Acupuncture for Hearing Loss: A Study of Patients Treated in Washington, DC

Abstract

Preacupuncture and postacupuncture audiograms of 123 ears of deaf or partially deaf patients treated in the Washington, DC, area were studied. Acupuncture appeared to have no positive influence on hearing of pure tones in the speech ranges or on the speech reception thresholds. A few patients showed changes in the speech discrimination scores that were considered possibly meaningful. Unfortunately, more patients showed deterioration than showed improvement. The data available in this study do not support the popularized notion that acupuncture cures deafness.