[A clinical report of luetic hearing loss (author's transl)].

Three patients with syphilitic hearing losses are reported. In these patients, the impairment of cochleovestibular function progressed rapidly and quite often with fluctuations. The prognosis of inner ear damage is generally poor. However, in one 24-year old patient, treatment with penicillin and cortisone was successful in arresting hearing loss. This loss began early in the second stage of the disease so that its luetic origin could be recognized at the onset of the otological symptoms.