RESUMEN
To identify changes in OAEs parameters in treatment course of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss [iSSNHL]. In aprospective study from August 2005 to January 2009, 26 patients with iSSNHL underwent conventional audiometry/tympanometry and two types of OAEs [TEOAEs and DPOAEs] before and after the completion of standard drug therapy. The changes in pre- and posttreatment parameters were compared with each other and with normal-contralateral ears. In TEOAEs, the mean overall correlation [reproducibility] and the mean overall strength in involved ears were 10.96 +/- 23.36 and 0.99 +/- 3.45 dB, respectively, before the treatment, which reached 22.88 +/- 36.55 and 1.85 +/- 5.3, respectively, after the treatment [P>0.05]. Significant difference between "correlation score" [average of correlations at 3-4 involved frequencies] before and after treatment was found: 6.52 +/- 18.19 vs. 21.67 +/- 37.8 [P<0.034]. The difference between pre- and post-treatment overall correlation and correlation score in the "response group" were significant [P<0.031]. In DPOAEs of the involved ears, the mean DP1 level and the DP1 signal-to-noiseratio changes were not significant with the treatment [P>0.05]. Evoked OAEs, especially TEOAEs, are objective, rapid, and sensitive tools in the treatment course of iSSNHL