DISEASE PAGE

Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

An emission whose presence early in the illness carries prognostic weight.

The OAE signature

  • Emissions in the affected ear range from preserved to absent depending on the degree of outer hair cell involvement; the finding is used alongside the audiogram rather than for detection.[15]
  • The prognostic signal is the more useful one: detectable emissions early in the illness are associated with markedly better hearing recovery than an absent response.[15]
0 ms20 ms
— Normal ear— Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Simulated TEOAE comparison. Educational signal model — not recorded patient data.

Audiogram companion

The pure-tone audiogram below accompanies the OAE signature. Reading the two together — what the threshold shows and what the emission shows — is the core diagnostic skill.

0204060801002505001k2k4k8kFrequency (Hz)
○ Right — PTA 62 dB (Moderately severe)✕ Left — PTA 17 dB (Normal)
Pure-tone audiogram companion. dB HL increases downward, following clinical convention. Illustrative thresholds — not recorded patient data.

Why the emission looks this way

  • Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a clinical presentation, not one disease. A preserved emission indicates outer hair cells that have survived the insult — cochlear machinery still capable of recovering — whereas an absent emission suggests more complete cochlear involvement.[15]

TEACHING POINT

Here the OAE is a prognostic and monitoring tool, not a detection test. Serial emissions during recovery help counsel the patient — though the association with outcome is a guide, not a guarantee, and imaging is still needed to exclude a retrocochlear cause.[15]

Sources for this page are listed on the References page. Browse all condition patterns from the atlas home.