Delays in care of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, an unrecognized emergency

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is an acute loss of hearing due to poorly understood insults to the inner ear. SSNHL is a medical emergency warranting urgent referral to an otolaryngology specialist because hearing outcomes are improved with steroid treatment that must be administered soon after the onset of hearing loss to be effective, making early diagnosis and triage essential to salvaging hearing. This prospective study catalogued the timeline of the onset of hearing loss, diagnosis, treatment, and settings where care was administered for patients with SSNHL. We diagnosed 21 patients with SSNHL in the otolaryngology specialty clinics of West Virginia University over a 6 month time period. Nine of those patients (42.9%) were diagnosed outside of the window for treatment. The most common cause of delayed diagnosis was inappropriate treatment and triage in the primary care setting, As the quality of life burden of hearing loss is quite significant, improving recognition and triage in the primary care setting would allow for more patients with SSNHL to undergo treatment, improving hearing outcomes and quality of life.