BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss refers to a condition wherein thresholds increase only at low frequencies in pure-tone audiometry. Systemic steroid treatment is commonly used for acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss without vertigo, but there has been no established treatment in most clinical researches. The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the short-term effects of high- and half-dose oral steroid therapy on patients suffering from acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss without vertigo. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Forty-six patients diagnosed with acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss were divided into two groups and treated with high-dose (24 patients) and half-dose (22 patients) steroids, respectively. A retrospective analysis was conducted on their medical records. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups in any of the following: age, sex ratio, duration of symptoms before treatment, pure-tone hearing thresholds, low frequency hearing thresholds and speech intelligibility. However, both groups showed significant differences in hearing thresholds before and after treatment. In addition, no significant difference was noted in the recovery and recurrence rate between the two groups. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, there is no difference in treatment effect between the high- and half-dose groups. Therefore, half-dose steroids may be used as a treatment option for acute low tone sensorineural hearing loss.
Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Ratio ; Speech Intelligibility ; Steroids ; Therapeutic Uses* ; Vertigo

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed short-term clinical outcome and safety of Neuro One® (Oticon Medical) cochlear implantation on postlingually deafened Korean adults. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A prospective study was performed on five postlingually deafened Korean adults who underwent Neuro One® cochlear implantation between April and June, 2016. All cases were successfully implanted via round window approach. Preoperative pure tone audiometry and speech perception score [phonetically balanced (PB) words, bi-syllable words, Korean version-central institute for the deaf (K-CID)], intraoperative evoked compound action potential (ECAP), postoperative audiometry, aided warble-tone thresholds and speech perception scores after 6 months were evaluated. Residual hearing group was defined as patients with below 40 dB of average audiometric threshold in low frequency (250 and 500 Hz). Preservation of residual hearing and postoperative complication were also evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age of five patients (3 men, 2 women) was 37.6 years. All of the recipients were unsatisfied about the conventional hearing aid. Two patients met the criteria for belonging to a residual hearing group. The audiometric threshold on the implanted side was 102.8 dB, and the opposite side was 89.6 dB. The speech perception score with hearing aid resulted in the PB word score of 35.5%, bi-syllable word score of 50%, and the open set sentence test of 62.5% on the average. The mean operation time was 87 minutes. Three patients showed normal ECAP response throughout the entire electrode intraoperatively, but the other two patients could not detect ECAP response intraoperatively. However, we could eventually identify ECAP responses in all cases postoperatively. All patients of residual hearing group could preserve their residual hearing without deteriorating more than 10 dB on audiometry. At 6 months after implantation, there was significant improvement of speech perception scores (PB word score was 54.1%; bi-syllable word score was 68.1% and K-CID was 86.2%). CONCLUSION: Neuro One® cochlear implant system was able to preserve residual hearing with relative short operation time. Short-term clinical outcome showed no significant difference with other cochlear implant devices. However, intraoperative ECAP measurement was not consistent. Further investigation was necessary.
Action Potentials ; Adult* ; Audiometry ; Cochlear Implantation* ; Cochlear Implants* ; Electrodes ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Postoperative Complications ; Prospective Studies ; Speech Perception

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) was designed to measure self-reported auditory disability in a wide variety of listening situations. Its 49 items cover many aspects of speech perception, spatial hearing, and qualities of hearing, which constitute the three parts of SSQ. However, there has been no reliable and valid Korean version of SSQ (K-SSQ), which made the measurement of auditory disability difficult. The aim of this study is to develop a K-SSQ and to determine its reliability and validity for clinical or academic use. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: An expert panel translated the original SSQ into Korean. A bilingual translator back-translated the translated version into English, which was then compared with the original version. After cognitive debriefing, K-SSQ was administered to 400 patients with hearing disability in 14 referral hospitals. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and correlation study. Validity was evaluated by factor analysis and criterion validity based on the results of pure tone audiometry. RESULTS: K-SSQ showed good reliability with high internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.99), and strong positive correlations across all three parts of SSQ. Construct validity was confirmed by the results of factor analysis and criterion validity demonstrated positive correlations between each part of SSQ and the results of pure tone audiometry. CONCLUSION: The K-SSQ is a reliable and valid tool for use as a behavioral measure of hearing ability in Korean-speaking patients, and it will provide a very useful evaluation tool for both clinicians and researchers.
Audiometry ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Methods ; Referral and Consultation ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Speech Perception ; Statistics as Topic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The association between hearing impairment and cognitive function has been established in previous studies. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of conventional hearing aids and middle ear implants on cognitive function. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: This study included 22 participants who underwent middle ear implantation between October 2013 and September 2016. Their mean age at surgery was 70 years. Using Pure tone audiometry (PTA), the Speech discrimination test (SDT), and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) questionnaire, we compared audiologic benefits of three conditions [without hearing aids, with conventional hearing aids, or with Vibrant Sound bridge (VSB)]. Cognitive ability was evaluated using neuropsychological testings (Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery) at intervals of approximately eight weeks. RESULTS: The results of PTA showed a 7.96 dB HL gain with conventional hearing aids and a 10.00 dB HL gain with the use of VSB. SDT results showed a 4.10% gain with conventional hearing aids and a 10% gain with the use of VSB. Results of the APHAB questionnaire showed a significant increase with the use of VSB compared to conventional hearing aids. In the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination, a slight improvement was observed after middle ear implantation. In the Digit Span Test and Korean-Boston Naming Test, a significant improvement was seen with the use of VSB compared to conventional hearing aids. CONCLUSION: The use of middle ear implants in rehabilitation of hearing communication in patients showed improvements in cognitive abilities, compared to the use of conventional hearing aids.
Audiometry ; Cognition* ; Ear, Middle* ; Hearing Aids* ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Methods ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Ossicular Prosthesis* ; Rehabilitation ; Speech Discrimination Tests

