Severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with cochlear function impairment

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with middle ear acoustic transference and cochlear function.

Male individuals with and without mild, moderate, and severe OSA according to standard criteria of full polysomnography and no co-morbidities were studied. Subjects with BMI ≥40 kg/m², present or past treatment for OSA, with heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, use of chronic medications, and previous history of risk for hearing loss were excluded. All subjects were submitted to full polysomnography, evaluation of wideband acoustic immittance by energy of absorbance (EA), and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE).

We studied 38 subjects (age 35.8 ± 7.2 years, BMI 28.8 ± 3.8 kg/m²) divided into no OSA (n = 10, age 33.6 ± 6.4 years, BMI 26.9 ± 4.1 kg/m²), mild (n = 11, age 32.8 ± 2.9 years, BMI 28.5 ± 3.5 kg/m²), moderate (n = 8, age 34.1 ± 6.8 years, BMI 29.6 ± 3.3 kg/m²), and severe OSA (n = 9, age 41.2 ± 9.2 years, BMI 30.5 ± 3.8 kg/m²). EA was similar between groups. In contrast, patients with severe OSA presented significantly lower DPOAE amplitudes when compared to the control, mild, and moderate OSA groups (p ≤ 0.03, for all comparisons).

Acoustic transference function of middle ear is similar in adults with and without OSA. Severe OSA is independently associated with cochlear function impairment in patients with no significant co-morbidities.