Does drill-induced noise have an impact on sensorineural hearing during craniotomy procedure?
OBJECTIVE: It is well known that exposure to noise can lead to hearing loss. Craniotomy drills have significant noise and vibration. Since a noise induced by the drill during craniotomy is thought to be one of the causes, we examined its effect on the sensorineural hearing in this study. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients who had undergone craniotomy operations served as the basis for this study between Jul. 2007 and Dec. 2008. Standard pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and speech recognition thresholds (SRT) were calculated for all subjects before, one week and 1 year after craniotomy. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were not observed at the lower and middle frequencies (0.25-2 kHz), however, differences in the hearing thresholds at higher frequencies (4-6 kHz) were statistically significant before and after craniotomy. Mean pure-tone thresholds obtained was significantly more in older subjects when compared to young patients. Moreover, the correlation between increased number of b
