Audiological involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis

OBJECTIVESThe aim of the present study was to evaluate hearing loss in patients diagnosed with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to investigate the relation between hearing loss, subtypes of the disease, its duration and clinical findings, and antibody positivity. METHODSThe study included 47 patients with SSc and 44 healthy controls. Audiometric, tympanometric, and otoacoustic emission measurements were applied to both groups. RESULTSThe evaluation of the participants medical history showed that among the patients with SSc, 19.1% experienced ear fullness, 27.7% experienced vertigo, and 36.2% experienced tinnitus. Hearing loss was detected in 23.4% of the patients with SSc. The corresponding result was 4.3% in the control group with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.001). Transient-evoked otoacoustic emission amplitude values were significantly lower in the patients' both ears with SSc than the control group (p