Sensorineural hearing impaired children with unknown causes: a comprehensive etiological study

Clinicians often face difficulty in accurately identifying the causes of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children. Nevertheless, it remains a challenging process for researchers and clinicians alike. An attempt has been made to study the aetiology of SNHL cases in Saudi Arabia where it was found that 20-45% of the cases are classified as unknown aetiology. A total of 302 children with SNHL were studied. The aetiology was established among 238 children. The remaining 64 children in which the causes of SNHL could not be ascertained using conventional means were further investigated. As a result, the cause of SNHL in 28 out of these 64 cases were identified successfully. Our results suggest that the use of additional medical facilities including laboratory, neurophysiology and ophthalmological investigation can help find some of the causes of SNHL cases which were previously unknown.