Abstract
Audiograms of forty-four fresh cases of sudden deafness that visited our hospital within 7 days of the onset of the initial symptoms were studied. The following observations were made.
1. Many of the cases that showed a recovery exceeding 30 dB in average threshold of the entire frequency range were found to have visited the hospital on the day or the next day of onset of the disease. This would indicate that the treatment should be started within a day or two of the onset of the disease to obtain better results.
In many of the cases that showed no or minimal improvement in spite of various treatment, hearing acuity of the opposite ear had also been found to be impaired. This observation may help one to foresee the prognosis of hearing disturbance in some cases.
2. In some cases pure tone threshold improved dramatically around the tenth day of the disease.
3. Many of the cases associated with vertigo did not show any improvement of hearing up to 30 dB level.
4. The conservative treatment has been given with emphasis being placed on hospitalization and rest. Recovery rate has been 43% in the present series.
The author stresses the importance of establishing a certain objective standard for expression of the degree of improvement of this disease.
