Cochlear Affection in Obese Children

Objective: Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.Obesity can influence whole the body including Ear owing to mega inflammation.
The primary target of this research is to detect minor changes in the hearing of obese children by Otosacoustic Emission and High Frequency.

Patients and Method: The study group was divided into two subgroups, their age range from 6 to 17 years. The control group consisted of 20 children, while the second group consisted of 58 children. The first group has average weight while the second group composed of obese children. Both groups subjected to history of systemic diseases or immunological diseases that affect hearing. There was no history of hearing loss or delayed speech and language development and no consanguinity between parents.
Both groups subjected to Measurement of transient evoked otoacoustic emission, Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission and High Frequency Audiometry (HFA)

Results: As regards the audiological evaluation, there is no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups as regard PTA in all frequencies (from 0.25 to 8). HFA revealed statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) between the 2 groups in 20000 HZ frequency.
Transient OAE is showing a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) between both groups, while DPOAE is showing no statistically significant difference between both groups as all ears were normal in the response.

Conclusion: Obesity is not a simple disease but it impair the high frequency portion of the cochlea, early detection of any subtle affection of the cochlea must be detected, and screening of obese children is mandatory even if there is no complaint of hearing diminution.