Abstract
Twenty-one patients with hypoparathyroidism were investigated with pure tone audiometry, short increment sensitivity index (SISI) test, Békésy audiometry, speech audiometry and auditory brainstem response (ABR) and the following results were obtained.
(1) Seven patients (13 ears) with severe hypocalcemia for a relatively long term or with uncontrolled serum calcium level, were proved to have hearing impairment.
(2) The inner ear was thought to be responsible site for hearing loss because of the high SISI score, positive recruitment and prolongation of the wave I (N1) latency.
(3) The cause of hearing loss in hypoparathyroidism was supposed to be low Ca level in inner ear fluid and/or direct effect of vitamin D deficiency upon the inner ear.
