Severe sensorineural hearing loss caused by lightning. A temporal bone case report.

To our knowledge, this article represents the second temporal bone case report in the literature of profound bilateral sensorineural deafness resulting from a lightning strike to the neck. Initial survival permitted antemortem audiologic testing, the results of which suggested severe cochlear abnormalities. Both temporal bones showed widespread inner-ear changes with absent organs of Corti, rupture and collapse of Reissner's membrane, strial degeneration, and a decreased spiral ganglion cell population. The occurrence of inner-ear trauma with an intact tympanic membrane and normal middle-ear structures suggests that a mechanism other than blast injury was responsible for the pathologic changes in this case.