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Hearing deficiency detected among people with HIV
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HIV infection may be associated with poorer higher- and lower-frequency hearing compared with hearing in people without HIV infection, according to recent data.
Peter Torre III, PhD, of the School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University, and colleagues conducted pure-tone hearing tests for 396 male and female participants, of whom 222 tested positive for HIV infection. Researchers tested frequencies from 250 Hz to 8,000 Hz for both ears within a sound-treated room. The participants’ better ear was defined as the one with a lower pure-tone average.
The use of ART, duration and adherence were assessed for participants with HIV, along with viral load, CD4 and CD8 T-cell measurements. Participants also completed a hearing-related questionnaire to identify hearing loss resulting from outside factors.
“There have been limited data obtained on the effects of HIV-related medication use on hearing loss,” the researchers wrote, “and in the few published studies, it is difficult to attribute the increases in hearing loss specifically to HIV medication use rather than age or cumulative noise exposure.”
Researchers found an increase in both high-frequency pure-tone average (estimated ratio, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02-1.36) and low-frequency pure-tone average (estimated ratio, 1.12; 95% CI, 1-1.26) for the better ear of participants with HIV, implying decreased hearing at these frequencies. These results were independent of HIV disease or treatment variables such as ART use, T-cell count and viral load.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that HIV-positive individuals have poorer hearing across the frequency range after many other factors known to affect hearing have been controlled for,” the researchers wrote. “Although we do not understand the mechanism of hearing loss found in our study, our results suggest that HIV-positive individuals may have physiologic changes that mimic other chronic conditions that affect hearing levels.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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