[Sudden isolated cochlear deterioration in children].

Within a general study on the long-term outcome of tonal auditive thresholds in children, the authors analyzed 26 cases of sudden onset cochlear deterioration (unilateral or bilateral deficiency without former pathology, or sudden worsening of a known perception loss). The patients were hospitalized and followed the standard treatment course for sudden hearing loss. The characteristics of the former hearing deficiency, the original causes of the deafness or the sudden deterioration, and the short, medium and long-term audiometric thresholds were studied to determine possible prognostic factors. Sudden deafness, fluctuating hearing loss, progressive hearing loss, sudden cochlear deteriorations and the nosologic situation do not appear to have much signification in this poorly defined field of perception deficiency in children. Certain terminologies or classifications would appear simply to hide our ignorance of the true mechanisms underlying these problems.