title: Hearing loss in brainstem disorders.
abstract: A retrospective study of 309 unselected patients with brainstem disorders was carried out to establish the incidence and degree of hearing loss in this group as a whole and in each of three separate pathologies: multiple sclerosis, vertebro-basilar ischaemia and brainstem tumours. Pure tone audiograms were corrected for age and sex and upon analysis, thereafter, 59% and 26% of patients were found to have hearing thresholds in excess of 10dB and 30dB respectively. The hearing loss tended to be slight to moderate, 87% of those with a deficit were in the range 11--59dB, and tended to involve the higher frequencies. No characteristic audiometric configuration emerged. 75% of those with a hearing loss suffered a bilateral deficit. Considering the multiple sclerosis, vertebro-basilar insufficiency and tumour groups individually, similar findings were observed with the mildest losses occurring in multiple sclerosis and the most severe in the tumour group.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006313:Hearing Loss, Central / Q000150:complications*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000503:physiopathology