Peripheral auditory dysfunction secondary to traumatic brain injury: a systematic review of literature

A cross-sectional survey of non-specialist Australian audio-vestibular clinical practice for traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation

“…Second, although two thirds of the surveyed audiologists reported expecting a patient to present with hearing loss following TBI, the remainder either did not expect a hearing loss or were unsure. Further, contrary to contemporary literature indicating SNHL as the most common posttraumatic hearing deficits (Bramlett & Dietrich, 2015;Emerson, Mathew, Balraj, Job, & Singh, 2011;Knoll et al, 2020;Munjal et al, 2010aMunjal et al, , 2010bŠarkić et al, 2019;Šarkić et al, 2021a), only a tenth of surveyed audiologists reported SNHL as the most likely type of post-traumatic hearing loss. Similarly, one in two surveyed audiologists reported expecting a patient following TBI to present with vestibular pathology, with BPPV reported as the most likely vestibular deficit citing trauma to the head and the resultant dislodgment of otoconia as the cause.…”

“…Given the frequency of peripheral hearing loss (Šarkić et al, 2019), tinnitus (Folmer & Griest, 2003; Kreuzer, Landgrebe, Schecklmann, Staudinger, & Langguth, 2012; Vernon & Press, 1994) and dizziness (Arshad et al, 2017; Davies & Luxon, 1995; Šarkić et al, 2020) following non-blast-related TBI and the associated functional limitations even in mild TBI (Knoll et al, 2020), a specifically tailored TBI audiological assessment is warranted. Alterations to the typical audiological test battery will assist audiologists in implementing adequate rehabilitation plans for patients with post-traumatic audio-vestibular disturbances.…”

“…Despite the TBI-related pathophysiology and the probability of both central and peripheral audio-vestibular system involvement (Alhilali, Yaeger, Collins, & Fakhran, 2014; Arshad et al, 2017; Marcus et al, 2019), this paper centres on audio-vestibular periphery for two reasons: 1) the survey was designed to explore the typical Australian audiological practice; and 2) patients with peripheral system disorders are reported to have better rehabilitation outcomes (Kolev & Sergeeva, 2016; Kushner, 1998). Our recent systematic reviews exploring the frequency of occurrence of peripheral auditory dysfunction (Šarkić, Douglas, & Simpson, 2019) and peripheral vestibular dysfunction (Šarkić et al, 2020) following TBI, revealed sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) as the most prevalent auditory and vestibular deficits at 37.3% and 39.7%, respectively. Notably, the prevalence rates that emerged from the two systematic reviews were subject to limitations of the included studies including retrospective data collection from non-acute settings.…”

Improving Care for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Across the Lifespan

“…One review found that people with TBI had poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep duration (Grima et al, 2016), and another review found relatively high prevalence of visual deficits and dysfunctions in patients with TBI, including especially higher prevalence in those with moderate to severe TBI compared with those with mild TBI (Merezhinskaya et al, 2019). One review found overall low quality of evidence linking TBI and auditory dysfunction (Šarkić, Douglas, and Simpson, 2019). A review of adults with TBI found increased risk of stroke after TBI (hazard ratio = 1.86) but noted that the studies included in the review had heterogenous study designs and were low quality (Turner et al, 2021).…”

A cross-sectional survey of non-specialist Australian audio-vestibular clinical practice for traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation

“…Despite the TBI-related pathophysiology and the probability of both central and peripheral audio-vestibular system involvement (Alhilali, Yaeger, Collins, & Fakhran, 2014;Arshad et al, 2017;Marcus et al, 2019), this paper centres on audio-vestibular periphery for two reasons: 1) the survey was designed to explore the typical Australian audiological practice; and 2) patients with peripheral system disorders are reported to have better rehabilitation outcomes (Kolev & Sergeeva, 2016;Kushner, 1998). Our recent systematic reviews exploring the frequency of occurrence of peripheral auditory dysfunction (Šarkić, Douglas, & Simpson, 2019) and peripheral vestibular dysfunction (Šarkić et al, 2020) following TBI, revealed sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) as the most prevalent auditory and vestibular deficits at 37.3% and 39.7%, respectively. Notably, the prevalence rates that emerged from the two systematic reviews were subject to limitations of the included studies including retrospective data collection from non-acute settings.…”