Alcoholism is considered the most relevant addiction in the international arena and few investigations have examined the association between sensorineural hearing loss and alcohol abuse, with conflicting results. AIM: To analyze the effects of alcohol abuse on the auditory system of alcoholics in abstinence taking into account the duration of alcohol abuse and associated noise exposure. METHOD: our series comprehended 75 individuals, divided into two groups: trial and control. The audiological assessment was made by means of: pure-tone audiometry, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions, tympanometry. The Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were used in the statistical analysis of the data. RESULTS: the groups of patients who had been alcoholics evidenced a statistically significant worse performance in the audiological assessment. The combined exposure to alcohol and noise was not synergic on the auditory system. CONCLUSION: long-term alcohol abuse can damage the cochlear function, specifically the outer hair cells.
alcoholism; hearing; diagnosis; hearing loss
