<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I asked list members to enlighten me on any connections between celiac and permanent hearing loss - because my 3-year-old celiac daughter has been recently diagnosed with permanent hearing loss - for which there has been no real explanation - to date. We are still getting the doctors to look into this - so I only have a partial summary. Most replies were concering people who experiences some hearing loss in connection with eating gluten. This is not the case with my daughter - at least we are pretty sure she is gluten free - and had been for a year before the hearing loss occurred. She had a string of ear infections prior to the hearing loss - but the ENT specialist is not convinced that they could have cuased the hearing loss - because her loss is in the inner ear. There is a condition called Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease - which can be connected to celiac - simply because it is another autoimmune disease - but is pretty rare. There can be hearing loss associated with malabsorption of vitamin B12, or folic acid - common among celiacs - however, again, I don't believe this is the case with my daughter - although we are getting it checked out. It is possible that she simply has a genetic hearing defect - but we are not convinced of this because it seems that her hearing was perfect before. So - we have few answers at this point - but are checking things out - and will see the ENT specialist again next month. -- Kate Johnson Freelance medical journalist Montreal, CANADA Tel: (514) 482-8837