Audiologic manifestations of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome.

Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2003
Authors
Shotland, Lawrence I; Mastrioanni, Mary Ann; Choo, Daniel L; Szymko-Bennett, Yvonne M; Dally, Leonard G; Pikus, Anita T; Sledjeski, Kathryn; Marques, Adriana
Secondary
Ear Hear
Volume
24
Pagination
508-17
Date Published
2003 Dec
Keywords
Adult; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Audiometry, Speech; Auditory Perceptual Disorders; Auditory Threshold; chronic disease; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; Female; Humans; Loudness Perception; Lyme Disease; magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Middle Aged
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to characterize auditory function in patients diagnosed with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).

DESIGN: Eighteen patients with PTLDS were evaluated and compared to a normal population. Evaluations consisted of pure tone and speech thresholds, word recognition (WRS), acoustic immittance battery, auditory brain stem response (ABR), and loudness discomfort level (LDL). Both seropositive and seronegative patients were evaluated. Audiologists were blinded to patient status.

RESULTS: Forty four percent of the patients had one or more abnormal pure tone thresholds compared to gender- and age-adjusted norms. Thirty-one percent showed abnormally reduced LDLs, and 17% had abnormal acoustic reflexes at one or more frequencies.

CONCLUSIONS: This paper catalogs previously unstudied long-term auditory system sequelae resulting from PTLDS. Our most significant finding was the dramatically reduced loudness tolerance in the presence of either normal or minimally impaired hearing. The clinician is encouraged to consider PTLDS when confronted with these or similar findings in patients having history of Borrelia burgdorferi infection and continued complaints.