Alopecia Areata and Hearing Impairment

According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, hearing loss was more common in patients with alopecia areata than in healthy individuals.

Researchers aimed to investigate potential hearing impairments in patients with alopecia areata. The researchers assessed 42 subjects with alopecia areata and compared them to 42 healthy individuals. Various tests were conducted to evaluate hearing, including vestibular evoked myogenic potential, otoacoustic emission, and pure tone audiometry.

The results showed that 59.5% of the patients with alopecia areata had normal otoacoustic emission, whereas all control patients had normal results. This suggests a higher prevalence of hearing abnormalities in patients with alopecia areata. Participants with alopecia areata also exhibited higher speech recognition thresholds and speech discrimination scores compared with controls, indicating impaired hearing function. However, the most comfortable level of speech did not significantly differ between the 2 groups.

Additionally, the study found that the greatest increase in hearing threshold occurred at a frequency of 8000 Hz in patients with alopecia areata, but no significant differences were observed at frequencies of 500 and 1000 Hz. Vestibular evoked myogenic potential tests revealed that some patients with unilateral (14.3%) and bilateral (4.8%) involvement had no response, indicating potential vestibular dysfunction.

“Follicular melanocytes may be involved in the alopecia areata inflammatory process, and destroying melanocytes may impact hearing function in the inner ear,” the authors stated, “However, there was no significant relationship between the duration and severity of alopecia areata and hearing loss.”

Reference
Shakoei S, Mohammadnia E, Saedi B, Ghandi N, Khamisabadi S. Hearing impairment in patients with alopecia areata. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol. Published online May 3, 2023. doi:10.25259/IJDVL_416_2022