[Diagnosis of perceptive deafness in adults]

The finding of perception deafness in an adult patient should set off full clinical and paraclinical evaluation, as this symptom may hide two problems requiring urgent attention. The first problem concerns the diagnosis: any unilateral and progressive perceptive deafness suggests a possible acoustic neurinoma. The second problem is one of therapeutic decision, since in all patients with sudden onset deafness the prognosis depends on an early treatment. General practitioners can use simple tests that will give them some indications on the severity of the loss of hearing, but to establish the side and cause of the deficit, additional and highly specialized examinations are always needed. Medical and hearing aids are sufficient in most patients. Surgery should be reserved to very special cases and will be contemplated or not, depending on the cause of the deafness.