Association between hepatitis B and hearing status.

OBJECTIVE This study was performed to investigate the correlation between the chronic hepatitis B virus infection and hearing status. This study was performed to investigate the correlation between the chronic hepatitis B virus infection and hearing status. PATIENTS AND METHODS This research was based on 76 hepatitis-B infections as the case group (including 35 HBV carriers and 41 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients) and 54 normal cases as the control group. They were selected sequentially and audiologic tests were performed on the participants. RESULTS The average hearing thresholds (HTs) of control group and hepatitis-B infection were 10.70 and 12.42 dBHL respectively with statistically significant difference (p < 0.01). Frequency-specific HT of 114 ears in control group and hepatitis-B infection were found statistical differences for hearing frequency ranged 250 to 8000 (p < 0.05), and statistically significant differences for 250, 2000 and 4000 Hz (p < 0.01). Significant differences were only measured for HT at 250 Hz frequencies between control and HBV carriers (p < 0.01), while for control and CHB group, the differences were detected for all tested frequency (p < 0.01). The SNR for f2 frequencies (553, 1105, 2211, 3125, 4416, 4416, 6250 Hz) of the CHB patients and HBV carriers were compared with statistical differences (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The results showed that the hepatitis-B patients were more prone to hearing loss and that the hepatitis B disease can cause hearing loss. The infection of the inner ear and the pathological changes of the patients with HBV infection still need to be further explored.