Interferon-gamma production to inner ear antigens by T cells from patients with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss.

Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss (ASNHL) typically produces bilateral rapidly progressive loss of hearing over a few days or weeks, but may also produce sudden loss over a few hours. The diagnosis is made by excluding ototoxicity, systemic disease, and other factors that mimic ASNHL and by showing a therapeutic response to corticosteroid treatment. Antibody production and T-cell proliferative responses to inner ear antigens have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of ASNHL.