probably caused by a number of factors, cold, storm, low air pressure, aircraft noise and cabin pressure.
I’m glad to say my hearing is OK at the moment though in these strange times I spend a lot of time in quieter situations than normal.