Title: Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Patients with Chronic Otitis Media: A Clinical Study

Authors: Dr Shruti Goel, Dr Bhawana Pant, Dr Vaibhav Kuchhal, Dr Ashiya Goel, Dr Sheeba Rana

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i3.63

Abstract

Background: Chronic Otitis Media (COM) is a commonly occurring disease worldwide. Timely management is required as this disease is capable of causing serious complications and can lead to long term pain and discharge from the ear. Traditionally, this disease is associated with conductive deafness however we organized a study to analyse the component of sensorineural deafness in patients presenting with COM.

Methods: We conducted a study on 75 patients of 5-40 years of age with unilateral complaints of ear discharge and hearing loss. Group COM comprises of the ears with complaints of unilateral ear discharge while the Control Group consisted of the contralateral healthy ears of the same patient included in the study. After detailed history, examination and relevant investigation findings were documented.

Results: It was inferred that COM is associated with sensorineural (SN) loss in small majority of patients. No significant co-relation was established between the duration of discharge and degree of SN loss (r = 0.183, p> 0.05). The average age was 25.3 years. There was no significant male or female preponderance. Significant higher bone conduction thresholds were found in the affected ear than in the normal ear for each frequency (500, 1000, 2000 and 4000Hz) (p < 0.05), which progressed with increasing frequency. The prevalence also increased with age of patient and duration of disease.

Conclusions: A significant degree of SNHL in patients with COM was noted in this study. SNHL occurred in 14% of the patients with COM, and was correlated with older age and longer duration of ear disease. There was no correlation between the degree of SNHL and duration of disease. It can be further studied that whether an early surgery in COM has any effect on impending sensorineural hearing loss.

Keywords: Chronic otitis media, Conductive hearing loss, Sensorineural hearing loss.

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Corresponding Author

Dr Bhawana Pant

Associate Professor ENT Dept GMC Haldwani Uttrakhand