A comparative study on effects of diabetes on auditory functions as measured by BERA and DPOAE

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Diabetes is prevalent endocrine disorder associated with many complications. However, the link between auditory dysfunctions and diabetes is still vague. The current study aims to correlate auditory dysfunction caused by DM, measured by distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) & brainstem evoked otoacoustic emissions (BERA). </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">This is a descriptive (comparative) study in which auditory functions of 100 diabetics and 100 matched non-diabetics were assessed by distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) & brainstem evoked otoacoustic emissions (BERA). The data for diabetic and non- diabetic group was compared and analysed. Effects of age of individual on auditory functions were also analysed separately using suitable statistical tests.<strong> </strong>The data collected was analysed with suitable statistical tests were performed with </span><span lang="EN-GB">a significance level of ɑ=0.1 </span><span lang="EN-IN">using SPSS 2.0 software. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">The demographical variable was comparable in both the groups. The results showed decline in free field hearing, which are further adversely affected by duration of diabetes and patient’s age. The pure tone thresholds were not significantly higher in diabetics; however the thresholds were significantly higher in diabetics in older age groups. The hearing loss appear at early age in diabetics but gradually become indistinguishable from age related hearing loss. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Although the auditory dysfunction can be linked to diabetes, but are usually not detectable at earliest stages with routine clinical and audiological tests. The DPOAE and BERA have role to play in monitoring of the auditory dysfunction.</span></p>