Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is the most prevalent endocrine disease. It causes several complications, such as retinopathy and nephropathy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of diabetes mellitus on sensory-neuron auditory impairment.       Materials and Methods: We conducted this case - control study during the years of 2006-2008 with the collaboration of Mashhad Diabetes Center and the Audiometric Clinic at Ghaem Hospital. Considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 300 diabetic patients, as the case group and 300 persons as the control group entered this study. These two groups were matched by sex and age. Audiometric examinations, consisting of Pure Tone Audiometric Test, Diapason Tests and Autoscopy were administered on the participants in the present study.Results: There was a significant difference between control and case groups in sensory-neuron auditory impairment at high and low-median frequencies. Also, there was not any association between the duration of the disease and the level of sensory-neuron auditory impairment (P>0.05). In addition, the findings indicate a significant relationship between the complicated and uncomplicated groups in terms of the level of sensory-neuron auditory impairment at high frequencies. Patients with type II Diabetes Mellitus showed prominent sensory-neuron auditory impairment at high and low-median frequencies, as compared to the control group (P<0.05). There was not such association in Type I Diabetes Mellitus (P>0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant difference between two types of Diabetes Mellitus in the level of sensory-neuron auditory impairment. which was prominent in high frequencies (P<0.05). Also, this study showed that there was not any sex difference in the sensory-neuron auditory impairment (P>0.05).Conclusion: We propose the necessity of administrating regular audiometric examinations for the patients with diabetes mellitus. Early detection of sensory-neuron auditory impairment can decrease its progression due to better glycemic control.

Introduction: Regarding the high incidence rate of hyperlipidemia in the society and the adverse effects of its complications including the occurrence of HEARING LOSS in some of the patients, we decided to do this research.Materials and Methods: This is a cohort study, in cooperation with ENT units of Islamic Azad University Mashhad Hospitals, which was carried out in 2008-2009 in Mashhad to assess the effect of hyperlipidemia on HEARING. Ninety hyperlipidemic cases and 90 controls that were matched in terms of both age (two groups 30-50 years and 50-70 years) and sex entered the study. All the cases answered the questionnaire before the tests of audiometry. Then, those who were diagnosed with impaired HEARING due to other factors rather than hyperlipidemia were excluded from the study. Audiologic exams on 180 cases (including both the case and control groups) included pure tone audiometry, diapasonic tests and otoscopy.Results: This study revealed that there was a significant difference in HEARING LOSS in 5 frequencies (250, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000 HZ) between two groups of case and control (P<0.05).Hypertriglyceridemic patients showed a distinct HEARING LOSS in 4 frequencies (250, 2000, 4000, 8000 HZ) comparing the control group and hypercholesterolemic patients (P<0.05). Hypercholesterolemic patients were found to have HEARING LOSS just in 1000 HZ of frequency, as compared to the control group and hypertriglyceridemic patients. Also, the findings of this study suggest that the sex of the patients had no influence on HEARING LOSS (P>0.05).Conclusion: According to our results, regular and periodic tests of audiometry are recommended for the hyperlipidemic patients to find out a history of audiologic problems and ultimately prevent the subsequent complications.

Objectives: Quality of life, when referring to an individual’s health, is called health-related quality of life. The purpose of this study is to assess self-perceived HEARING LOSS related quality of life of adolescents with HEARING LOSS and its relationship with sex, age sub-groups or school settings with domains of quality of life.Methods: A school based survey was conducted in Tehran city. Using stratified sampling, 255 7th to 12th grade students with HEARING LOSS, aged 11-19 years, studying in main streaming and special school sitting, were participated in the study by completing the health-related quality of life adolescent’s questionnaire. Physical, Emotional and Social health-related quality of life domain scores as well as Total health-related quality of life scores was calculated in a 0-100 scoring system.Results: As a whole, health-related quality of life of adolescents calculated to be 64.7±16.5. Students with milder HEARING LOSS reported their quality of life (physical, emotional and social domains, as well as total quality of life) better than those with more severe HEARING LOSS. Girls reported their physical and total health-related quality of life better than boys, and adolescents who were studied in mainstreaming reported better physical, social and total health-related quality of life (P<0.05). No significant differences were seen between reported health-related quality of life in early, mid or late adolescent age sub-groups.Nevertheless the power of tests was not enough to exclude differences between groups.Discussion: Findings of this study could be readily used to focus interventions on domains with more weakness in each group of adolescents. Beyond that the results could be helpful as a base line for detecting effectiveness of interventions in future.

