Idiopathic bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (IBSH): Clinical study of cases with rapidly progressive and slowly progressive deafness.

Abstract

We investigated the clinical differences between a group of IBSH patients with rapidly progressive hearing loss and a group of these patients with slowly progressive hearing loss. A total of 107 patients of IBSH followed up at the hearing clinic in our department for more than 10 years were enrolled. Of the 107 patients, 51 were classified into the rapidly progressive deafness group and 56 into the slowly progressive group. In regard to the age distribution, a high incidence in the 40-49 years age group was seen in the rapidly progressive deafness group and a high incidence in the 0-9 years and over 40 years age groups was found in the slowly progressive deafness group. The number of patients with vertigo in the rapidly progressive deafness group was 27 (52%), and that in the slowly progressive deafness group was 17 (30%).
Next, we investigated 19 patients of the rapidly progressive deafness group who presented with recurrent episodes of vertigo. In regard to the type of audiograms at the first visit, 28 ears (74%) showed a high-tone hearing loss pattern. When the cases were classified according to the frequency area of rapid deterioration in the audiograms, deterioration in the all-frequencies (250Hz-8kHz) area was found to be the most frequent.
We considered that in many cases in this study, recurrent vertigo were needed to be differentiated from Meniere's disease.