Presence of endolymphatic hydrops on listening difficulties in patients with normal hearing level

Abstract

Background

Listening difficulties (LiD) present difficulties in listening and paying attention to spoken information despite normal pure tone audiometry. Endolymphatic hydrops (EH) is a common inner ear condition associated with Ménière’s disease but may also be present in the asymptomatic ear.

Objectives

Using magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated EH in patients with LiD and assessed whether the severity of EH was related to the results of auditory processing tests (APTs).

Materials and Methods

111 patients with no abnormalities on pure tone audiometry, but displaying difficulties in listening, underwent evaluation through APTs and questionnaires. Upon obtaining informed consent, the inner ears of 20 consenting patients were evaluated utilizing a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging.

Results

A higher percentage of patients diagnosed with LiD by APTs had significant EH in the cochlea and vestibule than in previously reported control cases. The percentage of correct answers in the speech-in-noise test was significantly lower in patients with than in those without significant EH.

Conclusion and significance

In this study, significant EH of the cochlea was associated with poor listening to noise. The presence of EH affects the functioning of the auditory processing system, even in ears that test normally on standard audiometric tests.

Chinese Abstract

背景：听力困难 (LiD) 是指, 尽管纯音测听正常, 在倾听和注意口头信息方面仍存在困难。 内淋巴积水 (EH) 是一种常见的内耳疾病, 与美尼尔症相关, 但也可能出现于无症状的耳朵中。

目的：我们使用磁共振成像调查了 听力困难患者的内淋巴积水并评估了其严重程度是否与听觉处理测试 (APT) 的结果有关。

材料与方法：111例纯音测听无异常但显示听力困难的患者接受了 APT 和问卷评估。 获得知情同意后, 使用 3-Tesla 磁共振成像对 20 名患者的内耳进行了评估。

结果：通过 APT 诊断为 听力困难 的患者中, 与以前报告的控制案例相比, 在耳蜗和前庭中有明显内淋巴积水的比例更高 。 噪声测试中, 与没有显著内淋巴积水的患者相比, 有显著内淋巴积水的患者的正确回答的百分比显著较低。

结论和意义：在这项研究中, 耳蜗的显著内淋巴积水与听力差有关。 内淋巴积水的存在会影响听觉处理系统的功能, 即使在标准听力测试中正常测试的耳朵也是如此。

Keywords:

• Listening difficulties
• magnetic resonance imaging
• endolymphatic hydrops

Disclosure statement

The authors have no funding, financial relationships, or conflicts of interest to disclose.