4. Hearing impairment
Keeping with the sensory deprivation theme, it’s important to know that varicella-zoster can impair your hearing when it causes shingles. It has always baffled scientists how a single virus can affect three of the five basic senses that human beings rely on to experience the world. You might notice a loss of hearing that gets worse over time.
This usually occurs in both ears simultaneously though there have been some reports of only one ear having impaired earing and the other remaining perfectly fine — however, these reports are yet to be confirmed. There are other conditions that may lead to hearing impairment. These include eardrum ruptures and brain tumors That being said, neither one of those conditions causes a rash or other shingles-like symptoms making it relatively easy to distinguish between conditions when varicella-zoster leads to hearing impairment.