Obstructive sleep apnea: effect in the hearing pattern

Abstract

Introduction: The OSA can causes changes in the normal sleep architecture, depriving and fragmenting it chronically, with hypoxia, frequent awakenings, reducing its restorative ability, leading to excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired attention, memory and concentration, being highly related the cognition development. The transduction mechanism of the inner ear and the nerve impulses transmission along the auditory pathways are highly dependent on the oxygen supply to the cochlea. The literature considers the possibility that apnea and hypopnea during sleep can interfere with this process, of generating and transmitting nerve impulses of the auditory system. Objective: To characterize the findings of the hearing evaluation in individuals with mild to moderate OSA compared with subjects with severe OSA, and the control group. Method: It will be assessed a total of 45 patients divided into three groups with 15 patients each (n = 15). Gm: patients with mild to moderate OSA; Gs: patients who have severe OSA; Gc: control group of patients without a diagnosis of OSA. For this research will be used: GSI 61 Grason Stadler for conventional audiometry, middle ear analyzer MADSEN OTOflex 100 with frequency of 226 Hz probe for measurements of tympanometry and acoustic reflex, for obtaining measurements of the reflectance MEPA3 - Middle Ear-Power Analysis - Mimosa; Bio-logic Navigator Pro-System Corporation, with the module BioMAP (the Biological Marker of Auditory Processing); ilo2 92 DP Echoport Version 6 - Otodynamics, London, to conduct the research product evoked otoacoustic emissions Distortion (DPOAE). Parametric tests that will be used are the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a confidence level of 95% for non-rejection of the null hypothesis, and the paired comparison test of Tukey (± = 0.05) to find the possible difference.