Permanent Damage

Have been having some problems with my left ear of late - it feels like it's got water in it. You know that annoying thing when you have to jump up and down a bit after you've been swimming? Yes, well it's like that all the time.
The GP (a couple of months ago) had said it was likely water in my middle ear from an infection after a bug and would go away. Well it didn't do so I engaged my private healthcare option and saw a specialist this week (at a most plush BUPA hospital in Roundhay).
Bad news. Could be that I just have a knackered ear - it may be an inner ear issue which they cannot do much about. My hearing test showed my ears were far from perfect (loss a certain frequencies) and when I mentioned a history of playing the drums there was a knowing look from the doctor fella.
The upshot is that I can likely blame a combination of those noisy cymbals for frequency destruction, and my dad for my inheritance of crap hearing. I will be having an MRI scan on the really duff one this week just to make sure.
It's a bit alarming though to find out that a bit of me may be permanently damaged.
Eh?