HEARING LOSS IN DECOMPRESSION
Abstract
Among those who are exposed repeatedly to compression-decompression cycles, a relatively high incidence of otologic symptoms including hearing loss is often reported. Most of this can readily be attributed to the residual effects of repeated aerotitis media, and is not sudden. A review of the topic of sudden deafness reveals that every large hospital where such records have been published sees every month about 1-2 patients whose sudden deafness is not easily explained. Possible causes have been suggested: acute neuritis of the VIIIth nerve, virus infection, vascular accident, vasomotor neurosis, acoustic trauma at levels of noise not usually noxious, collagen disease, transient ischemia from violent exercise or strong emotion, or from alterations of the cervical spinal column. None of these causes, however, would seem to underlie a series of patients experiencing sudden hearing loss of a moderate or often profound level during decompression, and which may respond favorably to immediate recompression. Ten patients with hearing loss under decompression are presented in the Appendix, two of whom recovered their hearing loss completely during recompression, and three with only slight recovery. A brief summary is given of current therapeutic regimens.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 05, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0703614
Entities
People
- J. Donald Harris
Organizations
- Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory