Hearing profile and postural sensory integration deficits in Parkinson's disease
Objective The objectives of this study were to evaluate auditory function and postural instability in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and to correlate audiological findings and postural instability with the severity and duration of PD. Patients and methods The severity of motor symptoms and staging were ascertained with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and the Hoehn and Yahr Scale, with identification of the side most affected by PD and the disease duration. Audiologic evaluation consisted of history taking, otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry, acoustic immittance measures, speech audiometry, and brainstem auditory evoked potentials. Sensory Organization Test was also conducted. Of 55 PD patients, 31 were enrolled in this study, along with 31 healthy age matched and sex matched controls. Results and conclusion Our PD patients showed high frequency, age dependent unilateral or bilateral hearing loss, significant increase in wave V peak latency and I V and III V interpeak latencies, and significant decrease in composite score, vestibular score, and visual score and significant increase in preferential visual score in comparison with controls. All these findings were significantly correlated to disease severity and duration.