Vol.98 No.7 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 98 No. 7 July 2005
A Case of Acute Sensorineural Hearing Loss Caused
by Air Bag Deployment on the Only Hearing Ear
Shuji Nishikawa, Shin-ichi Haginomori, Koutetsu Lee and Hiroshi Takenaka
(Osaka Medical College)
Hideaki Hoshijima
(Rakuwakai Otowa Hospital)
We report a case of acute sensorineural hearing loss caused by air bag deployment on the only hearing ear. A 22-year-old man who had mumps-induced deafness of the right ear was driving a car without a safety belt. When the car crashed into a wall, the driver's air bag was deployed. Soon after the accident, he noticed tinnitus in the left ear, which was his only hearing ear. Four days after the accident, he consulted a doctor at our hospital. The bilateral tympanic membranes were normal under a microscopic examination. Audiometry showed moderate sensorineural hearing loss in the left ear. He underwent prednisolone therapy for eight days. One month later, hearing loss had dimminished. However, tinnitus persisted.
Key words : sensorineural hearing loss, air bag deployment, only hearing ear, prednisolone, stapedial reflex