title: The clinical utility of ipsilateral stapedius reflex tests.
abstract: Ipsilateral stapedius reflex testing has been evaluated in 166 patients. It proves of value in defining the state of an ear (1) opposite to a unilateral conductive loss; (2) the less hard-of-hearing ear in the presence of bilateral asymmetrical sensorineural hearing losses where the worse ear has sufficiently severe loss to prevent a contralateral reflex from being elicited; (3) in patients with absent contralateral acoustic reflexes at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz; and (4) in suspected central lesions. The test is still bedevilled by artifacts which are produced in the ear rather than the machine; atypical results must be evaluated with extreme caution.
mesh_terms: D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D001844:Bone Conduction; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D001933:Brain Stem; D003051:Cochlea; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007759:Labyrinth Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D012018:Reflex; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve