Sensorineural hearing loss in sickle cell disease patients in Saudi Arabia.

Among the complications of sickle cell disease, sensorineural deafness is well documented in the Western literature; little is known about it in Saudi Arabian patients, in whom the general pattern of the disease has been reported to be "mild," attributed partly to high levels of HbF. The auditory function of 42 patients with sickle cell anemia was evaluated clinically and audiometrically and compared with 27 normal controls. Sensorineural deafness was observed in 10 (23.8%) of our patients.