When musician and audio-visual technician Jason Ledgard suddenly could not hear out of his left ear, he found a partner in healing at the Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital.
“It is very jarring and anxiety-inducing to one day wake up and not hear,” Ledgard said. “I have always worn earplugs when playing in bands or while being around them, but I still blamed myself. I saw a few ENTs, but they were not strong advocates. Sometimes you have to find the right help, which is what I found at Swedish Hospital.”
There, Ledgard had 50 hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOTs) from August through October 2025 for an almost complete hearing recovery after sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) induced by a viral infection.
He said he made one call to the center for more information about the treatment and the team recognized the urgency of his situation and quickly started him on a path to healing.
Kristen Alario, RN, CWON, a certified wound ostomy nurse and clinical nurse manager at Endeavor Health, said, “Patients who are experiencing sudden SSHL are at risk for further damage if we don't quickly intervene with HBOT and steroids, so it was essential for Jason that we were able to make room in our schedule and prioritize his care if we wanted to get him back to his baseline hearing.”
Finding an advocate
It began back in August 2025. Ledgard saw four doctors, including three ear nose and throat specialists (ENTs), in four days because of a viral infection and hearing loss. He was prescribed oral steroids, began steroid injections and took antiviral medication. Audiology testing confirmed the hearing loss, but Ledgard admits he felt panicked and desperate for a cure.
Ledgard Googled “sudden hearing loss after being sick” and read about this being a medical emergency. Additional online searches showed that HBOT can be an effective treatment for SSNHL. A deeper dive for an HBOT location brought him to information about the center at Swedish Hospital.
Ledgard was able to come in for a same-day appointment with Brigham Temple, MD, an Endeavor Health emergency medicine physician and medical director of the Immediate Care Center in Skokie, so treatment could begin the following day. The staff stressed that they needed to start the process as soon as possible and they would work with Ledgard to figure out orders, scheduling and insurance coverage.
“This is the first time in the entire process where I felt like doctors cared about me and were taking the lead,” Ledgard added. “They told me they had my back. I spent three months with everyone, and they supported me every step of the way.”
HBOT underway
In an HBOT chamber, patients breathe 100% oxygen under extreme pressure compared with 21% oxygen that is inhaled in the air. That oxygen travels via blood plasma throughout the body to reduce inflammation, repair cell damage and improve nerve function. The oxygen treatments also can reverse hearing loss. HBOT has been shown to work well in the middle and inner ear to repair damaged cells and improve microcirculation to the area.
Ledgard was committed to HBOT, undergoing 2-hour treatments four to five days per week for 12 weeks.
“It’s a little nerve wracking at first, but the chamber is very comfortable,” Ledgard said. “You sit in a clear tube and have connection to the staff as needed. The chamber has speakers, so I would watch movies and enjoy some downtime.”
Andrew Agos, MD, a critical care surgery specialist with Endeavor Health, returned from sabbatical in October 2025 and took over Ledgard’s care. At that time, some hearing had returned, but Dr. Agos advocated for HBOT coverage to extend from an initial approval of 30 treatments, to 40 and then 50.
“I think Dr. Agos is great,” Ledgard said. “He came in right in the middle of treatment and jumped in taking care of me. He reviewed my progress with me and pointed out that HBOT is still working. He told me he wanted to fight for me to get more treatments because he believed I could continue to recover more hearing. And he was right.”
A cumulative effect
Hyperbaric therapy is a cumulative treatment, meaning frequency matters to achieve the intended therapeutic effect.
“Here at the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center, we really take a holistic approach to healing,” Alario said. “We understand that anything that brings you to our clinic is potentially unsettling and might require some major life changes, so we approach everyone with compassion and patience. I have an amazing team — from the front desk to the chamber operators to the physicians — they all take that little extra time that's needed to ensure our patients feel welcome and supported during their healing journey.”
Ledgard reports his hearing is now vastly improved, finding a little irony in the fact that the frequencies that he lost are the two lowest, the ones he needs to play the bass. He now relies on his right ear a little more to adjust and find the right harmony.
“I feel completely normal in my life,” Ledgard said. “This remaining loss does not impede me during conversations or in my day-to-day life or my work. I don’t think I would have these results if the Endeavor Health team did not advocate for me.”
Learn more about HBOT, its uses and locations for treatment at Endeavor Health.
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