Patients with a history of middle and inner ear disease with a defined etiology such as trauma, infection,perilymphatic fistula, retrocochlear disease (schwannoma),degenerative disease of the central nervous system (multiple sclerosis), exposure to ototoxic drugs, barotrauma,middle or inner ear malformation, history suggestive ofmumps, definite Ménière’s disease, bilateral ISSHL cases,and patients who had the onset of monitoring not begin until45 days after the onset of hearing loss were excluded fromthis study.