A Clinico-Epidemiological Profile of Hearing Loss in Patients Attending a Teriary Level Hospital in India.

ABSTRACT

Background: Hearing loss is a common chronic impairment, particularly for older adults. World Health Organization estimates that hearing loss affects 538 million people worldwide. This study was conducted to understand the clinicoepidemiological profile of hearing loss. Methods: After approval of the ethics committee, we enrolled patients from our outpatient clinic that presented with complaints of hearing loss. We collected socio-demographic information of the patient. All patients underwent general and systemic examination to ascertain the etio-pathological cause of their hearing loss. The data was analysed using appropriate statistical methods. Results: During the study period, 100 patients were enrolled, of which 57 were males, 62 had conductive, 33 had sensorineural and 5 had mixed hearing loss. Majority of the patients had both the ears involved. Majority of the patients belonged to 31-40 years age group (n=23). Chronic suppurative otitis media safe was the most common cause of conductive hearing loss (n=34) and sensorineural hearing loss was mostly caused by congenital causes (n=16). Eustachian tube was blocked in 22 patients with conductive hearing loss and 10 patients with sensorineural hearing loss.Conclusion: We studied the various causes of hearing loss in the patient population presenting to our hospital. Further research is required to understand audiometric analysis of these causes.