Hipoacusia de conducción en hidropesia endolinfática / Conduction deafness in endolymphatic hidropesy

ABSTRACT

The audiograms of 33 patients suffering from Méniére's disease were studied. A conductive hearing loss was found in about fifty per cent of then. The following criteria was used to consider that a patient had a conductive hearing loss First, an air-bone gap of at least 20 dB in one frequency, excluding 250 Hz. If in 250 Hz there is an air-bone gap of 20 dB, it is necessary an addtional air-bone gap in other frequency of at least 10 dB. Second, when an air-bone gape of 15 dB exists in one frequency, it must be another air-bone gap of at least 10 dB in other frequency. These conditions must be found in two or more audiograms in the same patient. Two groups were made with the 33 patients. One was conformed by 24 patients that had one or more of the following conditions 1. A positive glucrol test. 2. Fluctuating hearing loss. It means that the patinte had an improved audiogram in respect to a previous one. 3. An ascending profile in the low frequencies. 3. An ascending profile in the low frequencies. The second group of nine patients had not any of the previous chacracteristics. In the first group the authors found that 62.5% had a conductive hearing loss while in the second group 22.2% had the same condition. This difference is statistically significant (p = 0.05). Nine impedanciometric test belonging to eight of the first group and three of equal number of patients of the second group were analyzed. Only few cualitative changes in the tympanometric curve were found. Five of the eight patients of the first group and none of the three patients of the second group showed an increase of the static compliance