UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH SEMINARS
Web: http://events.um.edu.mt/scisem/
Email: scisem@um.edu.mt
Abstract form
Title: The clinical effects caused by major and minor head injury on the
human ear involving the sense of hearing and balance
Presenter: Dr Anthony J Fenech M.D., M.Sc (Audiol. Med) (Lond)., PhD (ENT)
Contact address: Apartment 10 ‘Mar Ligure’ Triq iz-Zonqor Marsascala MST 1017
Tel: 79604688
Fax:
Email: ajfenech@yahoo.com
Presentation date: 21 April 2008
Abstract
This study was performed in two parts: in the first part, 24 patients admitted with major head
injury mostly involving the petrous temporal bones (17 due to fall from height, 7 involved in
a motor vehicle accident) were investigated. Their age varied between 16 years to 62 years
and were collected over a five year period. Each patient had an urgent CT scan on admission
and was repeated several times in due course. They were all fully investigated audiologically
and were followed up on an out-patient’s basis for two more follow-ups which varied
between four months to four years. It was found that hearing loss became permanent after
the first year post trauma while tinnitus, vestibular and facial complications improved over
time. Besides, the severity of the head injury must be high to cause cochlear concussion and
the sensori-neural hearing loss was due to damage to the outer hair cells of the cochlea which
in turn were the generators of otoacoustic emissions.
In the second part of the study, a total of 50 patients admitted to hospital with minor to
moderate head injury were investigated audiologically. Their age varied between 4 months
to 30 years and were studied over a seven month period. It was found that none of the
patients suffered any form of cochlear concussion in the first 24 hours post head injury or in
the following weeks leading to the second follow up of 6 weeks.