The Clinical Efficacy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Tinnitus

AbstractBackground: Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (ISSHL) affects about15,000 people annually worldwide and exceeds 30 db at 3 contiguous audiometricfrequencies. Thisstudy aims at evaluating the clinical efficacy of hyperbaric oxygentherapy (HBO2) in the management of ISSHL.Material and Methods: Fifty six patients were enrolled in the study suffering fromISSHL and tinnitus. The research protocol consisted of five phases. Each phase ofthe research protocol included five sessions with HBO2. The basic tool for assessingthe measurement of auditory acuity is tonal audiogram. The evaluation of tinnituswas assessed using a questionnaire and a visual analogue scale at the beginningand the end of the study. Secondary assessment points included changes in theintensity and the improvement of tinnitus.Results: Fifty-six patients were treated with hyperbaric oxygen in this study,especially for hearing loss combined with tinnitus. All patients completed the firstand second phase of the protocol, thirty patients continued and completed thethird phase, seven patients completed the fourth and only six finished the fivestages of the study. Overall, there was a significant hearing improvement betweenthe initial and final phase, after treatment with HBO2 (p<0.001).Participants whohad the best acoustic acuteness, ceased the treatment after the third phase. Theinternal comparison of the initial and final scoring of tinnitus per treatment phase,showed that there was a statistically significant improvement (p<0.001) after thetreatment, per phase. At the end of therapy 87.3 % (48/56) of patients reportedthat they noticed improvement in their symptoms, 10.9 % (6/56) no change, andonly 1.8 % (1 /56) deterioration.Conclusions: The results, in this study, were encouraging, and it can be said thattreatment with hyperbaric oxygen, along with conventional treatment, greatlyimproves the level of hearing and tinnitus in patients suffering from ISSHL.