Hearing Stability in Patients With Unilateral Hearing Loss Due to Congenital CMV

Objective To determine the incidence and severity of progressive hearing loss in both ears in a population of longitudinally-tracked patients with unilateral hearing loss due to congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV). By determining the natural history of unilateral hearing loss due to cCMV infection, we aim to facilitate therapeutic recommendations. Study Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Two tertiary care hospitals. Methods Pure-tone averages (PTAs) based on yearly audiograms were calculated for each patient for both ears, and changes were assessed using a linear mixed-effects model. Results A total of 32 patients with cCMV with congenital, unilateral hearing loss were enrolled. Of these, 4 (12.5%) had progressive losses >= 10 dB by PTA in the initially normal-hearing ear. For the hearing-impaired side, the mean (SD) PTA at initial presentation was 67.9 (29.2) dB. Eight patients initially in this cohort had profound hearing impairment, and of the other 24 patients, 17 (70.8%) had hearing loss progression. Hearing levels stabilized in the initially normal-hearing and hearing-impaired ear when patients were approximately 10 and 2 years old, respectively. Conclusion In 32 patients with unilateral hearing loss related to cCMV, 4 (12.5%) exhibited a shift in hearing levels in the normal-hearing ear that progressively stabilized by age 10 years. For ears with congenital hearing loss, progressive stabilization of hearing occurred by age 2 years.