Hearing loss after meningitis: retrospective study

Abstract

The hearing loss cause by meningitis is the most common cause of acquired non genetic hearing loss. In this study, the author relates the audiological findings of 96 hard of hearing post meningitics patients, studying the following aspects: age of the onset of hearing loss, sex incidence, age of the first audiological evaluation, type, degree and audiometric configuration, tympanometry and the acoustic reflex. The author concluded that: a) the hearing loss is usually sensorineural, profound, descendent bilateral and symmetric; b) when the hearing loss is assymetric , the right ear is the worst; c) the hearing loss is more common in males and in children under five years old; d) there is a great interval between the onset of hearing loss and the first audiological evaluation, showing that a screening program for hearing loss by meningitis is very necessary in the hospitals where these individuals are attended; e) the tympanometry is usually normal and the acoustic reflex is absent in most of the cases.