Article was unclear and possibly misleading

EDITOR—Buckley et al draw attention to possible noise trauma and sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus as a result of the inflation of air bags in low speed car crashes.1 Their report is unclear on several issues and may be misleading.

In neither of the two cases reported is mention made of how soon after the accident the audiometry was carried out. The accident in case 1 occurred in the United States, and audiometry was carried out in Leeds by one of the authors. There is no record of any hearing assessment in the United States, which is surprising given that the patient experienced bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and unsteadiness (the unsteadiness lasting two weeks). Patients' perception of hearing loss does not imply that such a loss was simply sensorineural; indeed, conductive loss may have occurred and been …