The prime aim of this study is to investigate the influence of therapeutic measures in acute acoustic trauma (AAT). In a controlled clinical trial 209 patients (Table 1) was observed, starting within 2 days after the traumatic event. Various chemical agents, considered to have some influence on microciculation and metabolism of the inner ear, were administered as shown in Table 2. The control group was treated with NaCl infusions and glucose tablets. Statistical analysis of the audiometric data was performed in two different ways (Fig. 2). First, variations of absolute pure tone thresholds were studied in a regression analysis, revealing a close dependency of absolute hearing gains upon pretherapeutic hearing losses. Significant differences of permanent threshold shifts between test and control group could not be observed. Secondly, distribution curves of relative hearing gains (Figs. 1 and 2) were compared using the Kruskal Wallis test. The hypothesis of all of these curves being part of the same sample could not be rejected (P = 0.01). Thus, it was concluded that the four different forms of polypragmatic therapy used in this trial do not exert an effect on AAT exceeding that of NaCl infusions and glucose tablets. Under the assumption of a placebo effect of NaCl infusions and glucose tablets, either the supply with oxygen and neurotrop vitamins is no limiting factor in the regeneration process of the organ of Corti after an AAT, or the administered drugs fail to influence this supply. The effect of hospitalization with consequent reduction of noise and emotional stress was not studied in this paper.

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