Long-term objective and subjective audiologic consequences of closed head injury.
During a period of 5 years, a total of 47 patients, 16-60 years of age, with major closed head injury (CHI) were admitted to 2 Swedish medical centres. Seven to 11 years after injury, 25 of them (mean age 40.8 years; range 25-59 years) were evaluated using peripheral and central auditory tests, and most of them also completed 2 questionnaires concerning self-assessed hearing ability and quality of life. Twenty-two patients did not participate in the long-term follow-up tests: 15 were excluded for medical reasons and 4 did not wish to participate; an additional 2 were impossible to trace and 1 had died. As many as 68% of patients (17/25) demonstrated abnormalities on 1 or more of the audiometric tests, 14 on pure-tone audiometry (p < 0.02) and/or central audiometric tests (3 on central tests only and 2 on pure-tone audiometry only). Four out of six patients with available early post-traumatic audiograms showed a significant progressive deterioration. As a group, their assessments of hearing ability and quality of life were equal to or better than those of the controls. These results may indicate that a higher priority should be given to obtaining an early audiologic evaluation of every CHI patient than is the rule today. The impact of post-traumatic progress and central lesions on social hearing at an advanced age is highlighted.
Bergemalm
P O
PO
Ahlsén Research Institute, Orebro Medical Centre, Sweden. per-olof.bergemalm@orebroll.se
Borg
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D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000150:complications*; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires