Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 69, Issue 6 , Pages 289-293, June 2006

Conversion Deafness Presenting as Sudden Hearing Loss

  • Ying-Piao Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Mao-Che Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Hung-Ching Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr. Hung-Ching Lin, Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, 92, Section 2, Chung-Shan North Road, Taipei 104, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Kuo-Sheng Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 12 August 2005; accepted 17 January 2006.

Article Outline

Conversion deafness is a somatoform disorder characterized by hearing loss without an anatomic or pathophysiologic lesion. Clinically, discrepancies between behavior hearing thresholds and objective electrophysiologic examinations, such as impedance audiometry, otoacoustic emissions (OAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR), will raise the suspicion of this disorder. It is judged to be due to psychological factors and that patients do not intentionally produce the symptom. Conversion deafness is sometimes reported in children but is extremely rare among adults. Two young adults with this disease are presented. These 2 patients were both under enormous stress from the national entrance examinations for universities. Pure tone audiometry showed bilateral hearing deterioration, but OAE and ABR were normal. The hearing of both patients recovered after treatment. The diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of this disorder are also discussed. It is important to discover the psychological stress in patients with conversion deafness. This report aims to increase awareness of this condition and avoid unnecessary steroid use in its treatment.

Key Words:  conversion , somatoform disorder , sudden hearing loss

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References 

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PII: S1726-4901(09)70260-6

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(09)70260-6

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 69, Issue 6 , Pages 289-293, June 2006

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