Abstract

Objective: Sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (SISHL) is defined as an audiological emergency and although many studies have been conducted on the factors affecting prognosis, there is no consensus yet. The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic value of clinical and audiological factors in patients with SISHL. Patients and Methods: The data of 210 patients, 118 male and 92 female, who were treated for SISHL, were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic data, audiometry findings, additional symptoms and diseases of the patients were recorded. Degree of hearing loss; were classified as mild (26-40 dB), moderate (41-55 dB), moderate-severe (56-70 dB), severe (71-90 dB) and deep (> 90 dB) according to pure tone audiometry test. The type of hearing loss was determined as descending type, ascending type, midfrequency type and flat type. The patients were divided into three groups as those who started treatment in the first 3 days, between 3-10 days and after 10 days. The effects of age, gender, audiometric findings, additional symptoms and diseases on pre-treatment hearing level, post-treatment hearing level and hearing gain levels were evaluated. Results: The median age of the patients was 46.0 (18.0) years. The most common flat audiogram (54.8%) was seen in the patients. It was observed that patients with flat type audiograms had more hearing loss and less hearing gain. It was determined that hearing gain was higher in patients with severe hearing loss (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the pre-treatment and post-treatment hearing levels (p; 0.051 and 0.409, respectively) according to the treatment initiation time, but there was a significant difference in the hearing gain levels (p = 0.005). In patients who started treatment in the first 3 days, the gain was higher than those who started after 4-10 days and 10 days. It was observed that there was no significant difference in pre-treatment and post-treatment hearing levels and hearing gain levels according to gender, affected ear direction, additional findings and presence of diseases. Conclusion: Early initiation of treatment was found to be the most important prognostic factor in SISHL. Raising public awareness for early diagnosis and treatment will reduce the sequelae that may occur due to SISHL.

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