Abstract: Objective To analyze the clinical audiological data and imaging manifestations of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss(USHL)in children, and explore its etiology. Methods A total of 149 patients with USHL, aged from one month to 14 years, were analyzed retrospectively. Results 95.97% of the analyzed patients had severe or extremely severe hearing loss, namely single-sided deafness. 38.26% of the patients with USHL were detected through hearing examinations after their hearing screenings were not passed suffered from unilateral hearing loss as per the findings 20.13% children were found by perceiving unicat eral hearing loss. No obvious imaging abnormalities were found in 47 patients. Among the other 102 patients with imaging abnormalities, one had complete dysplasia(Michel malformation), one had dysplasia of the cochlea, and three had common cavity malformation. Two patients had dysplasia of the cochlea and seven patients had dysplasia of the cochlea. These included four patients with IP-Ⅰ malformation, two with IP-Ⅱ malformation, and one with IP-Ⅲ malformation. Seven patients had vestibular aqueduct enlargement, while 28 patients had bony internal auditory canal stenosis or cochlear foramina stenosis. One patient had internal auditory canal enlargement, while 46 patients had cochlear dysplasia, including 10 patients with cochlear nerve absence and 26 with cochlear nerve tenaciousness. Conclusion Most children with USHL experience severe and extremely severe deafness. The proportion of cochlear neurodysplasia and cochlear dysplasia are high in children with USHL. It is also closely related to congenital dysplasia. Therefore, routine temporal bone imaging examinations should be performed for children with USHL.

Key words: Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, Children, Hearing examination, Imaging