Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017;22(2):83-88.
doi: 10.1159/000474928. Epub 2017 Jul 22.

Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Medical Context and Etiology

Antoine Paul  1 , Sandrine Marlin, Marine Parodi, Isabelle Rouillon, Joanne Guerlain, Véronique Pingault, Vincent Couloigner, Erea Noel Garabedian, Françoise Denoyelle, Natalie Loundon
Affiliations

Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Medical Context and Etiology

Antoine Paul et al. Audiol Neurootol. 2017.

Abstract

Objective: Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (USNHL) is known to impact on school performance and social skills during childhood, but the etiologies remain unclear. The aim of this study was to assess various etiologies and to study the clinical contexts in this population.

Methods: The study is a retrospective review. Characteristics of hearing loss (HL), audiometric parameters, imaging, and genetic and medical contexts were analyzed.

Results: Eighty children were included. USNHL was profound in 68%, could be progressive in 19%, and become bilateral in 7.5% of cases. Inner ear malformations were identified in 41% of cases; cochlear nerve deficiency (CND) was frequent (33%). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and genetic syndromes were confirmed in 10 and 6% of cases, respectively.

Conclusion: Long-term hearing follow-up remains useful in USNHL as it can become bilateral. Looking to etiology, MRI should be the gold standard, as CND is frequently observed and screening for CMV infection should be systematic. Genetic etiologies appear to be different compared to bilateral HL. Further genetic research in this domain is needed.

Keywords: Children; Cytomegalovirus; Deafness; Genetics; Nerve aplasia; Unilateral hearing loss.

PubMed Disclaimer

MeSH terms