Auditory Dysfunction With Facial Paralysis

Abstract

• A series of 58 patients with idiopathic facial paralysis were studied to determine if a concomitant cochlear or eighth nerve auditory dysfunction could be identified with traditional audiologic tests. Results indicated that only those patients with a facial nerve lesion, proximal to the stapedius branch, experienced reduced tolerance for loud sounds, reduction of speech discrimination at high-intensity levels, and abnormal loudness growth. Such findings suggest that changes in auditory function, accompanying facial nerve paralysis, are a mechanical effect due to absence of stapedial action. Site of lesion tests in this sample failed to demonstrate eighth nerve dysfunction and, thus, does not support a theory of polyneuropathy that involves the auditory nerve. (Arch Otolaryngol 105:271-274, 1979)