Audiological characteristics of hearing loss following meningitis

Meningitis is one of the leading causes of acquired sensorineural hearing loss in childhood, and many retrospective and prospective studies and case reports have been published. However, they have seldom discussed the nature of postmeningitic hearing loss from the audiological point of view. This study reports the results of audiological examinations performed on 5 patients suffering from hearing loss following meningitis. Extremely poor word discrimination scores as compared with pure-tone audiograms were common in all 5 cases. Type IV Békésy tracings were observed in 2 cases. Discrepancies between pure-tone audiograms and subjective hearing sensation and between pure-tone audiograms and ABR recordings were noted in 2 cases. These results suggest that varying degrees of retrocochlear involvement complicating the inner ear damage are the audiological characteristics of hearing loss following meningitis.