Abstract
Introduction Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is part of a genetic and clinical heterogeneous group
of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia.
Objective To describe the results of audiological and electrophysiological hearing evaluations
in patients with sporadic ataxia (SA).
Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out with 11 patients submitted
to the following procedures: anamnesis, otorhinolaryngological evaluation, tonal and
vocal audiometry, acoustic immittance and brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP)
tests.
Results The patients presented with a prevalence of gait imbalance, of dysarthria, and of
dysphagia; in the audiometric and BAEPs, four patients presented with alterations;
in the acoustic immittance test, five patients presented with alterations, predominantly
bilateral.
Conclusion The most evident alterations in the audiological evaluation were the prevalence of
the descending audiometric configuration between the frequencies of 2 and 4 kHz and
the absence of the acoustic reflex between the frequencies of 3 and 4 kHz bilaterally.
In the electrophysiological evaluation, the patients presented changes with a prevalence
of increased I, III and V wave latencies and the interval in the interpeak I-III,
I-V and III-V. In the present study, it was observed that auditory complaints did
not have a significant prevalence in this type of ataxia, which does not occur in
some types of autosomal recessive and dominant ataxia.
Keywords
spinocerebellar degenerations - hearing - hearing disorders - audiometry - evoked
response audiometry
