Bell's palsy workup: Does audiometry add value?

Objective:To investigate if routine audiometry in Bell’s palsy patients has prognostic value.Methods:Retrospective case review was conducted on all Bell’s palsy patients(n=191) seen at the tertiary otolaryngology specialist outpatient clinic from 2015 to 2017.Correlation of ipsilesional audiometric thresholds with patients’ time-to-recovery and initial clinical severity(measured by House-Brackmann(HB) scoring) were used for the prognostic outcome measure.Audiometry results were analyzed using three contiguous frequency pure-tone average(1 kHz,2 kHz,4 kHz).Statistical analysis was done via Stata(v13.1),significance tests were 2-sided at 5% significance level.Results:There was no significant difference between audiometric thresholds between the ipsilesional ear and the contralateral ear(p=0.87).Time-to-recovery was significantly longer for patients with severe initial presentation as compared to mild and moderate severity(p<0.01).There was no correlation found between the audiometry results and HB score at presentation(p=0.39).There was no correlation found between ipsilesional audiometric thresholds and time-to-recovery(p=0.58).Conclusion:Our study suggests that routine audiometry has limited prognostic value in Bell’s palsy patients.