Abstract
Of 169 patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss seen from 1991 to 1993, 102 (60%) showed canal paresis(CP), and the etiology was not clear in 51 of them, 25 males (mean age 51.7 years) and 26 females (mean age 58.9 years). Diabetes mellitus was present in 19.6%, obesity in 28.9%, hyperlipidemia in 42.4% and hypertension in 15.7% of those who complained of slowly progressive hearing loss without vertigo, 19 (37.3%) of the right ear and 32 (62.7%) of the left ear. These results suggest that unilateral sensorineural hearing loss with CP of unknown etiology may be the result of a circulatory disturbance of the inner ear due to atherosclerosis.
