[Analysis of audiological features in infants with unilateral hearing loss].

Objective: To investigate the audiological characteristics and possible causes of unilateral hearing loss in infants and young children. Methods: 105 infants from Beijing Maternal and Child Health Care Institution who failed the newborn hearing screening and were referred to the Children's Hearing Diagnosis Center of PLA General Hospital for hearing diagnosis. They were diagnosed with unilateral hearing loss and underwent clinical data collection. A full set of audiological examinations included ABR, 40 Hz auditory event related potential, ASSR, DPOAE, tympanometry. Results: ①In initial diagnosis, 45 cases（42.86%） had mild hearing loss, 19 cases（18.10%） had moderate hearing loss, 14 cases（13.33%） had severe hearing loss, and 27 cases（25.71%） had severe hearing loss; Among them, 65 cases（61.90%） were conductive hearing loss or mixed hearing loss, and 40 cases（38.10%） were sensorineural hearing loss. ②83 of 105 cases had follow-up visits: 24 cases were normal, 15 cases with mild hearing loss, 4 cases with moderate hearing loss, 12 cases with severe hearing loss, and 26 cases with extremely severe hearing loss, 2 cases of hearing loss in both ears. ③From the initial diagnosis to the follow-up diagnosis, the change of mild hearing loss was the largest, followed by moderate hearing loss, severe and extremely severe hearing loss basically did not change; the number of mild and severe conductive hearing loss which recovered to normal hearing was most, the number of sensorineural hearing loss changed little. Conclusion: The infants who failed the newborn hearing screening and were diagnosed with unilateral hearing loss were mainly mild to moderate conductive hearing loss and severe to extremely severe sensorineural hearing loss. The hearing of children with hearing loss gradually improved, and severe and extremely severe sensorineural hearing loss remained unchanged.
Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose.
(Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Clinical Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.)