Assessment of Age-related Hearing Loss in HIV-1 Patients

The ageing process is known to be accelerated in HIV-infected patients, compared to the general population. Normal age-related hearing loss (presbyacusia) is a frequent phenomenon, affecting more than 70% of people above 65 years. It is believed to be mostly the consequence of a mitochondrial damage caused by oxidative stress. Risk factors for accelerated age-related hearing loss are present in many HIV-infected patients : chronic inflammation, smoking, diabetes, etc. The global aim is to measure the prevalence of presbyacusia in a well controlled HIV positive population in France, and to compare it to HIV negative controls matched for age and sex. 90 HIV positive patients and 90 age- and sex- matched HIV negative controls will undergo a screening for presbyacusia (pure-tone, speech and evoked-response audiometry). We expect to find an increased prevalence of presbyacusia in HIV-infected patients, as compared to controls matched for age and sex.