機能性難聴についての検討 ＣＮＶ聴力検査を用いて

Abstract

Functional hearling loss has resently been increased. However, the etiological mechanism has not yet been fully clarified. The authors studied on recognition at the cortical level using CNV objective audiometory. This study disclosed that the recognition of sounds is seen in pseudohypoacusis and in patients with psychogenic hearing loss. This finding seems to disprove the notion that psychogenic hearing loss is an impairment of the auditory pathway at the subconscious level. Based on this result, we may conclude that the place where psychogenic hearing loss occurs does not lie in the subconscious level, but lies in higher-level of mental activity (i.e., the place which is related to the question of “how to grasp the sound inside oneself”). A fundamental difference between psychogenic hearing loss and pseudohypoacusis lies in that the former is based on the mentally immature self and a mental conflict within themselves, while the latter in based on the patient's will to malinger. Therefore, in cases of psychogenic hearing loss, elevated auditory thresholds should be observed as an indicator of psychological imbalance.