Abstract
Although it has been postulated that kendo causes sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), no such clinical cases demonstrating distinct relationship between kendo and SNHL have been reported. We reported a 17-year-old male student who developed acute SNHL (45-70dB HL at 1-8kHz) in his left ear following Kendo exercise. His hearing was almost recovery by the 11th day from the onset, indicating a similar process to temporary threshold shift (TTS) with a delayed recovery. In order to confirm whether or not a hitting sound and/or shock by “shinai”, a bamboo sword, during Kendo excercise induces TTS, 17 volunteer medical students in the Kendo team in Miyazaki Medical College were subject to pure tone audiometry before and after the “Men-Uchi” exercise. Two subjects who showed high-frequency-dips before the exercise were found to cause TTS following the exercise. The result of this preliminary study may indicate that the assessment of TTS caused by Kendo excercise is potentially useful for estimating susceptibility to “Kendo-induced SNHL” in young Kendo players.
