Abstract
Isolated reports of hearing loss presenting as markings on the iris exist, but to date the effectiveness of iridology to identify hearing loss has not been investigated. This study therefore aimed to determine the efficacy of iridological analysis in the identification of moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss in adolescents. A controlled trial was conducted with an iridologist, blind to the actual hearing status of participants, analyzing the irises of participants with and without hearing loss. Fifty hearing impaired and fifty normal hearing subjects, between the ages of 15 and 19 years, controlled for gender, participated in the study. An experienced iridologist analyzed the randomised set of participants' irises. A 70% correct identification of hearing status was obtained by iridological analyses with a false negative rate of 41% compared to a 19% false positive rate. The respective sensitivity and specificity rates therefore came to 59% and 81%. Iridological analysis of hearing status indicated a statistically significant relationship to actual hearing status (P < 0.05). Although statistically significant sensitivity and specificity rates for identifying hearing loss by iridology were not comparable to those of traditional audiological screening procedures.
Highlights
Audiology is the profession dedicated to hearing loss in humans, including its identification, diagnosis, and intervention
The sensitivity, reflecting true positives, of iridological analysis to identify a hearing loss was 59% (n=16/27), whilst the specificity, reflecting the true negatives, was 81% (n=21/26). This indicates that iridological analysis was more efficient in identifying normal hearing than hearing loss
This study indicated a statistically significant relationship between iridological analysis and actual hearing status with better efficacy for correctly identifying normal hearing compared to sensorineural hearing loss, in a group of adolescents
Summary
Audiology is the profession dedicated to hearing loss in humans, including its identification, diagnosis, and intervention. A number of techniques, including behavioural tests, which require responses from individuals, and objective techniques relying on electrophysiological measurements of the auditory system, have been developed to identify the presence of a hearing loss (Harrell, 2002; Sininger & Cone-Wesson, 2002). All these techniques rely on direct examination of the auditory system by objective measurements or by means of a behavioural response from the patient. Observing signs of hearing loss by such means, have been made in the field of iridology
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