[A study on early hearing impairment with essential hypertension].

OBJECTIVE

To study the characteristic of hearing loss in essential hypertension.

METHOD

Sixty-eight cases (136 ears) of patients with essential hypertension were divided into two groups, i.e. group A, patients without retinal arteriosclerosis (35 cases, 70 ears ) and group B, patients with retinal arteriosclerosis (33 cases, 66 ears ). The control group consisted of 30 cases (60 ears) of the same sex and same age. All people were measured by pure tone audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

RESULT

The pure tone thresholds measured in group B hypertensive patients were significantly higher than in the normal controls (P<0.05), whereas pure tone thresholds in group A were not different from those in the control group (P>0.05). From 1000 to 8000 Hz, DPOAE amplitudes of hypertensive group A and group B were lower than that in control group (P<0.01). Only on the frequency points of 4000 Hz, the detection rate of DPOAE in group B was lower than that in control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Hypertension is a risk factor of degeneration of the hearing apparatus. The hearing function of hypertensive patients has probability to be impaired, although they do not feel hearing loss.