2.1 Audiometric Evaluation
All the patients received pure-tone audiometry (PTA) before
treatment、following a one-week and two-week treatment. Mean pure-tone
audiograms was defined as the average of air-conduction threshold
measured at 500,1000,2000,4000HZ and was employed to describe outcomes
of patients.
Four types of audiograms were identified according to the initial
pattern of hearing loss with PTA: ascending (the average threshold of
0.25 to 0.5 kHz was 20 dB higher than the average threshold of 4 to 8
kHz.), descending (the average threshold of 4 to 8 kHz was 20 dB higher
than the average threshold of 0.25 to 0.5 kHz), horizontal (Less than
20dB threshold difference observed across all frequency and the mean
hearing threshold of 0.5,1,2 and 4KHZ was no more than 80dB), profound
(similar audiogram shapes to the horizontal group, whereas the average
threshold of 0.5,1,2 and 4KHZ was no less than 81dB).
As indicated in Chinese clinical practice guidelines of SSNHL [13],
patients were stratified into four groups based on their responses to
treatment (criteria were shown in Table. I): Nonrecovery (NR), partial
improvement (PI), marked improvement (MI) and complete recovery (CR).
Patients in the NR group were defined as the treatment non-responders,
while patients in the other three groups were defined as the treatment
responders.