Efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in sudden unilateral idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in patients receiving medical treatment with the diagnosis of sudden unilateral idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

Materials and Methods: The records of the patients referred to our hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic between 2013 and 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients' age was over 18 years old, and ISSNHL was diagnosed in the last 30 days with pure tone audiometry. averages of pure tone results of the patients were compared before and after HBOT according to variables of age, gender, hearing loss level before the treatment, and elapsed time to the treatment.

Results: A total of 135 patients were included, with 70 (51.86%) females and 65 (48.14%) males. The hearing gains were statistically significant in all age groups among males and statistically significant in 18-39 and 40-59 years old age groups among females. When cases were grouped according to elapsed time to HBOT, mean hearing gains of the 14-days group in males and both 14-and 30-days groups in females were statistically significant. Statistically significant hearing gains were detected in mild, moderate, moderate to severe, severe, and complete hearing loss groups in females, while only in moderate, severe, and complete hearing loss groups in males.

Conclusion: Consequently, we think that earlier received HBOT with medical treatment applied to the younger adults with more severe disease gained more improvement in the hearing levels. Consequently, our findings showed that early administration of HBOT with MT resulted in better clinical improvements in the younger adults with severe ISSNHL.