01637nas a2200193   4500000000100000008004100001260004400042653002400086653001200110653002800122100001200150700001300162700001300175700001100188700001500199245011200214520109200326022002501418       2023                            d  bSpringer Science and Business Media LLC10aOtorhinolaryngology10aSurgery10aAudiological Evaluation1 aNayak Y1 aPrabha N1 aArora RD1 aJati M1 aAggarwal A00aAudiological Evaluation of Leprosy Patients in an Endemic Area of Central India: A Case-Control Pilot Study3 a<p>There are discrepancies in the literature about the specific influence of leprosy on auditory functions. In routine clinical practice regular hearing screening of leprosy patients is not done. Due to conflicting reports of auditory system involvement in the literature, we conducted this case control study to evaluate the need of regular hearing screening in leprosy patients. A complete otological examination of thirty leprosy patients was conducted. Thirty age and sex matched healthy individual attending ear, nose and throat outpatient department were enrolled as control. Ten cases (33.3%) out of the thirty leprosy patients were found to have high frequency (4 and 8 kHZ) sensorineural hearing loss. The results of this study suggest that leprosy patients require routine monitoring for auditory functions for early identifications of sensorineural hearing loss. As our study is a case-control study with small sample size, in future large prospective studies are required to evaluate the correlation of hearing loss with leprosy and to see the progression hearing loss.</p>
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