SM Otolaryngology Gr up SM How to cite this article Taha MAM, Ahmed SAO and Abdulrahim MA. Associated Factors of Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss among Sudanese Patients. SM Otolaryngol. 2017; 1(2): 1006. https://dx.doi.org/10.36876/smotol.1006 OPEN ACCESS ISSN: 2574-2418 Introduction Hearing Loss (HL) is a leading cause of disability worldwide and it is a signifcant public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. From 278 million people with HL worldwide, more than two thirds of them live in developing countries in whom, over 180,000 babies have a signifcant hearing loss are born annually [1,2]. Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss is defned as average pure-tone air conduction thresholds (0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz) ≥30 dB in the impaired ear with an average air-bone gap no greater than 10 dB at the same frequencies and normal hearing (≤15 dB from 0.5 to 4 kHz) in the good ear [3]. Tere are a wide variety of causes of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss; it may result from either endogenous or exogenous causes and are signifcantly more frequent among men than women [4]. Sensorineural hearing loss may be congenital or acquired [5]. Mumps is thought to be the most common cause of unilateral acquired sensorineural hearing loss in children and it is usually sudden in onset. Unal et al. found that mumps accounts for approximately 2% of childhood hearing loss; 80% to 95% of these cases are unilateral sensorineural hearing loss [6]. Roizen prospectively followed 58 premature (≤32 weeks) infants until 5 years of age. Tey found approximately 5% of these infants had permanent unilateral sensorineural hearing loss [7]. Baldwin et al. mentioned that bacterial meningitis may lead to bilateral or unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and was the cause of unilateral hearing impairment in 7% of their patients [8]. Niskar et al. found approximately 10% of all children in the United States have noise induce hearing loss; approximately 20% of them are unilateral sensorineural hearing loss [9]. Patients and Methods Type of study It is a prospective hospital based descriptive study. Study conducted between January 2014 and December 2015. Study was done in 115 Sudanese patients in Khartoum state ENT hospitals, Sudan. Inclusion criteria Research Article Associated Factors of Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss among Sudanese Patients Mahmoud Abdelbagi Mahmoud Taha 1 , Sharf Abdelgadir Omer Ahmed 2 * and Muna Ahmed Abdulrahim 3 1 Assistant Professor at Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan 2 Associated Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan 3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Elnielin University, Consultant Otolaryngologist, Sudan Article Information Received date: May 22, 2017 Accepted date: Jun 15, 2017 Published date: Jun 19, 2017 *Corresponding author Sharf Abdelgadir Omer Ahmed, Associated Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Amarat Khartoum, Sudan, Email: doctorsharf@gmail.com Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 Keywords Unilateral; Sensorineural; Hearing loss Article DOI 10.36876/smotol.1006 Abstract Background: Hearing loss is a leading cause of disability worldwide and it is a signifcant public health problem. Objectives: To determine the associated factors of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss among diferent age groups in Sudanese patients. Methods: 115 Sudanese patients presented to Khartoum state ENT hospitals complaining of unilateral hearing loss were included. Results: In this study 115 patients were included. Male to female ratio 1:1.3, 49 patients (42.6%) were from Khartoum state and the rest were from diferent areas in Sudan. The most frequent age group was from 1-15 years representing (38.3%) with a mean age of 24.48 ± 1.5. The commonest associated factor in this study was mumps and it was found in 47 of patients (40.9%), tinnitus was the commonest presenting symptoms in unilateral Sensorineural hearing loss 81 patients (70.4%) were assessed audiologically with pure tone audiometry and 34 patients (59.1%) assessed by Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR). Conclusion: Unilateral Sensorineural hearing loss commonly presents during school-age. Mumps is the most common associated factor. Pure tone audiometry and auditory brain stem response are suitable method for the assessment and the diagnosis.