The incidence of single-sided deafness（SSD） is increasing year by year. Due to the hearing defects of one ear, the ability of sound localization, speech recognition in noise, and quality of life of patients with single-sided deafness will be affected to varying degrees. This article reviews the intervention effects of different types of bone conduction hearing aids in patients with single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss, and the differences of intervention effects between bone conduction hearing aids, contralateral routing of signal（CROS） aids, and cochlea implant（CI）, to provide a reference for the auditory intervention and clinical treatment of single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss.
Humans ; Quality of Life ; Bone Conduction ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral/therapy* ; Speech Perception ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; Sound Localization ; Deafness ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment effect between bilateral (bi-) and unilateral (uni-) sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). METHOD: Four hundred and eighty cases of SSNHL were retrospective study, which were divided into two groups of bi-SSNHL (n = 40) and uni-SSNHL (n = 440). Clinical characteristics and treatment effects were compared of the two groups. RESULT: The incidence rate of bi-SSNHL was 8.3 percent and uni-SSNHL was 91.7 percent of all patients with SSNHL. Bi-SSNHL occurs more commonly in patients of old age, diabetes mellitus, and lipid panes abnormalities compared to uni-SSNHL. Twenty-eight ears in the bi-SSNHL group showed hearing recovery (35%), compared with 56.4 percent of patients with uni-SSNHL. CONCLUSION Bi-SSNHL and uni-SSNHL may have a completely different clinical characteristics and treatment effect, that implies a different pathophysiology and prognosis. Recognition their different clinical characteristics and treatment effect between bilateral and unilateral SSNHL can help in counseling and managing the patients and correctly evaluate the prognosis.
Adult ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Bilateral ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment of bilateral and unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) and figure out the differences between bi-and unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and further improve the diagnosis and treatment of SSHL. METHOD: The retrospective study was based on 334 patients with SSHL (315 with uni-SSHL versus 18 with bi-SSHL) and all of the patients were in-patients. RESULT: The incidence of bi-SSHL was 5.4% of patients with SSHL. There was no significant difference on the clinical features such as age, gender, interval from onset of symptoms to seeing doctors and associated symptoms between bi-and unilateral SSHL. 27.8% of the patients with bi-SSHL had preexisting diabetes mellitus, which was significantly higher than the rate of the uni-SSHL (9.8%, P<0.05). Hearing loss was more profound in the uni-SSHL ones, however, the hearing improvements were better than their counterparts. The overall effective rate of the two groups was 58.4% and 13.9% respectively. Earlier diagnosis and treatment with steroids would have a good prognosis. CONCLUSION Unilateral SSHL is more common than bilateral SSHL. Bilateral SSHL occurs more common with preexisting diabetes mellitus and has worse prognosis compared to unilateral SSHL. The earlier steroid treatment the better prognosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Auditory Threshold ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Bilateral ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

The present study was undertaken to learn the outcome of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) in their only hearing ear. Timing to conduct a cochlear implantation was also determined in those who did not recover the hearing. The study group comprised 25 patients who confronted ISSNHL in their only hearing ear. A total of 192 patients, who had ISSNHL in one ear and had normal contralateral ear, served as the control. Demographically there were no significant differences between the groups. The recovery rate was similar between the groups: 64.0% in the experimental and 62.5% in the control group. The duration until the recovery of ISSNHL in the only hearing ear was 5-90 days (average 17.6 days). In the experimental group, 8 patients did not recover from ISSNHL, and underwent cochlear implantation in 6 with satisfactory results. These results suggest that the same treatment is applicable for patients with ISSNHL regardless of whether their contralateral ear is deaf or normal. For those who do not recover from ISSNHL in their only hearing ear, culminating in bilateral deafness, we may consider further definitive treatment including cochlear implantation as early as 3 months after initiating the treatment of ISSNHL.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; *Cochlear Implantation ; Demography ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sudden/surgery/*therapy ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral/*diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Selection ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome