The effect of intermittant hypoxemia on middle and inner ear auditory functions in the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (osas) patients

Aim The aim of this study was to determine the level of hypoxia induced by OSAS with polysomnography which is quite common and negative impact on quality life in the society and investigate whether intermittant hypoxemia causes middle and inner ear auditory dysfunction. Methods This study was carried out at the Ege University Otolaryngology Department between July 2016 and August 2017. Patients, who had snoring and / or apnea complaints for at least 5 years (new diagnosis) and met the criteria for inclusion to study and accepted to participate in the study were included in the study. All of the patients underwent a detailed ear nose throat and head neck examination. Pure tone audiometry, distortion product autoacoustic emission and multi-frequency tympanometry tests were performed in the initial admission. PSG tests were performed in Sleep Clinic in Ege University. A total of 80 patients were included in the study and the patients were divided into 4 groups according to PSG results: simple snoring, mild OSAS, moderate OSAS and severe OSAS. Results This study was carried out on 80 patients (42 (52.5%) were male and 38 (47.5%) were female) and the mean age was 46.94 years. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of male and female distributions. There was significantly difference in air conduction thresholds between severe OSAS and simple snoring, mild OSAS groups (p< 0.05). According to the results of analysis between groups in terms of SNR measurements, in the severe OSAS, low SNR measurements were detected in all frequencies in both ears, but these measurements were only statistically significant at the right ear at 2 kHz frequency (p = 0.035). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of compliance and pressure measurements with multifrequency tympanometry. The difference was statistically significant only in the right ear at 1000 Hz (p = 0.043). There was a significant correlation between mean air conduction thresholds and minimum O2 saturations in both ears when evaluated all patients. Conclusion Hypoxia, which occurs in OSAS patients, is tought to be affect auditory pathway. In our study, intermittent hypoxia in severe OSAS patients was found to induced cochlear function impairment. There was no significant difference in middle ear acoustical function in OSAS patients when compared with normal individuals. Studies with wider series will help to clarify the auditory affect of OSAS.