Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct in Congenital Non-Syndromic Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Egypt

Abstract

To estimate the frequency of isolated enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) in patients with non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in an Egyptian population sample and to correlate its size with the degree of hearing loss. The study group comprised 16 patients (32 ears) suffering from non-syndromic SNHL since childhood.

Vestibular Aqueduct Midpoint Width and Hearing Loss in Patients With an Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct

“…Alternative hearing measurements include pure tones and pure tone average, which has been addressed by previous studies. 20,21 Pure tone average offers a precise description of hearing loss because it is addresses single frequencies of sound, whereas SRT is the intensity in dBs at which a listener can repeat spondee (2-syllable words or sounds) at a rate of 50%, and WRS is the percentage of monosyllabic words correctly repeated at suprathreshold intensity. Speech reception threshold and pure tone average have high correlation, yet different contexts may favor the accuracy of one over the other for hearing measurement.…”

“…Regarding audiology metrics, our study specifically focused on SRT and word recognition scores because these measures simultaneously evaluate speech discrimination and required sound intensity. Alternative hearing measurements include pure tones and pure tone average, which has been addressed by previous studies . Pure tone average offers a precise description of hearing loss because it is addresses single frequencies of sound, whereas SRT is the intensity in dBs at which a listener can repeat spondee (2-syllable words or sounds) at a rate of 50%, and WRS is the percentage of monosyllabic words correctly repeated at suprathreshold intensity.…”