Auditory function in whiplash-associated disorders.
This was a consecutive, prospective clinical study on 153 ambulatory patients in a tertiary referral center (i.e., a county hospital). All patients had whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) of at least grade II, according to the Quebec classification. All patients underwent pure-tone audiometry, and their audiograms were compared with ISO standards. Fourteen percent of patients with WAD had a hearing impairment exceeding the 90th percentile of the ISO standards. However, in most cases the hearing was not associated with whiplash injury. A subgroup (33 patients)--with normal hearing or slight hearing impairment according to the audiogram--was selected from the total group of patients with WAD. The 33 selected patients and 33 matched controls were tested with the speech-in-noise test (SRN test). However, 40% of this subgroup of patients with WAD reported hearing problems. As many as 30% of the patients with WAD had an abnormal SRN test result, as against 5% of the controls. Significant relations were found between the SRN test and self-assessed hearing loss, but not between the SRN test and tinnitus.
Tjell
C
C
Central Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
Tenenbaum
A
A
Rosenhall
U
U
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000150:complications*