Audiological and Electrophysiological Changes in Patients with Vitiligo.

The study was conducted to evaluate the audiological and electrophysiological findings in patients with Vitiligo and to compare the findings with otologically and audiologically normal controls. Study group included 50 subjects (25 Males, 25 Females) with Vitiligo (Mean age-27.4 years) and control group contained 40 age-matched normal hearing subjects. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) with extended high frequency audiometry, Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), Tympanometry, Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and Middle latency responses (MLR) were conducted in all subjects. Comparison of the study group with the control group showed statistically significant differences ( p  < 0.05) on PTA, in Transient otoacoustic emissions (TOAEs) at 1, 2, 3, 4 kHz and in distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) at 357, 499, 704, 1003 Hz. On ABR, statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in wave I ( p  < 0.01) in both ears, wave V ( p  < 0.05) in left ear and on interpeak latency of I-III ( p  < 0.01, p  < 0.05), III-V ( p  < 0.01 in left ear) and I-V ( p  < 0.01, p  < 0.05) in left and right ears respectively. When patients with localized vitiligo were compared with generalized vitiligo, the SNR of TOAEs was highly significant in both ears at 2 KHz ( p  < 0.05), 3 kHz ( p  < 0.01) and 4 kHz ( p  < 0.05). PTA average of 2 KHz, 4 and 8 kHz (PTA2) showed a significant difference ( p  < 0.01) when localized vitiligo was compared to generalized vitiligo. Results support possible auditory and electrophysiological changes in Vitiligo patients along with decreased cochlear function.