My father is 49. He has had a sudden onset of severe hearing loss. Over the past few months he has notice a decrease in hearing, but a sudden onset of a more drastic loss. As a child he had multiple radiation treatments for recurrent ear infections. As an adult he has had sinus infections with seasonal allergies. He has been told that his ear drum has multiple scars and does not appear normal. This was probably 20 years ago that a MD told him this. He also has two 2nd cousins who were born deaf. He recently went to a acute care health care center. TheMD there told his he had a bad ear infection and gave him an antibiotic. We are concerned that this is not just a bad ear infection. He does not have health insurance and is unreasonable for him to see multiple doctors to get a correct diagnosis. He can not afford it, although this has the potential to impact his quality of life. Do you have any ideas of what may have caused this sudden drastic change in hearing? He also has a family history of cancer, as well as the multiple radiation treatments to his ear drum as a child. I also have a history of non-hodgins lymphoma. Is cancer likely?