Abstract
Idiopathic sudden hearing loss (ISHL) is defined as deafness of sudden onset and unknown origin. The clinical characteristics of ISHL in elderly people have not been well documented. We retrospectively investigated 61 cases of ISHL, whose age was older than 65 year. The average age of the subjects was 74.6 years. The pure tone average (PTA) of the affected ear, and the unaffected ear, was 74.6dB and 33.2dB, respectively. The PTA recovered to 56.2dB in the affected ear. The number of the complete recovery cases was 11 (18.0%), the marked recovery was 15 (24.6%), the slight recovery was 14 (23.0%), and the no recovery was 21 (34.4%). (By the diagnosis criterion of Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry of Japan.) The rate of improvement was lower than that in the previous reports. The prognosis of ISHL was analyzed in relation to the presence of vertigo and the underlying diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia which are considered as microvascular risk factors for the prognosis of ISHL. The presence of vertigo was significantly related to the prognosis of hearing level. However, the other underlying diseases were not significantly related to the hearing recovery.
