Trends in the Scientific Literature on Sudden Hearing Loss: A Bibliometric Study

Objective: To analyze the scientific publications, from a bibliometric approach, on the sudden hearing loss since the first documents appear (1966) until the year 2017. Methods: The Scopus database was used to carry out the study, and the descriptors "sudden hearing loss", “sudden sensorineural hearing loss" and "sudden sensorial hearing loss" were used, limited to the title, keywords and summary field. The most common bibliometric indicators were applied for the selected publications. Results: A total of 2,509 original articles were recovered between1966-2017. The growth of the publications was adapting better to a linear adjustment (r = 0.84). The time of duplication is 10.4 years. Bradford's core (most productive journals) formed by thirteen journals, some of the most productive are Otology and Neurotology, Acta Oto-Laryngologica and Laryngoscope, with an Impact Factor of 2.024, 2.471 and 1.116, respectively. Regarding geographical distribution, the United States, Japan and Germany present the highest production. Conclusions: The scientific production on the sudden hearing loss follows a linear growth, without evidence that should have reached a saturation point. In this case, the postulates of the Law of growth of Price's science are not fulfilled. In addition, a high index of transience exists.