Study On The Relationship Between Adult Obstructive Sleep Apneal Hypoventilation Syndrome And Hearing Loss

Objective:To analyze the association between obstructive sleep apneal hypoventilation syndrome(OSAHS)and hearing loss in adults and to preliminarily explore its mechanism.Methods:A total of 36 patients who underwent sleep monitoring for snoring,drowsiness or other reasons were enrolled in the Department of Otolaryngology,Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from October2020 to December 2020.According to the results of sleep monitoring AHI,the patients were divided into four groups :(1)Control group : 8 patients(16 ears)with OSAHS(AHI < 5 times / h)were excluded.(2)Mild OSAHS group : 6patients(12 ears)with 5 times / h≤AHI <15 times / h.(3)Moderate OSAHS group : 8 patients(16 ears)with 15 times / h≤AHI < 30 times / h.(4)Severe OSAHS group : 14 patients(28 ears)with AHI≥30 times / h.The pure tone air conduction frequencies of subjects at 125 Hz,250 Hz,500 Hz,1000 Hz,2000 Hz,4000 Hz and 8000 Hz were detected in the sound insulation room(noise < 20 d BSPL),and the statistical analysis was carried out according to the test results.Results: Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the differences of pure tone audiometry at different frequencies among the four groups.The results showed that there in pure tone audiometry between the control group and the mild,moderate and severe OSAHS groups at the frequencies of 500 HZ,1000HZ,2000 HZ,4000HZ and 8000HZ(P<0.05).The pairwise comparison showed that in the pure tone hearing threshold of each frequency in the moderate OSAHS group,there was a statistically significant difference in the high frequency hearing threshold of 4000 Hz compared with the control group(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the pure tone hearing thresholds of each frequency in the severe OSAHS group had statistical significance(P<0.05),except the intermediate frequency hearing thresholds of 500 Hz and1000Hz(P>0.05).Spearman correlation analysis was conducted between the severity of OSAHS and the pure tone hearing threshold at each frequency.Results showed that except for the low-frequency hearing threshold of 125 Hz and 250 Hz,The pure tone threshold at frequencies of 500 Hz,1000Hz,2000 Hz,4000Hz and 8000 Hz was positively correlated with the severity of OSAHS(P<0.05).Conclusions: Adult obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS)can cause hearing loss in patients.Mild OSAHS has no effect on hearing function.Moderate OSAHS can cause high-frequency hearing loss.Severe OSAHS can have a negative impact on medium and high-frequency hearing function.And high-frequency hearing loss in adults may be positively correlated with their OSAHS severity.Hypoxia and snoring caused by OSAHS may be related to hearing loss.