Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol.  2015 Dec;8(4):354-358. 10.3342/ceo.2015.8.4.354.

Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss With Minimal Hearing Impairment

• Lee HY
• Cho CS

• KMID: 2128909
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/ceo.2015.8.4.354

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study was to determine the characteristics of patients who did not match the audiometric criteria of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) but complained of acute hearing loss.
METHODS
By thorough medical chart reviews, historical cohort study was performed with consecutive data of 589 patients complaining of acute unilateral sensorineural hearing loss without identifiable causes between 2005 and 2013. Those patients demonstrating a hearing loss of at least 30 dB at three consecutive frequencies based on pure tone audiometry were classified as group I; the others were classified as group II. Patients' characteristics, final hearing, and hearing improvement rate (HIR) between the two groups were compared.
RESULTS
Group II exhibited distinctive characteristics, including an early age of onset of the hearing loss (P<0.01), an absence of accompanying diabetes (P<0.01) and hypertension (P<0.01), and better unaffected hearing and final hearing compared with group I (P<0.001). However, the HIR of the patients in the two groups was not significantly different (P>0.05).
CONCLUSION
Patients who did not meet the audiological criteria of SSNHL exhibited distinctive characteristics compared to SSNHL patients.

Keyword

Sudden Hearing Loss; Prognosis; Audiometry

MeSH Terms

Age of Onset
Audiometry
Cohort Studies
Hearing Loss*
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural*
Hearing Loss, Sudden
Hearing*
Humans
Hypertension
Prognosis

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Pretreatment and posttreatment hearing levels. (A) Group I. (B) Group II. Group I, ≥30 dB of hearing loss in three sequential frequencies; Group II, <30 dB and/or ≥30 dB of hearing loss only in limited frequencies.

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