Abstract

We have step data on 1, 839 patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (sudden deafness) at Nagoya University since 1972. Of the 845 men and 944 women, no significant gender difference was seen in age distribution. In hearing recovery the elderly tend to recover less well than younger ones. Hearing recovery was relatively poor in patients aged were 9 years old or less. The percentage of patients with vertigo was significantly higher in women (33.9%) than in men (26.3%). Nevertheless, recovery did not show gender differences. Patients with vertigo had poorer recovery rate than those without vertigo. We calculated the correlation coefficient at each frequency between hearing levels different times from onset and final hearing level. The correlation coefficient was generally low at low frequencies than at high frequencies. Recovery did not differ between patients who examined 1-4days from onset and 5-7 days from onset if the hearing level was the same.