Audiometric and Radiological Evaluation of Patients with Single-Sided Sensorineural Hearing Loss; Single Center Experience

Abstract

Background: In this study, It was aimed to make audiological and radiological evaluations of patients in the pediatric age group with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, to reveal the degree of hearing loss, frequency of inner ear anomalies and the 8th cranial nerve anomaly according to age groups.Materials and Methods: Forty-four pediatric patients who applied to Harran University Medical Faculty Otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic between June 2014 and June 2015 and diagnosed with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss were included in the study. Patient’s age, gender, lateralization of hearing loss, otoscopic examination findings, tympanometric and audiological findings, and radiological inner ear pathologies were evaluated.Results: Nineteen patients were female (43.2%) and 25 were male (56.8%). The age range was between 0 to 16 years. The mean age of male patients was 9.88 years, while the mean age of female patients was 9.84 years. Twenty (45.5%) of the patients had sensorineural hearing loss in the right ear and 24 (54.5%) in the left ear. In the patients audiometric examination, 2 (4.5%) patients had unilateral moderate; five patients had (11.4%) unilateral moderate-severe, 11 (25%) patients had unilateral severe, and 26 (59.1%) patients had unilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. In the radiological examinations, 33 (75%) patients had no pathological findings, while 11 (25%) patients had internal ear pathology. Four patients (9.1%) had bilateral internal inner ear pathology, 4 (9.1%) had a right inner ear, and 3 (6.8%) had left inner ear pathology.Conclusions: Audiological and radiological imaging should be performed in patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. High resolution computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging should be performed for the possible presence of an inner ear anomaly and evaluation of the 8th cranial nerve.