Audiological and transient evoked otoacoustic emission findings in patients with vitiligo

OBJECTIVE: To investigate hearing loss in patients with vitiligo. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: University hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Conventional pure-tone and high-frequency audiometric tests were obtained, and pure-tone average hearing thresholds were calculated for 22 consecutive cases with vitiligo and 22 sex- and age-matched controls. Transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing was also performed. RESULTS: There was sensorineural hearing loss on pure-tone audiogram in 16 (36.4%) ears in patients with vitiligo. The hearing thresholds (in dB) were 16.02 +/- 6.61 versus 12.39 +/- 6.05, 15.68 +/- 6.34 versus 13.18 +/- 3.75, 15.80 +/- 13.93 versus 7.39 +/- 6.95, 25.11 +/- 17.40 versus 15.91 +/- 12.91, 29.89 +/- 18.57 versus 17.84 +/- 12.36, and 45.91 +/- 23.31 versus 33.86 +/- 15.99 in the patient and control groups at 0.25, 1, 4, 8, 10, and 12.5 kHz, respectively, and were statistically significantly different. Reduction of transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitude was statistically significant at 4 kHz in patients with vitiligo (6.34 +/- 3.98 dB vs 8.63 +/- 5.15 dB, P = 0.023). There was no significant difference in reproducibility, stimulus intensity, stability, and average transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes in patients with vitiligo. CONCLUSION: Hearing thresholds at pure-tone and high-frequency audiometry were higher in patients with vitiligo. Also, significantly lower high-frequency amplitudes were recorded during transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing in the disease group. (c) 2010 American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. All rights reserved.