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tianeptine is a tricyclic antidepressant that has a novel pharmacological property: it increases the reuptake of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Recent studies have reported that the prevalence of depression is greater in patients with tinnitus than in control subjects who do not have tinnitus. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of tianeptine for the relief of tinnitus, especially in patients with depressive mood. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Among a total of 52 tinnitus patients, 15 had depressive mood. The depressed tinnitus patients were prescribed Stablon® 12.5 mg once daily for 1 month without any other drug. We assessed the severity of tinnitus, level of depression, and the quality of sleep in these patients by using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Hearing impairment and severity of tinnitus were measured with pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, and tinnitograms. These evaluations were conducted before and after medication treatment. RESULTS: For the 15 depressed tinnitus patients, THI scores significantly correlated with BDI and PSQI scores prior to medication treatment. These results showed that the discomfort of tinnitus was closely related to depression and sleep disorder. After medication treatment, THI and BDI scores significantly decreased, indicating that tinnitus and depression improved. However, no significant alteration in PSQI score was observed, indicating that there was no improvement in sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: In the treatment of depressed tinnitus patients, tianeptine might be an efficient drug to treat both tinnitus and depression. However, tianeptine is unlikely to improve the quality of sleep in these patients.
Audiometry ; Audiometry, Speech ; Depression ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Serotonin ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Tinnitus*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Various hearing tests and vestibular function tests are used to diagnose acoustic neuroma. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and the results of audiovestibular function tests between patients of intrameatal and extrameatal acoustic neuroma. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Reviewing the medical records for 64 patients with acoustic neuroma between March 2007 and February 2014, we divided the patients into two groups, intrameatal (31 patients) and extrameatal acoustic neuroma (33 patients) according to the involvement of cerebropontine angle. We compared the clinical characteristics, pure tone audiograms, speech audiometry, caloric test, and vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) between the two groups. RESULTS: While hearing loss was the most frequent presenting symptom in patients with intrameatal acoustic neuroma, dizziness was the most common symptom in patients with extrameatal acoustic neuroma. Hearing thresholds measured by pure tone audiometry and speech discrimination scores were significantly worse for patients with extrameatal acoustic neuroma. Abnormal unilateral canal paresis of caloric test was significantly higher for extrameatal acoustic neuroma than for intrameatal acoustic neuroma. Most patients with acoustic neuroma showed abnormal findings in the VEMP test, but the number of patients between intrameatal and extrameatal acoustic neuroma did not differ significantly. CONCLUSION: Clinical symptoms and the results of audiovestibular function tests differed according to the tumor size of acoustic neuroma. Physicians should counsel patients presenting with audiovestibular symptoms of the possibility of acoustic neuroma.
Acoustics* ; Audiometry ; Audiometry, Speech ; Caloric Tests ; Dizziness ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Tests ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Neuroma, Acoustic* ; Paresis ; Speech Perception ; Vestibular Function Tests

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Consonants are uttered in the high frequency range in speech to bring out understanding of our language. As consonants convey most of the word information, listeners with high-frequency hearing loss find it hard to understand speech. Non-linear frequency compression (NLFC) technology compresses and moves higher frequencies into a lower frequency region where better residual hearing is present. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical effectiveness of NLFC technology in patients with high-frequency hearing loss. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Twelve ears representing patients with sloping, high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss were involved in this study. Pure-tone audiometry and Threshold Equalizing Noise Test were conducted initially in all subjects. The subjects were tested in the counter-balanced order, and had two months of everyday experience with NLFC on/off before testing took place. A resting period intervened the two phases. Performance was repeatedly evaluated with Sound Field Audiometry, Word Recognition Score, Reception Threshold for Sentences and Korean version of International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids. RESULTS: Cochlear dead region was detected on 4 kHz of both ears in only one subject. Each subject showed diverse performance and satisfaction with active NLFC condition. Typically, audibility of high-frequency pure-tones improved with NLFC-on condition. However, speech perception both in quiet and noise was not much improved when compared with NLFC-off condition. CONCLUSION: The NLFC technology could improve audibility in high-frequency, but failed to demonstrate benefits regarding speech perception. Further research is needed to validate the effectiveness of the NLFC technology especially in terms of speech intelligibility.
Audiometry ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Ear ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss, High-Frequency* ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; Humans ; Noise ; Speech Intelligibility ; Speech Perception

