Subclinical Auditory Neural Deficits in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.
Arwa AlJasser, Kai Uus, Garreth Prendergast and 1 others
PMID 31469700WHAT IT FOUND
ABR results were similar between groups, but young adults with type 1 diabetes and normal hearing thresholds showed weaker brainstem timing encoding, worse temporal discrimination, poorer speech in noise, and more reported hearing disability.
Key findings
01ABR amplitudes and latencies did not differ significantly between the type 1 diabetes group and controls.
02Brainstem timing responses were weaker in the type 1 diabetes group than in controls, and FFR signal-to-noise ratio differences survived multiple-comparison correction.
03The type 1 diabetes group had significantly higher binaural timing and frequency thresholds and significantly lower self-reported hearing ability after correction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study compared groups at one time point, so it cannot show that type 1 diabetes caused the auditory findings. Controls were not checked with blood glucose testing, so some controls could have had undiagnosed diabetes. No otoacoustic emissions were measured, so subtle cochlear dysfunction could have been missed. Some participants fell asleep during recordings, and wakefulness was not recorded. Several significant findings did not survive a stricter correction across all 29 group comparisons, including some FFR, frequency discrimination, and SSQ subscale comparisons. Cognitive effects of diabetes were not measured, so poorer attention or processing could have contributed to behavioral task scores. Diabetes neuropathy and retinopathy status relied partly on self-report and was not confirmed by neurological assessment. Group delay analyses lost some type 1 diabetes participants because their responses did not meet signal criteria, making those comparisons less balanced.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists non-U.S. government research support. The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that type 1 diabetes causes a hearing loss or that ABR testing should be abnormal. All participants had binaural hearing thresholds below 20 dB HL from 500 to 4000 Hz, and ABR amplitude and latency measures did not differ significantly between groups.