Association between hearing loss and cauliflower ear in wrestlers, a case control study employing hearing tests

Abstract

Background: According to anecdotal fndings, some wrestling coaches and wrestlers believe that caulifower ear might lead to hearing loss. Our preliminary study showed that the prevalence of hearing loss reported by the wrestlers with caulifower ear is signifcantly higher than this rate among wrestlers without caulifower ear. To the best of our knowledge, no other study has confrmed this fnding employing hearing tests. Objectives: To evaluate and to compare the prevalence of hearing loss among wrestlers with and without caulifower ears employing hearing tests. Patients and Methods: The subjects were randomly selected form 14 wrestling clubs in Tehran. Subjects were 201 wrestlers with caulifower ears (100 wrestlers with one caulifower ear and 101 wrestlers with two caulifower ears) and 139 wrestlers without caulifower ears. All the participants in this study were interviewed to collect information on demographic factors and medical history of risk factors and diseases related to hearing loss. The subjects in both groups underwent otoscopic and audiologic examinations. Results: Audiometric examination results at the frequency range of 0.5 - 8 KHz showed that the prevalence of hearing loss among caulifower ears was higher than this rate among non-caulifower ears. Also, the percentage of positive history of ear infections among caulifower ears (8.4%) was about two times more than this fnding among non-caulifower ears (4.9%). This diference tended to be signifcant (OR: 1.86, P = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.98 - 3.53). Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the frst study showing that the prevalence of hearing loss among caulifower ears is higher than this rate among non-caulifower ears confrmed by audiological tests. This emphasizes that, more preventive measures such as mandatory ear gear for wrestlers are required.