Hearing loss among stroke patients.

Pure-tone hearing thresholds were measured by air conduction for 140 right hemiplegic and 103 left hemiplegic patients who had suffered a single stroke. Statistical and informal testing of the mean audiometric thresholds revealed that: (1) the ability of the aphasic patient to attend to and to perform the audiometric test was independent of the severity of the aphasic impairment; (2) aphasic patients did not suffer disproportionately greater hearing losses than did other right hemiplegic stroke patients; (3) no relation was apparent between the severity of the hearing loss and the test ear or side of hemiplegia after stroke; (4) the severity of high-frequency hearing loss among stroke patients was consistent with that found in the elderly male population at Framingham, MA (Moscicki, Elkins, Baum, and McNamara, Ear Hear 1985;6:184-90); and (5) the prevalence of hearing loss among the stroke patients was greater than that reported at Framingham, but was consistent with rates found among elderly nursing home residents.