Vitamin D deficiency and deafness: 1984 update.

Vitamin D deficiency has been diagnosed in 27 patients with bilateral deafness in a period of just over 3 years. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained bilateral cochlear deafness and may be important in the origin of some cases of otosclerosis, presbyacusis, and the deafness associated with chronic renal failure. Treatment should prevent progressive hearing loss, which may occasionally be partly reversible, and the development of clinical osteomalacia with more generalized skeletal symptoms.