Evaluation of age-related changes in middle-ear structures by wideband tympanometry.

BACKGROUND: Presbycusis is bilateral sensorineural hearing loss associated with the progressive degeneration of cochlear and central auditory pathways with aging. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: We aimed to reveal age-related changes in middle ear function by using wideband tympanometry (WBT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight patients diagnosed with presbycusis were compared to 52 audiologically healthy participants. WBT measurement was performed on both ears via wideband click stimulus with a tympanometer device using probe tone frequencies of 226-8000 Hz. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences detected among the resonance frequencies or maximum absorbance ratios measured in both ears between groups (p > .05). The mean absorbance of the right and left ears at 4000 and 8000 Hz was statistically higher in the patient group than in the healthy controls (r = 0.038, 0.030; l = 0.015, 0.012). Moreover, mean compliance values were found to be significantly lower in the patient group than in the control group (r = 0.030 and l = 0.040). CONCLUSION: The significant differences detected in compliance and absorbance values for high frequencies in presbycusis patients were remarkable. Thus, it has been shown that WBT yields an advantage compared to traditional tympanometry in the diagnosis and treatment of middle ear diseases.

The Prognostic Value of Circulating Inflammatory Cell Counts in Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss and the Effect of Cardiovascular Risk Factors.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies suggest that elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are poor prognostic factors in sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). We aimed to investigate the accuracy of this hypothesis by taking into account the effect of cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors. METHODS: Medical records of 122 patients with SSNHL were reviewed retrospectively and grouped into 2 as; patients without CVR (group 1; n = 68) and patients having CVR (group 2; n = 54). Moreover, 60 control cases who did not have SSNHL were also included and grouped into 2 as; group 3 (n = 30) with CVR and group 4 (n = 30) healthy controls without having SSNHL or CVRs. Neutrophil (N), lymphocyte (L), platelet (Plt), NLR, and PLR between the groups and their relationship with the severity of hearing loss, recovery rates, and audiogram configurations were analyzed. RESULTS: The highest N and NLR values were in group 1 and were significantly higher than the values of group 4 (P < .05, P < .01). There was no significant relationship between the groups in terms of L, Plt, or PLR values. The highest NLR and PLR values were determined in SSNHL patients with mild hearing loss, complete recovery, and up-sloping audiogram configuration (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated levels of N and NLR may be considered as strong laboratory findings showing an inflammatory response in the diagnosis of SSNHL, but the presence of CVR factors does not seem to increase the inflammatory response in SSNHL as expected. In patients with SSNHL, NLR and PLR elevation may indicate better prognosis.

Is there an association between the parameters of arterial stiffness and tinnitus?

Background: Increasing arterial stiffness is associated with atherosclerosis and there is an association between atherosclerosis and tinnitus may occur.Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between arterial stiffness and tinnitus using the central pulse-wave analysis method.Methods: This prospective, single center study included 98 participants, comprising 49 patients diagnosed with subjective idiopathic tinnitus (Group 1) and a control group of 49 healthy subjects (Group 2). The Mobil-O-Graph 24 h Pulse wave analysis (PWA) Monitor (I.E.M. GmbH, Stolberg, Germany) was used to determine the arterial stiffness and cardiovascular hemodynamic parameters. Central pulse pressure (CPP), Augmentation index and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were obtained with the device.Results: No statistically significant difference was determined between Groups in respect of age, smoking and hypertension (p > .05). Statistically significantly higher Central Pulse Pressure (CPP) values and pulse wave velocity were higher in Group 1 compared to the control group (p < .005). No statistical variation was detected in terms of the augmentation index (18.5 ± 11.3 vs 16.7 ± 10.3, p = .543).Conclusion: Our results marked that arterial stiffness is associated with tinnitus. The relationship was examined via oscillometric method, which is simple to perform and has been recommended in guidelines for the determination of cardiovascular event risk.