Objectives: To assess the incidence of hearing loss in patients diagnosed with Bell's palsy (BP) and to characterize its clinical features.
Design: Patients with BP who underwent audiometry testing in our institute were included. Bone hearing level differences between the ipsilateral and the contralateral ears to the palsied side were calculated for 6 frequencies: 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 Hz. Subjects with interaural differences higher than 5 dB in at least one frequency were considered as having ipsilateral unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (uSNHL).
Results: Twenty-four cases of subjects with BP who underwent hearing exams were included. Thirteen were women (54.2%) and the average age was 37.4 years. Nine patients (37.5%) were found to have an ipsilateral uSNHL (group A); a maximal interaural difference of 5dB in all the frequencies was found in 15 subjects (62.5%, group B). The interaural maximal difference was found to be significantly higher between the two groups (p = 0.0295, n = 24). Group A showed a mean of maximal difference of 18.9 ± 9.3 dB compared to 3 ± 2.5 dB in group B (p < 0.001). A higher difference was calculated in the higher frequencies (2000, 4000, 8000 Hz) (R-spearman = 0.226, p = 0.003).
Conclusions: We have demonstrated significant ipsilateral uSNHL in our cohort of patients diagnosed with BP. We, therefore, believe that all patients who are diagnosed with BP should undergo an audiometry examination. Further prospective studies with larger cohorts are necessary to support our observations.
Keywords: Bell’s palsy; Hearing loss.