Acupuncture for Hearing Recovery in an Adolescent with Bilateral Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Case Report

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is often irreversible and therefore is challenging to treat. Corticosteroids are primarily used as first line treatment within 3 days of onset. Acupuncture has been proposed as a complementary therapy that may enhance cochlear blood flow and modulate auditory pathways. A 15-year-old male suffered sudden bilateral SNHL and dizziness of unknown cause in the first week of January, 2025; he did not receive corticosteroids. Pure tone audiometry measurements were performed on January 26, 2025, and showed a baseline measurement of mild SNHL in the right ear and moderate SNHL in the left ear. He received acupuncture treatment at Tīnghuì (GB2), Tīnggōng (SI19), Ěrmén (SJ21), Yìfēng (SJ17), Jiăosŭn (SJ20), Shàngguān (GB3), and Tàiyáng (EX-HN5) acupoints for 40 minutes daily, for 15 days, then twice weekly for 6 weeks. Pure tone audiometry levels on February 9, 2025, showed improvement to bilateral mild SNHL, and by March 4, 2025, hearing had normalized in both ears. Dizziness resolved within 1 week with no recurrence. No adverse events were reported. Early, targeted acupuncture may be temporally associated with improvement in hearing in this patient. This is a single case report so causality cannot be determined. While acupuncture may have contributed to the patient’s recovery, fluctuating or spontaneous recovery remains a plausible explanation. These findings highlight the potential for an association, and support the need for further controlled studies to investigate the effects of acupuncture on SNHL.