돌발성 난청(sudden sensorineural hearing loss)은 72시간 이내에 편측 또는 양측 귀에 발생한 갑작스런 청력손실로, 최소 3개 이상의 연속적인 주파수에서 30 dB HL 이상의 청력손실 이 발생된 경우를 진단 기준으로 한다(Schreiber et al., 2010; Stachler et al., 2012). 인구 100,000명당 약 5~30명(Stachler et al., 2012; Wu et al., 2006)의 발생률을 보이며 국내 돌발성 난 청 발생률은 100,000명당 10명 이상으로(Korean Audiological Society, 2017), 건강보험심사평가원(Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, 2017)은 2011년 돌발성 난청 환자수 가 55,437명에서 2015년 71,411명으로 29% 증가하였고, 2016년 에는 75,937명으로 5년간 연평균 약 6%씩 증가하는 것으로 보 고하였다. 주로 혈관장애, 바이러스성 감염, 자가면역성 질환 등 이 대표적 원인으로 추측되나 정확한 발병 원인을 파악하기 어 려운 경우가 많고 이로 인해 특발 돌발성 난청(idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss)으로 부르기도 한다(Schreiber et al., 2010; Stachler et al., 2012).
Purpose: A 43-year-old woman diagnosed with a sudden sensorineural hearing loss. She did not accept her hearing loss and did not want to wear hearing aids, but her communication ability was the problem in her workplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of auditory training for improving communication ability through listening activities, and for accepting her hearing loss and wearing a hearing aid continuously through informational counseling. Methods: Receiver in canal hearing aid was selected for the left ear. Auditory training was conducted seven sessions for 30 mins listening activities and 10 minutes informational counseling. For listening activities, long stories were used, and for informational counseling, effects of hearing loss on communication, knowledge of hearing aids and emotional well-being were provided. Also, we simulated her workplace for training sessions. As objective assessments, word and sentence recognition scores were tested and as a subjective assessment, Korean Version of Profile Hearing Aid Benefit (K-PHAB) was conducted. Results: The recognition scores of word and sentence were improved after the auditory training. However, scores of KPHAB were not changed. The subject reported that she did not feel that her communication ability did not improve a lot, but she would maintain to use her hearing aid. Conclusion: Even though the subjective hearing aid benefit was not improved, behaviors of the subject were changed after the auditory training. Informational counseling is efficacy to understand and accept hearing loss and hearing aids.
INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSIONS REFERENCES
