Nonorganic hearing loss in children--a 2-year study

Nonorganic hearing loss or pseudohypacusis is a condition in which there is an apparent hearing loss without any evidence of an organic cause. In a 2-year period, 43 children were seen in our department with this diagnosis. Thirty-three of them were female and 10 were male. Their hearing loss varied from 30 dB HL to 100 dB HL. The diagnosis made on clinical impression was confirmed using the ascending and the descending mode pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, stapedial reflexes and speech audiometry. Explanation, encouragement and reassurance were the only treatment required in these patients. All the 43 patients showed normal pure tone thresholds within a period of 1 year.