An Exploratory Investigation of Delayed Progressive Neural Hypacusis in Children

Abstract

Introduction Attempts to classify early deafness in children are necessarily complicated by the factors of immaturity and communication. Problems of conductive loss have been relatively easy to diagnose and treat since the discovery of antibiotics and antihistamine therapy for infection and allergic control. However, the availability of drugs provides a great temptation to the practitioner to overlook the possibility of neural involvement. Indeed, nerve deafness in children is much commoner than suspected, and only recently have testing techniques been developed with sufficient precision to differentiate conductive from neural loss. Within the area of nerve deafness in young children, the clinician is faced with baffling etiological considerations. If the problem is detected within a few months after birth, the probability of congenital and/or hereditary etiology is great, but with time such a diagnosis becomes less tenable, especially with no readily discernible external and/or causal factors. The fact remains that apparently there