Determination of Rate of Hearing Changes After Spinal Anesthesia

Hearing loss after surgery is reported rarely. Its prevalence rate is different and reported to be between 3-92%. Hearing loss is often subclinical and not diagnosed without audiometry. The aim of this study was to determine rate of hearing changes after spinal anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery with spinal anesthesia.

In this descriptive study, forty male patients scheduled for repair of inguinal hernia under spinal anesthesia were selected by simple sampling method. Before surgery, audiometry was performed for both the ears of the patients. Audiomatery was performed again by the audiometry specialist on day one, five, fifteen and two months after surgery.

Hearing loss was observed in 13 (32.5%) patients. Hearing loss in 12 patients (92%) was in low hearing frequency range and 1 patient (8%) was in mid hearing frequency. Hearing loss in 8 patients (61%) was ipsilateral and in 5 patients (39%) was bilateral. Hearing loss in 9 patients (69%) on 5th day and 2 patients (5/15%) on 15th day resolved spontaneously.

Results of this study conformed that hearing loss after spinal anesthesia is not a serious problem and can resolve spontaneously. It seems that there is relationship between hearing loss and headache.