ABSTRACT
Background: Thyroid hormones are important for overall growth and maturation. Hypothyroidism is associated with many symptom complexes, one of them being hearing loss. Aim and Objectives: Evaluating the hearing loss in hypothyroid patients of the age group of 18� years and comparing them with those in healthy people. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted in subjects aged between 18 and 45 years, in which 80 hypothyroid cases were selected after proper exclusion and informed consent and 80 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were studied. Hearing loss was assessed by pure tone audiometry. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 18 was used for statistical analysis. Results: SNHL was the common type of hearing loss seen. The prevalence of hearing loss was found to be 66.3% in cases. Hearing loss was mild, bilateral, and commonly affected the high frequency. Conclusions: Hypothyroid patients were more prone to sensorineural hearing loss. In patients with thyroid disorders, hearing evaluation helps in the detection of hearing loss earlier and thus treatment could be started.