**3.7 Important variables for ISSHL improvement**

398 Hearing Loss

To analyze the relationship between ISSHL improvement and the time interval, we divided 72 patients into four groups (within 2 weeks, 2 – 6 weeks, 6 weeks – 6 months and over 6 months groups). In this analysis, 9 of 10 patients (90%) and 15 of 25 patients (60%) showed improvement with the time interval within 2 weeks and 2 - 6 weeks, respectively. Only 10 of 26 patients (38.5%) and 2 of 11 patients (18.2%) showed improvement with the time interval

Clear Partial Total

4 (5.6%)

11 (15.3%)

6 weeks – 6 months 4 (5.6%) 6 (8.3%) 16 (22.2%) 26 (36.1%) 0.004\*

Total 14 (19.4%) 22 (30.6%) 36 (50.0%) 72 (100%)

As mentioned earlier, there was no difference in mean PTA before and after AT between

To evaluate the co-relationship between severity of hearing loss and time interval with improvement, we divided patients with 2 groups; within 6 weeks and over 6 weeks. Within 6 weeks, there was no difference of severity of hearing loss on the day of initial between improvement and no improvement groups (P = 0.145). On the other hand, over 6 weeks, severity of hearing loss on the day of initial in no improvement group was higher than in improvement group. However, there was no statistical significance (P = 0.055) (Table 4).

6months or more 1 (1.4%) 1 (1.4%) 9 (12.5%) 11 (15.3%)

Table 3. Relationship between the Time Interval and ISSHL Improvement

**3.6 Severity of hearing loss on the day of initial visit as a prognostic factor** 

Yes No *P* 

1 (1.4%)

10 (13.9%)

25 (34.7%)

*P*\*

10 (13.9%)

Improvement

Yes No

Within 6 weeks 69.74 ± 22.03 (n = 24) 59.20 ± 18.36 (n = 11) 0.145 Over 6 weeks 52.29 ± 20.52 (n =12) 65.60 ± 17.82 (n = 25) 0.055

of 6 weeks – 6 months and greater than 6 months, respectively (Table 3).

Time interval ISSHL improvement

5 (6.9%)

4 (5.6%)

\* Statistically significant difference, P<0.05 using χ2 test

improvement and no improvement groups (Fig. 2).

\* Statistically significant difference, P<0.05 using Mann-Whitney U test

Table 4. Severity of Hearing Loss on the Day of Initial Visit as a Prognostic Factor

Time interval from the onset of hearing loss to the start of acupuncture treatment

Within 2 weeks

2 - 6 weeks

In the feature selection analysis to classify the most important variables to the improvement of ISSHL by AT, pure tone at each frequency (250, 500, 1000, 2000 Hz), PTA on the day of the initial visit and time interval (categorical variable) were determined to be important variables (Table 5).


\* 1 screened field: presence of diabetes mellitus

Table 5. Results of Feature Selection of Important Variables Contributing to the Improvement of ISSHL
