Humans ; Consensus ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/therapy* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden/therapy*

Hearing Loss ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of intratympanic (IT) steroids when used as an initial therapy in sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), and when it is used as a salvage therapy in a refractory SSNHL. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 122 patients with SSNHL. First, patients were divided into three groups according to the initial treatment; IT steroid, systemic steroid and combined (systemic and IT steroid) groups. Second, patients were divided into two groups according to the salvage treatment in a refractory SSNHL; IT steroid and the control (non IT group). Fifty eight patients who did not respond to initial therapy were included in the second analysis. Hearing was assessed immediately before the treatment and 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 3 months after the treatments. Hearing recovery was defined as an improvement of >15 dB and the final hearing of 25-45 dB in the audiogram. RESULTS: When we analyzed the hearing recovery in initial treatment, the comparison of audiogram among three groups did not result in significantly different outcomes. There were no differences in the recovery rate in 2 and 4 weeks throughout all the frequencies. Also, the analysis of the salvage treatment demonstrated that neither IT steroid group nor control group was significantly effective in treating the refractory SSNHL. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that initial treatment of SSNHL with IT steroid alone is as effective as systemic steroid alone or a combination therapy. Also, salvage IT steroids for refractory SSNHL did not have any additional beneficial effects.
Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Salvage Therapy ; Steroids

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Several reports indicated that tinnitus treatment was influenced by several factors including age of patients, concomitant hearing loss, onset and duration of tinnitus, etc. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the duration of tinnitus and the degree of hearing loss on the treatment outcomes. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Seventy-two subjects with tinnitus were divided into several groups according to the duration of tinnitus and the degree of hearing loss. All subjects were treated by cognitive-behavioral treatment program in tinnitus clinic. Treatment effects were studied by Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), which were used to measure the loudness, awareness, and annoyance of tinnitus. RESULTS: THI and VAS scores were decreased significantly after the treatment. Tinnitus of 12 months or shorter duration showed greater improvement than those cases of longer than 12 months. The lower degree of hearing loss also showed greater improvement when compared with the greater degree of hearing loss. CONCLUSION: Tinnitus of shorter duration and milder hearing loss showed better prognosis: the results of this study may help in treatment counseling for tinnitus patients.
Cognitive Therapy ; Counseling ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss* ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Tinnitus*

OBJECTIVETo explore effective therapeutic methods for sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

METHODSThirty-four cases of mild and moderate SNHL who were definitely diagnosed with pure tone test and by otologists, including 24 cases of insufficiency of the liver and kidney, 10 cases of excess of liver-fire. They were treated with acupuncture at main points, Ermen (TE 21) or Tinggong (SI 19) or Tinghui (GB 2), and Yifeng (TE 17), Shenting (GV 24), Baihui (GB 20), Houding (GV19), Touwei (ST 9), Conger 1-3, Congnao 1-2; and adjuvant acupoints: Huangshu (KI 16), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Taixi (KI 3) were added for insufficiency of the liver and kidney; Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25), Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Taichong (LR 3) were added for excess of liver-fire. Sequential multipoint pulse stimulation was adopted, twice each week, for 20 consecutive weeks (40 sessions) and then pure tone test was carried out repeatedly.

RESULTSOf 34 cases (58 affected ears), 13 cases were cured and 21 improved, and the various linguistic frequency hearing threshold pure hearing values before and after treatment increased significantly (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture and continuous multipoint pulse stimulation has definite therapeutic effect on linguistic frequency hearing loss in the patient of SNHL.

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/therapy* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden/therapy* ; Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Treatment Outcome ; United States

OBJECTIVETo understand the survey of studies on acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment of sensorineural hearing loss at home.

METHODSBy searching China journal web, 60 correlative papers from Jan. 1994 to Aug. 2004 were found and analyzed.

RESULTSDescriptive studies accounted for 71.7% and trial studies accounted for 28.3%. The diseases studied were mainly sudden deafness and the treatment methods were principally auricular acupuncture and body acupuncture. Most papers did not have definite diagnosis standard, and most criteria of therapeutic effects were self-stipulated, with no detail processing methods for the results, and only one paper reported adverse reaction.

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on sensorineural hearing loss need to be confirmed with studies of higher quality.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; therapy ; Humans ; Middle Aged