The Efficacy of Acupuncture and Bee Venom Injections in Improving Hearing in a Patient with Idiopathic Conductive Hearing Loss: a case report

Conductive hearing loss (CHL) is commonly caused by tympanic membrane perforation or otitis media.Congenital ossicular anomalies and otosclerosis are the primary considerations in patients with normal tympanic membranes and external auditory canals, whereas stapedius tendon abnormalities are less frequently observed.Acupuncture and bee venom (BV) injections are frequently used for treating otological disorders; however, their effectiveness in treating CHL remains unexplored.Therefore, this case report describes a 22-year-old man with idiopathic left-sided CHL that persisted for 101 days.While computed tomography, otoscopic examination, and tympanometry did not yield significant results, pure-tone audiometry (PTA) showed elevated hearing thresholds consistent with CHL.This led to the suspicion of middle ear pathologies, including otosclerosis and stapedius tendon anomalies.The patient underwent acupuncture and BV injection therapy.The average PTA improved from 40 to 26 dB after 23 days of treatment, marking the first improvement in hearing thresholds since symptoms began.While causality cannot be established from a single case report, this temporal association suggests a potential therapeutic role of these interventions.This case suggests a potential therapeutic role of acupuncture and BV injections in patients with idiopathic CHL who have not undergone surgical diagnosis and treatment.Further investigation is warranted to determine the efficacy and mechanisms of these interventions.