Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of simultaneous steroid and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in patients with severe to profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL), which has a poor prognosis. Methods: Sixty patients diagnosed with severe to profound ISSNHL (≥70 dB HL) were randomly divided into two groups in a prospective controlled trial: an oral steroid + intratympanic steroid injection (ITSI) group (control group) and an oral steroid + ITSI + HBOT group (study group). Pure-tone audiometry (PTA) results and word discrimination scores (WDS) were compared between the two groups before treatment and 10 days and 1, 2, and 3 months after treatment. Hearing improvement was assessed using the modified American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery criteria. Analyses were by both intention to treat and per protocol. Results: A total of 58 patients completed the 3-month follow-up, and 2 patients in the study group were excluded due to follow-up loss in the per-protocol analysis. In the intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses, the study group showed significantly better hearing levels than did the control group at 500 Hz (p < 0.05) 1 month after treatment and at 1 kHz (p < 0.05) 3 months after treatment. However, the average PTA values and PTA at 2, 4, and 8 kHz showed no significant difference. WDS improvement was significantly higher in the study group compared to the control group 3 months after treatment by both per-protocol (66.4 ± 13.3 and 56.7 ± 19.1%, respectively; p = 0.029) and intention-to-treat analyses (65.9 ± 14.1 and 56.7 ± 19.1%, respectively; p = 0.035). The sum of complete and partial hearing recovery for the study group was significantly higher than that for the control group by per-protocol analysis (60.7 vs. 33.3%; p = 0.037) and intention-to-treat analysis (60.0 vs. 33.3%; p = 0.038). Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the addition of HBOT to steroid combination therapy does not improve the average PTA values in severe to profound ISSNHL; however, it was associated with a better outcome at 500 Hz 1 month after treatment and, at 1 kHz, WDS 3 months after treatment. The sum of complete and partial hearing recovery was significantly higher for the study group than for the control group.

Objectives: Prevalence of tinnitus has been reported to vary according to the target population and definition of tinnitus. To improve the understanding of tinnitus, authors used the nation-wide health claim data to study the tinnitus in the entire population of South Korea. Study Design: Retrospective big data review. Setting: Analysis of big data from the National Health Information Database. Patients: Patients diagnosed with tinnitus according to International Classification of Diseases code 10th edition (ICD-10) and requested to receive National Health Insurance claim at least once from January 2006 to December 2015. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measure: Epidemiologic data, association of tinnitus with the otologic and systemic diseases. Results: The number of patients who received medical care because of tinnitus was 1.44% (0.78 million per 51 million) in 2015. There was a higher prevalence of tinnitus in women, and the overall prevalence increased with increasing age of patients and peaked at patients in their 70s (4.43%). The prevalence of tinnitus among patients aged 10 to 30 years, showed a tendency to increase during study period. In the regional analysis, highest prevalence was observed in Gwangju (2.02%). In comparison with the control group, the patients with tinnitus showed a higher frequency in otologic and systemic disease. Especially, noise induced hearing loss (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 82.1, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 74.8–90.2) and sudden sensorineueal hearing loss (AOR = 49.7, 95% CI = 48.4–51.0) showed high frequency in tinnitus patient group. Conclusions: The prevalence and incidence of tinnitus in this study for entire nation were lower than previously reported studies. These results have limitation because the study only covered patient using the medical service for tinnitus and missed tinnitus sufferers not seeking medical service. However, this study is meaningful in that it was targeting entire nation, reflected the characteristics of clinically significant tinnitus patient enough to visit medical service

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the surgical restrictions, audiologic benefits and satisfaction from using an active transcutaneous bone conduction device (BCD), Bonebridge^® (BB) in patients with mixed/conductive hearing loss (MCHL) or single-sided deafness (SSD). Design: A retrospective review from all patients who underwent BB surgery at the Pusan National University Hospital from 2015 to 2017 for SSD or MCHL was performed. Study sample: Twenty-two patients with SSD and five with MCHL had a BB implanted and analysed. Results: Complete transmastoid implantation of the device was possible for all patients with an intact canal wall (ICW), using lifts if necessary. The overall functional hearing gain (FHG) in SSD and MCHL was 31.4 and 37.6 dB, respectively. The mean percentage of speech recognition in a quiet was 81% (vs. 11% unaided) for MCHL group and 82% (vs. 29% unaided) for SSD group. Mean speech recognition scores in noise improved significantly under various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for both groups. Questionnaires showed overall improvement, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions: The BB provides improved functional gain, and there were no limitations during surgery despite the large device. Both MCHL and SSD group had benefit and improved quality of life with BB.