Abstract
A study of hearing impairment in 292 patients with Ménière's disease revealed that with advancing age hearing acuity was gradually lost. However, one must take into account the physiological decline in hearing due to aging when evaluating the results of audiometry. Hearing loss due to aging was calculated and subtracted from the raw threshold level in each cases. Deterioration in hearing was far greater in the first 5 years of Ménière's disease than in subsequent years, and the difference of threshold from that of the other ear was higher at 500Hz than at 8000Hz. The hearing loss was characterized by fluctuations in the level of hearing, particularly at 500Hz.
Nevertheless, as the disease progressed, the degree of fluctuation in patients who had suffered for more than 15 years became less marked at low tone frequencies. Among the 292 patients investigated, 18% cases had bilateral involvement. The incidence of bilateral disease rose with the duration of illness.
