Abstract
<strong>Background:</strong> Patients with essential tremor (ET) have an increased prevalence of hearing loss, and depression is a confounding issue for both conditions. We assessed hearing loss in non-depressed ET patients and controls using a questionnaire and audiometric tests. <strong>Methods:</strong> The study included 34 patients with ET and 45 volunteers were included. Both groups were asked if they had hearing loss, and pure tone audiometry, speech recognition threshold, tympanogram, short increment sensitivity index (SISI), tone decay, and otoacoustic emission audiological tests were conducted. <strong>Results:</strong> Seventeen subjects (50.0%) in the patient group answered ‘‘yes’’ to the question ‘‘Do you have hearing loss?’’ compared to one (2.2%) subject in the control group (<strong>p<0.001</strong>). The tone decay values of the right ear at 4,000 Hz were higher in the patient group. The number of subjects in which the otoacoustic emissions could not be obtained in the right ear was higher in the ET patients (<strong>p=0.005</strong>). <strong>Discussion:</strong> The results support the presence of a cochlear pathology in ET and may indicate that ET and sensorineural hearing loss may be components of a common disease process.
Highlights
Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common neurological diseases in adulthood.[1]
Forty-six essential tremor (ET) patients and 46 volunteers who presented to our neurology department between January 2006 and March 2007 were included in the study after approval was granted by the institutional ethics committee
Tremor severity was assessed by a clinical rating scale for tremor (CRST),[11] and tremor-induced disability was assessed by an activities of daily living (ADL) self questionnaire.[12]
Summary
Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common neurological diseases in adulthood.[1] One epidemiological study reported that prevalence is between 0.4% and 3.9%.2. Patients with essential tremor (ET) have an increased prevalence of hearing loss, and depression is a confounding issue for both conditions. Methods: The study included 34 patients with ET and 45 volunteers were included. Both groups were asked if they had hearing loss, and pure tone audiometry, speech recognition threshold, tympanogram, short increment sensitivity index (SISI), tone decay, and otoacoustic emission audiological tests were conducted. The number of subjects in which the otoacoustic emissions could not be obtained in the right ear was higher in the ET patients (p50.005). Discussion: The results support the presence of a cochlear pathology in ET and may indicate that ET and sensorineural hearing loss may be components of a common disease process
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