Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is treated as an otologic emergency. Its diagnostic threshold — a drop of $\geq 30$ dB over $\geq 3$ contiguous frequencies within 3 days — should trigger prompt audiometry and immediate therapy, because the window for recovery is narrow.
The evidence-supported mainstay is corticosteroid therapy. Treatment usually begins with systemic (oral) prednisolone, tapered over a couple of weeks. When the response is incomplete, when oral steroids are contraindicated (for example in poorly controlled diabetes), or as a salvage measure, intratympanic steroid injection delivers high local cochlear drug levels with minimal systemic exposure.
Adjuncts such as hyperbaric oxygen may help in selected early cases. In contrast, empirical antivirals or antibiotics are not beneficial in idiopathic disease, and cochlear implantation is a late option for permanent, profound loss — not a first-line response.
\[\boxed{\text{SSNHL} \rightarrow \text{steroids: systemic first, intratympanic as salvage}}\]