Injury of auditory radiation and sensorineural hearing loss from mild traumatic brain injury

We report on a patient with sensorineural hearing loss from injury of the auditory radiation following mild TBI, diagnosed by diffusion tensor tractography (DTT).

A 35-year-old female patient suffered head trauma. While walking in a crosswalk, her left lumbar area was hit by a turning car and she fell to the ground. She was pulled behind the car for several meters while her occipital area repeatedly hit the ground. She complained that she began to feel hearing impairment approximately two weeks after the head trauma, that aggravated over time. Approximately 1.5 years after head trauma, when she visited a university hospital for evaluation of the brain, she complained of severe hearing impairment. To characterize the patient's hearing loss, pure tone audiometry was evaluated in a sound proof room to screen her hearing status for the frequencies 250-8000 Hz. A pure tone threshold in the range of 41-60 dB HL was considered moderate sensorineural hearing loss and 61-80 dB HL severe. However, no abnormality was observed in either ear on physical examination. The patient was diagnosed with bilateral moderate sensorineural hearing loss.

On 1.5 year DTT, the auditory radiation was narrowed in both hemispheres.

Neural injury of the auditory radiation was demonstrated in a patient with sensorineural hearing loss following mild TBI, using DTT.