The Impact of Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss on Quality of Life of Sub-Himalayan Population.
Int J Otolaryngol 2022;
2022:8304639. [PMID:
35685401 PMCID:
PMC9174010 DOI:
10.1155/2022/8304639]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction
Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss (USNHL) is an age-old known entity. Patients with USNHL lack the merits of binaural hearing, i.e., temporal summation, sound localization, and speech recognition in a noisy environment. The lack of binaural hearing affects such individuals' quality of life (QOL). The present study is the most extensive Indian series related to QOL in USNHL patients.
Objectives
This study aims to assess the impact of USNHL on the QOL of patients in the state of Uttarakhand.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was carried out at a tertiary care center in Uttarakhand over a period of 18 months, from January 2018 to July 2019. A total of 115 patients with pure USNHL were evaluated using a validated questionnaire—Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults-Hindi (HHIA-H).
Results
In our study, patients with higher HHIA-H scores were male, young adults (age group 18–30 years), students, and laborers. Most of our patients (64%) had significant handicaps, followed by moderate handicaps in 25%. However, no significant correlation of degree of handicap was seen with age, duration, and degree of hearing loss.
Conclusion
USNHL can lead to a significant handicap that can severely affect the emotional and social aspects of life. Thus, early diagnosis and rehabilitation are essential to prevent handicap and uplift QOL in patients with USNHL. This trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI reg. no. CTRI/2018/06/014396).
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