Perceptive Hearing Loss and Arterial Hypertension

Abstract

IN THE literature it has been discussed whether or not arterial hypertension affects the hearing ability. In a previous study the author found a correlation between hearing and the degree of cerebral arteriosclerosis.¹ The blood pressure was not in this correlation. In the following study the possible effect of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure on hearing will be discussed. Previous Investigations Neither Bunch,² Hughson, and Thompson,³ nor Johansen⁴ found any reduced hearing in hypertonics. Rosen et al⁵ observed that in the older USA patient material there was a simultaneous occurrence of raised blood pressure and hearing loss for high tones, whereas in a primitive population (the Mabaan tribe in the Sudan) neither the blood pressure nor the hearing threshold were increased with the progression of age. However, other differences existed between the two populations. In the Mabaans, arteriosclerotic old-age diseases were seldom found, in