It has been estimated that approximately one in 1000 live births suffer from profound deafness, and greater than 50% of this group is genetic etiology. So far more than 300 different genetic conditions responsible for deafness have been reported that among them 70% are non-syndromic and the rest are syndromic. Non-syndromic and syndromic HEARING LOSS may be divided into Autosomal dominant (DFNA), Autosomal recessive (DFNB), X-linked (DFN), and mitochondrial. Approximately 75-80% are autosomal recessive, 10-20% autosomal dominant, 1-5% X-linked, and 0-2% mitochondrial. To date, 51 DFNA loci, 61 DFNB loci, and 7 DFN loci have been described. Non-syndromic HEARING LOSS is divided into two postlingual and perlingual groups. As a general rule, most autosomal dominant non-syndromic hereditary HEARING impaired is postlingual, while autosomal recessive non-syndromic hereditary HEARING impaired is prelingual

I read with interest the article on noise induced HEARING 10sslpublished in the first issue of The IJOEM and found several points worth to mention. In that article, the author mentions that heat is one of the causes of occupational sensor neural HEARING LOSS; I believe that it is not correct and there are no scientific data available supporting this claim….

HEARING LOSS is a common disorder in all societies. Radiologists are often asked to evaluate the complex inner ear structures and auditory pathways in search of a cause for HEARING LOSS. The seemingly complex anatomy of the temporal bone can make some radiologists uncomfortable in interpretation of these studies. In this talk, we will briefly focus on the pertinent imaging anatomy and attempt to go over some of the imaging findings of sensor neural and conductive HEARING LOSS. Optimizing imaging technique will be reviewed. A variety of causes of congenital and acquired causes of HEARING LOSS will be examined, and multiple imaging examples will be presented. Practical tips on how to interpret these studies and how to report them will be given. Imaging is also an important part of the work-up for cochlear implantation. Contraindications, timing, and imaging findings that may necessitate changes in surgical approach will be reviewed.

Introduction: Both clinical and laboratory evidence confirm that HEARING LOSS can result from congenital and acquired hypothyroidism. There is a confirmed correlation between congenital hypothyroidism and HEARING LOSS, but significant controversy still surrounds the association between acquired hypothyroidism and HEARING LOSS. The aim of this study was to evaluate this relationship. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with confirmed primary hypothyroidism, were studied and compared with 50 age- and sex- matched controls. All patients were evaluated in the hypothyroidism state before treatment with thyroxine. Auditory assessments included: Toutine ENT examinations, speech reception threshold, pure tone audiometry, speech discrimination score, acoustic reflex and tympanometery. Results: The HEARING thresholds in all frequencies in both ears of the case group were higher than in controls. Also HEARING LOSS frequencies, i.e. 2000, 4000, 8000 dB in the left and 4000, 8000 dB in the right ears in the case group, were higher than in controls. HEARING LOSS was symmetric, sensory neural and mild to moderate. Mean speech reception threshold in the right and left ears in the case group were 15 and 15.1 respectively and in controls, 10.6 dB for both the right and left ears. Mean speech discrimination score in the right and left ears in the case group was 97 and in the control group was 99 dB. Conclusion: Results demonstrate a strong correlation between acquired primary hypothyroidism and HEARING LOSS.