Sound localization in patients with idiopathic sudden hearing loss

Patients with unilateral hearing loss have difficulty localizing sound. Severe-to-profound unilateral hearing loss is most commonly caused by idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

To assess the sound localization ability of patients with idiopathic unilateral SSNHL and examine the factors affecting the results.

We retrospectively enrolled 141 patients with idiopathic unilateral SSNHL. The assessment stimuli were speech-shaped noise from one of the nine loudspeakers in a 180° arc. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the factors that affected sound localization ability.

There was a strong correlation between the hearing level on the affected side post-treatment and the deviation score as the index of sound localization ability. The results of the multiple regression analysis suggested that sound localization may be partially affected by hearing level on the unaffected side and age.

The results showed that sound localization ability decreased in idiopathic SSNHL patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss post-treatment. This study provides important data for future interventions for unilateral hearing loss, including cochlear implants.