OBJECTIVES: Mèniére's disease is one of the most common causes of episodic vestibular syndrome that shows symptom complexes of recurrent vertigo, hearing loss, tinnitus and ear fullness. Isosorbide (Isobide) is a osmotic diuretics which has been used for Meniere's disease to reduce the endolymphatic pressure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of isosorbide in the treatment of Mèniére's disease by comparing the combined therapy of isosorbide and betahistine (Meniace) to betahistine only. METHODS: Among 220 patients enrolled with Mèniére's disease from 9 centers, 187 patients completed this clinical study. Patients were randomly subjected either to betahistine alone therapy at dose of 6 mg three times a day (n=97) or to combined therapy with isosorbide (dose of 30 mL three times a day) and betahistine (n=90) for 12 weeks. Two groups were compared at 4 and 12 weeks after treatment on frequency of vertigo, hearing level (pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry), electocochleography (ECoG), tinnitus (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, THI) and quality of life (Korean functional level scale, Korean dizziness handicap inventory). RESULTS: During first 4 weeks after treatment, the frequency of vertigo was not reduced in either betahistine alone therapy group or combined therapy group. However, between 8 and 12 weeks, the frequency of vertigo was significantly reduced in either group, and in the combined group frequency of vertigo was more significantly reduced than in the betahistine alone therapy group (p=0.041). The hearing level, ECoG, tinnitus and quality of life was not significantly different between two groups. CONCLUSION: Isosorbide and betahistine combined therapy were more effective for vertigo control than betahistine alone therapy. Isosorbide is an effective diuretic in vertigo control in definite Mèniére's disease.
Audiometry, Speech ; Betahistine ; Clinical Study ; Diuretics, Osmotic ; Dizziness ; Ear ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Isosorbide ; Meniere Disease ; Quality of Life ; Tinnitus ; Vertigo

OBJECTIVE: To study the feasibility and the generalizability of the Remote fitting models of hearing AIDS from primary hospitals. METHOD: we comparative analyzed the speech recognition scores and satisfaction of 45 cases with traditional hearing AID fitting and with a hearing aid remote test respectively. RESULT: 45 cases were analyzed in each group, including traditional hearing AID fitting model and remote test, and 35 recovered in traditional fitting model group, and the recovery rate was 77.8%; Remote fitting model rehabilitation 42 cases, recovery rate was 93.3%, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In 6 weekend wear hearing AIDS, traditional fitting model of speech recognition rate increased by 19.40% on average, the average distance fitting model speech recognition rate increases by 27.47%, the average distance fitting model than traditional fitting the speech recognition rate increased significantly more (8.07%). Effect of hearing aid international questionnaire results suggest: 45 cases using traditional model fitting hearing AIDS patients, 33 cases (73.3%) satisfaction, 12 cases (26.7%) patients after use. Remote and 45 cases of using hearing AIDS fitting model, satisfied with 40 cases (88.9%), 5 cases (11.1%) patients after use. CONCLUSION the curative effect and the satisfaction of remote fitting models of hearing AIDS on hearing impairment are better than that in patients with traditional fitting models. Therefore it is more worthy of clinical application especially in basic level hospitals.
Audiometry ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; rehabilitation ; Hearing Tests ; Humans ; Patient Satisfaction ; Remote Consultation ; Speech Perception ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate hearing and outer cells function in patients with psoriatic arthritis. Our investigation was a prospective case control study. METHODS: A total of 31 psoriatic arthritis patients (62 ears) and 31 healthy control subjects (62 ears) were enrolled in the study. We investigated hearing changes of patients and controls via pure tone audiometry, speech discrimination scores, tympanometry, acoustic reflex, and transient product otoacoustic emission. RESULTS: The mean age of psoriatic arthritis patients was 36.1+/-8.5 years (range, 14 to 62 years). The average age of the control group was 37.9+/-8.1 years (range, 16 to 62 years). There were statistically significant differences between pure tone audiometry in all frequencies and right and left emission at the 4.0 and 1.0 in psoriatic arthritis patients versus controls (P<0.05). This difference was evident, especially at high frequencies. There was no statistically significant difference between the ages and genders of the patient and control groups (P>0.05). Both audiological and otoacoustic emissions were not significantly different between right and left ear (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the audiological and otoacoustic findings; it is likely that the cochlear outer hair cells become subtly damaged in psoriatic arthritis patients, consequently leading to changes in hearing thresholds. These data suggest that it is important to screen psoriatic arthritis patients for hearing changes with otoacoustic emissions and audiologic tests regularly.
Acoustic Impedance Tests ; Arthritis, Psoriatic* ; Audiometry ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Audiometry, Speech ; Case-Control Studies ; Cochlea* ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Ear ; Hair* ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous ; Prospective Studies ; Reflex, Acoustic