Hearing handicap in adults with unilateral deafness and bilateral hearing loss

To assess the perception of hearing handicap in adult patients with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) compared with those with bilateral SNHL or unilateral congenital SNHL.

Retrospective chart review.

Multicenter department of otolaryngology referrals.

Seventy-one subjects in the unilateral severe-profound (>70 dB) sudden SNHL group (Group 1), 17 subjects in the unilateral prelingual or congenital SNHL group (Group 2), and 121 subjects in the bilateral SNHL group (Group 3).

Questionnaire.

Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) and visual analogue scale (VAS) measurements of hearing handicap.

Average levels of hearing loss were 92 dB in Group 1, 109 dB in Group 2, and 67 dB in Group 3. The relative percentage scores of HHIA and VAS compared with Group 3 were 72.6% and 81.0% in Group 1 and 25.4% and 50.3% in Group 2, respectively. A mild correlation between the HHIA subscale or VAS scores and degree of hearing loss could be found in Group 3. No significant correlation was found between the HHIA subscale or VAS scores and duration of hearing loss in Group 1 or Group 3. Higher scores were obtained in male subjects than in female subjects. Patients in Group 1 who were troubled by tinnitus scored significantly higher in the HHIA. In multiple logistic regression analysis, presence of tinnitus, older age, higher average hearing loss level, and group (bilateral SNHL>unilateral sudden SNHL>unilateral precongenital SNHL) revealed a significant positive association with high score (>42) of HHIA (odds ratio, 3.171, 1.021, 1.031, and 6.690, respectively).

The results of HHIA and VAS suggest that not only patients with bilateral SNHL but also those with unilateral sudden SNHL, particularly those who have tinnitus, experience a hearing handicap.