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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
Diagnosis and treatment of sudden-onset sensorineural hearing loss: a study of 51 patients
Mani H Zadeh1, Ian S Storper, Jaclyn B Spitzer
1Division of Neurotology, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Objective:
The study purpose was to determine the efficacy of steroid and antiviral therapy in the management of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).
Study Design And Setting:
We conducted a retrospective study of patients presenting to an academic tertiary care center. Fifty-one patients were evaluated. All patients were placed on the same treatment protocol.
Results:
Thirty-seven patients (73%) had recovery of hearing. Ninety-one percent of patients with vertigo and all patients with mid-frequency hearing loss and up-sloping hearing loss recovered with treatment (P < 0.05). Recovery was significantly related to age, onset of hearing loss, and audiogram type; however outcome was not significantly related to gender, vertigo, tinnitus, or laterality (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Our treatment protocol produced a recovery rate, which exceeds the spontaneous recovery rate. Unlike prior studies, all patients with up-sloping and mid-frequency SSNHL had recovery. In addition, vertigo did not indicate a poor prognosis.
Significance:
Antiviral therapy and increased length of steroid treatment may play a role in the improved recovery rates.
