Characteristics and prognosis of ear fullness feeling in patients with all-frequency sudden deafness

Abstract

Objective: The characteristics and prognosis of ear fullness feeling in patients with all-frequency sudden deafness were explored. Method: 104 patients (104 ears) with unilateral all-frequency sudden deafness were collected in study from June 2015 to March 2019, including 50 males and 54 females, the mean age ranged from 23-65 years, and the disease duration ranged from 1-9 days. Of those, 56 patients accompanied with the feeling of ear fullness (FEF) were enrolled into'the ear fullness group', and 48 patients without FEF were included in'the without ear fullness group'. Patients' treatment strategy followed the Chinese Medical Association Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of sudden deafness (2015). Moreover, VAS scale scores and subjective grading of FEF were acquired in patients with FEF. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and prognosis of FEF with SPSS 23.0 software. Results: There were no differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, duration of disease, the side of deaf ear, degree of hearing loss, and auditory brainstem evoked potential results (age,t=1.566; gender,χ(2)=0.001; duration, t=0.057; side,χ(2)=0.033; degree of hearing loss Z=-0.180; ABR,χ(2)=0.001;all P>0.05) . There was a positive correlation between the subjective grading of FEF and the degree of hearing loss in patients with FEF (r=0.599, P<0.001) . The total rate of hearing improvement following one month of treatments in patients with FEF vs with no FEF was 35/56(62.5%) vs 28/48(58.3%) (Z=-0.641, P=0.521). After one month of treatment, the total effective rate of FEF was 94.6%(53/56), and the improvement of FEF had nothing to improvement of hearing (r=0.040, P=0.769) . Conclusions: The degree of hearing loss is positively correlated with the degree of FEF in patients with all-frequency sudden deafness. Hearing recovery is not related to FEF. The recovery effect of FEF is good, and has no correlation with hearing recovery.