A Clinical Study on Functional Hearing Loss in Recent 10 Years

103 cases of functional hearing loss during the past 10 years at Nagasaki University Hospital were reviewed. The results were as follows; 70 cases were females and 33 cases were males. 33 cases had a unilateral hearing loss and 70 bilateral. It was found that there were two peaks of incidence at ages of 8 and 14. The chief complaint in 63 cases (61%) was hearing loss, however 54 cases were detected by a routine hearing screening at school. The most frequently observed pattern in pure tone audiometry was “horizontal type” (38 cases) and an averaged hearing level ranged between 30dB and no response, having its peak at 70dB. The discrepancy between the results of pure tone audiometry and those of the objective audiological tests such as stapedial reflex test (SR), distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), auditory evoked brain stem response (ABR), and electrocochleography (ECoG), were found to be important in making a diagnosis as functional hearing loss. Psychological problems related to troubles at school or at home were observed as causative factors, and there seemed to be a trend that the former decreases in recent years and the latter increases.