Course of hearing recovery according to frequency in patients with acute acoustic sensorineural hearing loss.

Through pure-tone audiometry, we studied the course of hearing recovery in 24 ears of 20 men (ages 18-48 years) who had acute acoustic sensorineural hearing loss (ASHL). All subjects were members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. The hearing level in 5 ears returned to normal, the hearing level of 13 ears recovered but was not within the normal range, and the hearing level of 6 ears was unchanged. The time from noise exposure to presentation was longer in patients with unchanged hearing than in other patients. Recovery of hearing was poorest at 4,000 Hz, followed by 8,000 and 2,000 Hz. We concluded that hearing in patients with acute ASHL is likely to return to normal when the hearing level at 4,000 Hz recovers gradually; partial recovery of hearing is expected when the hearing level at 4,000 Hz reaches an early plateau.