Physiological and Electrophysiological Hearing Tests in Migrainers

typical migraine is defined as a unilateral pulsating headache frequently encountered in neurology practice. Hearing loss and balancedisturbances are some other prevalent symptoms among patients suffering from migraine headache. Moreover, migraine is known as one of the identified causes for sudden deafness. In this study, we evaluated the auditory physiological and electrophysioligical test findings in migrainers in an attempt to define related parameters. in this study, hearing thresholds, auditory brainstem responses and oto-acoustic emissions were evaluated in 40 migraine patients (aged 25 to 45 years old). Results were subsequently compared with those obtained from 20 normal subjects as controls. in high frequency audiometry (except for 8 KHz), hearing threshold mean was significantly different between migrainers and controls (p<0.0001).Brainstem evoked response audiometry showed that the mean of absolute latencies of both ears’ I, III, V waves was significantly different as compared to normal population (statistical error level %5, P<0.0001).Comparison between mean of amplitudes of OAEs did not show significant differences among left and right ears in migraine patient. In addition, migrainers and non migrainers did not show significant differences in OAEs amplitudes (statistical error level, %5, P<0.0001). elevation of hearing thresholds in high frequency audiometry and prolonged neural transmission time (delayed absolute latency) in auditory brainstem test indicate that migraine attacks might affect brainstem function.