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Abstract This work discusses the effect of diabetes on hearing, trying to clarify its different aspects. In the present study the incidence of hearing impairment in type 1 diabetics was 42 percent. Because of the significant incidence of diabetes, any person with unexplained sensorineural hearing loss should have a fasting blood sugar determination. If this done, it is not uncommon for the otologist to be the first clinician to diagnose diabetes. In addition, annual audiometric screening is recommended for all known diabetics. The typical pattern of hearing impairment in diabetics was bilateral mild to moderate sensorineural deafness. The site of hearing impairment may be cochlear, retrocochlear or central. Although there was statistically significant differences between the cases and controls in pure tone audiometry, speech reception threshold, acoustic reflex threshold and brainstem evoked response audiometry, this differences did not allows result in subjective awareness of hearing impairment, or scores reaching a level of clinical significance implying functional loss. The results of this study confirmed the presence of abnormalities in the central nervous systems of diabetic subjects. And suggest that ABR technique may represent a useful, non-invasive, simple procedure to detect early signs to central diabetic neuropathy. |