Audiological findings in the Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Syndrome

The Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome (VKHS) is a rare, multisystemic and autoimmune disease. The syndrome mainly affects the eyes, followed by bilateral chronic panuveitis, however, the syndrome may also affect the melanocytes tissues, for example, the eyes, inner ear, meninges and skin. The syndrome origin mechanism is not yet completely known. Commonly, the specific ethnic groups that are affected by the VKHS are as follows: Hispanics, Asians, Indians, Native Americans and ethnic groups from the Middle East. The audiological characteristics of the syndrome and the possible audiologist interventions for a specific case will be reported. The patient was attended at the Clinic of Speech Therapy, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru (FOB). She is 53 years old and presented audiological complaints. She was diagnosed with VKHS by a specialist doctor. Throughout the audiologist assessment, she presented bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, absent otoacoustic evoked emissions, complaints about postural vertigo and acute tinnitus. The specific case reported presented sudden sensorineural hearing loss, vertigo, tinnitus and bilateral ocular disease. Even though drug treatment was performed, the hearing loss remained. Therefore, before the hearing aid (HA) fitting, the audiologist should perform the hearing management, investigate if the patient takes the drug treatment and the occurrence of suggestive symptoms of the syndrome. These are some points that help in the reference to the specialist doctor and the audiologist strongly participates in what concerns the hearing.