Electrocochleography in Acute Low-tone Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Abstract

In this article, electrocochleography (ECochG) and other neuro-otological tests were performed on 35 patients with acute-low-tone sensorineural hearing loss (ALHL).
Those 35 patients were divided into 2 groups: 11 patients with fluctuating hearing and 24 without fluctuation in hearing after the onset.
A complete recovery was found in only 3 of the 11 patients with fluctuating hearing while in 18 out of the 24 without fluctuating hefring. ECochG was performed in 24 of the 35 patients. In 8 of 11 patients with fluctuating hearing, an increased negative summating potential (SP) in ECochG was recorded. On the other hand, only 3 of 13 patients without hearing-fluctuation showed an increased negative SP. ECochG can be a good indicator for the diagnosis of ELH and for predicting the course whether the hearing would be fluctuating or not. But there were no definite findings regarding to an etiology of ALHL in patients without fluctuating hearing. ECochG to low-frequency tone bursts should be recorded for this purpose.