The result is a tympanogram showing ear canal volume, middle ear pressure and eardrum compliance. Normal middle ear function (Type A tympanogram) with a hearing loss may suggest presbycusis. Type B and Type C tympanograms indicate an abnormality inside the ear and therefore may have an additional effect on the hearing. Laboratory studies
This may include a blood or other sera test for inflammatory markers such as those for autoinflammatory diseases. Audiometry
A hearing test administered by a medical doctor, otolaryngologist (ENT) or audiologist including pure tone audiometry and speech recognition may be used to determine the extent and nature of hearing loss, and distinguish presbycusis from other kinds of hearing loss. Otoacoustic emissions and evoked response testing may be used to test for audio neuropathy. The diagnosis of a sensorineural pattern hearing loss is made through audiometry, which shows a significant hearing loss without the "air-bone gap" that is characteristic of conductive hearing disturbances. In other words, air conduction is equal to bone conduction. Persons with cochlear deficits fail otoacoustic emissions testing, while persons with 8th cranial nerve (vestibulocochlear nerve) deficits fail auditory brainstem response testing. Presbycusis audiogram
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
As part of differential diagnosis, an MRI scan may be done to check for vascular anomalies, tumors, and structural problems like enlarged mastoids. MRI and other types of scan cannot directly detect or measure age-related hearing loss. Treatment
At present, presbycusis, being primarily sensorineural in nature, cannot be prevented, ameliorated or cured. Treatment options fall into three categories: pharmacological, surgical and management.
Gleichs syndrome is a rare disease in which the body swells up episodically (angioedema), associated with raised antibodies of the IgM type and increased numbers of eosinophil granulocytes, a type of white blood cells, in the blood (eosinophilia). It was first described in 1984.Its cause is unknown, but it is unrelated to capillary leak syndrome (which may cause similar swelling episodes) and eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (which features eosinophilia but alternative symptoms). Some studies have shown that edema attacks are associated with degranulation (release of enzymes and mediators from eosinophils), and others have demonstrated antibodies against endothelium (cells lining blood vessels) in the condition.Gleichs syndrome is not a form of the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome in that there is little or no evidence that it leads to organ damage. Rather, recent studies report that a subset of T cells (a special form of lymphocyte blood cell) found in several Gleich syndrome patients have an abnormal immunophenotype, i.e. they express CD3-, CD4+ cluster of differentiation cell surface antigens. These same aberrant T cell immunophenotypes are found in lymphocyte-variant eosinophilia, a disease in which the aberrant T cells overproduce cytokines such as interleukin 5 which simulate the proliferation of eosinophil precursor cells and are thereby responsible for the eosinophilia. It is suggested that most forms of Gleichs syndrome are due to a similar aberrant T cell mechanism and are a subtype of lymphocyte-variant eosinophilia.Gleich syndrome has a good prognosis. Attack severity may improve with steroid treatment. == References ==